lc_story242.xml

lc_story242.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-12

I was at work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in my office in the Colvard North building. I walked into the break room to get some coffee and someone told me to watch what was happening on television. I had no idea what had happened. First I thought it was an accident. I watched the TV and the CNN website for most of the day. The Atkins Library staff rolled televisions on carts out into the library, and students in the library likewise watched television all day.

Sadness. Disbelief. Watching all the people streaming out of New York across the bridges, on foot. Watching the towers fall down. And then, after we received word that something had happened at the Congress or at the Pentagon, wondering if we still had a government.

We realized that life is uncertain and we can't take it for granted or waste it. We're a lot more suspicious and less trusting.