story1133.xml

story1133.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

My girlfriend and I had just woken up to get ready for work. A friend called and said "Oh my God, turn on the TV. We've been attacked by terrorists." and then she hung up. I turned on the TV just before the plane struck tower # 2. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it was part of a movie. My girlfriend and I sat down on the bed and watched the TV for the next hour as reports were coming in. We watched the towers fall. We sat there and held each other and wondered if this was the start of WWIII. We both started crying for the loss of life we had just witnessed. The people that had jumped to avoid being burned to death. It all seemed so unreal. When I told my girlfriend that we had just witnessed the start of a war she asked me "A war with who?". I told her that it was probably Osama bin Laden or maybe Saddam Hussien. We had an all employee meeting scheduled for that day at work. Everyone there was crying and talking about New York instead of all the new plans the company had. We decided to send cards and letters to the Police and Fire Departments in New York as a sign of our support for their heroic actions. Our companies New York subsidiary was on the 70th floor of tower # 1. We were all concerned that everyone of them was dead. At the end of the employee meeting we all prayed together, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostic, Pagan. At that point in time all of us were just humans struggling to understand exactly what had happened. I went home to be with my kids and let them know that even though the world had changed that things were going to be O.K. I spent the rest of the day with them. Holding them and telling them that I was right there if they needed me.