story4594.xml

story4594.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

The day started off so normally. I drove into worked, parked
in my regular space and headed to the office which is right
next to the Sears Tower. I remember hearing something on the
radio about an explosion in New York and thought to myself,
that it was probably something electrical. I had no idea.
To backtrack a little, when I pulled into the garage, I
asked the attendant had he heard anything about something
happening in New York. He said no. I went to work. When I
arrived I was instantly bombarded by a couple of my
co-workers who wanted to know if I heard about what happened
in New York. I said yes, thinking that I was pretty much
up to date on the issue. Then I saw the televised
coverage of the events... live. I initially saw the first
tower on fire and then I saw this airplane just bash straight
into the second tower. I really can't put into words
everything I felt at that moment. When I saw how the plane
crashed into the second one, I felt a piece of me die. I
mean there were people in there. Young, old, Black, White,
Asian, Indian, Hispanic, rich, poor... human beings. It was all so
unbelievable and still is. Then I saw people running,
screaming, crying, jumping out of windows. It was
the most devastating thing I'd ever seen during my 36 years.
At that point the tears came with an immense sadness which
I am still trying to deal with today. That grief was for
those in the Pentagon and the commercial airplanes as well.

The events of that day really brought to life the fact that
we are all truly connected. I never realized that I
could be so effected by the loss of those that I have never
met before or knew in any way. My feelings went beyond
simple human compassion, but my very spirit and soul had
been struck in the most horrendous way. I sure that I not
only speak for my heart but for the hearts of every decent
American.

Needless to say my grief was later accompanied by fear and
we all spent the rest of the morning trying to get
home especially since we were right next door to another
targeted building. For anyone that is familiar with Chicago,
then they know how congested the downtown area can be. That
day approximately an hour after the attack, it was a virtual
ghost town except for the roads which were packed with
people who like myself who were trying to get home to be
with and in anyway protect those they loved and then thank
their God,in a most unselfish way, that they were blessed
enough to be able to see them again.