story4806.xml

story4806.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

As I watched the fire burning from the first tower, I was thinking about how the plane had run into the Empire State Building and it was repaired. I was thinking "I wonder how long it will take to repair and reopen the World Trade Center" As I was watching, the second plane came into the frame on TV and I said to no one in particular "What is that plane doing flying over the center of the city." Then I saw the flames as the plane plunged into the second tower. I knew then that this was no accident. My wife's cousin called shortly from Maryland to ask what I thought of this madness. I replied that it was really bad what was going on in New York. She informed me that she was talking about the attack on the Pentagon. I had been away from the radio and TV and that bit of information caught me totally by surprise. The rest of the day I was glued to the TV to try to get all of the information I could about what was going on. Still, in my mind, I am trying to understand what we Americans had done to fill someone with so much hatred that they could plan and carry out such an evil deed. We are not a perfect society but I can't imagine planning anything so horrible as what happened on September 11, 2001.