story11124.xml

story11124.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-10-18

I work in Indianapolis at IBM on the northside. Traffic was heavy that day because of construction so I settled in for the 30 minute trip down a 5 mile stretch of 96th Street. I stopped at a traffic light and heard our local Christian radio station say that a small plane had been flown into the Twin Towers. I thought it was terrible, but I had no idea what it really was and like a lot of people, just thought it was a pilot who had become incapacitated while flying and flew terribly off course. I arrived at work and some IBM'ers had a television on in a conference room. It's hard to see the enormity of such a horrific event on a 19" screen, but we watched with sickening horror as the 2nd plane hit and finally realized that this was more than an accident. We held our collective breath as Tower One collapsed and were sick at our stomachs when we saw Tower Two follow suit. That day, work fell by the wayside as we watched, speechless. There just weren't any words to say that could relieve the depth of anxiety over what we had witnessed, even from so far away. We were anxious to hear the status of employees who work in the area and were relieved to find out that initially, our colleagues were safe. We grieved more when found out later that one of our employees had been on one of the planes and had perished. As it was with everyone I talked to in the days following, all aspects of life revolved around the attacks. Travel plans were delayed or cancelled, some executives opted not to fly for fear of more attacks. (I don't tend to hear that anymore.) I eventually encountered IBM employees who couldn't take calls because they were attending funerals for victims. I think that's when the depth of human tragedy really began to register for me on a personal level. I spent hours watching television and grieving when bodies were recovered, trying to imagine the depth of sorrow their families must feel, even today. I almost feel as though I have no right to grieve as I do because I am so far away; silly, I guess. If I could carry the grief of just one person from New York or Washington or Pennsylvania, I would.