lc_story90.xml

lc_story90.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-12-17

I was at work-- in the same room in which I am now sitting. I was doing whatever I was doing. A coworker who is always excited to be the first to "break" news to everyone else came rushing in from the break room, where CNN Headline News is always on. He said, "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center."

Now, we work at the Dallas Infomart, and the next building to our immediate north is the Dallas "World Trade Center." For whatever reason, that was the first thing I thought of. I remember being surprised that we had not heard it here. It was only after he went on that I realized he was talking about THE World Trade Center.

I remember asking "which tower?" He didn't know.

A few minutes later, our manager, Johnnie, came rushing in. Before long the large, Mission Control-style "Web Boards" were changed. They no longer showed the status of the Help Desk; they projected CNN Headline News, albeit without sound.

The second tower had been hit, and the chances of this being luck had just cratered.

The images, shown over and over, of the 2nd tower being hit by the plane. Of debris shooting out the opposite side of the building from the impact.

That day seriously damaged our national sense of security, of our innate feeling of invulnerability. They attacked us at the heart of our nation, and at the core of our government.

I think that we were being overly optimistic before, thinking we were untouchable. Some kind of attack was inevitable.

Who would have dreamed it was something this big?

However, they gave us a chance to show that our greatest strength as a nation is our ability to "keep on keepin' on."