9/11/2001 – Where Were You When It Happened?

All day when I have been filling in today’s date on Microsoft Excel with “9/11”, I have been reminded of that number-slash combo’s place in our consciousness.  I have an uncanny ability to remember distant events from many times in my life.  But even those of us who do not have that gift are able to remember where we were when earth shaking events including national tragedies take place.  For the GI Generation it was Pearl Harbor.  For the Baby Boomers, it was the John F. Kennedy assassination.  For my generation it was defined by the date it took place in month-day format: 9/11.

            On that fateful day, I was at work and my workplace was a computer room at an office building for a large healthcare organization.  When I was in the middle of my morning duties, my coworker told me to get the TV out of the closet.  When I worked the evening shift it was common for those of us on that shift to watch TV when most of the night’s tasks were accomplished.  However, we had never watched TV on the day shift.  I followed my coworker’s instructions even as I wondered why in the world he wanted to watch TV in the middle of the morning.  Had something horrible happened to the world?  Yes, it had.

            When I circled back to where the TV was a few minutes later after working on backup tapes, I saw the Twin Towers aka the World Trade Center in New York were both on fire.  This television relied on an antenna picking up an analog signal and the picture was not that clear.  But it was clear enough.  The caption below explained that airplanes had struck these skyscrapers.  With both of them hit, I knew it could not be an accident.  A caption later said that “Pentagon hit by plane.”  I alerted my coworker (by this time other workers in the building were in front of this TV).  He said that was just a possibility, but I knew it had actually happened.  There was no other way to interpret this.  While in a meeting with a company executive which was scheduled over a week in advance and had nothing to do with the day’s events, a woman said that a plane went down in Pennsylvania.

            What hit me is how much smoke was in the area a few hours later.  Thick smoke seemed to cover almost all of Manhattan.  The famed Twin Towers and a few buildings around it had  collapsed, and the Pentagon was struck in the side.  I also think that if United Flight 93 had not been delayed – giving people on board time to know what was going on – the Capital Dome would have been in flames.  That would have made the day even more surreal than it already was.

            What was really attacked that day.  My freedom to write this blog, your freedom to read it, your freedom to read anything else, your freedom to go to the movies of your choice, your freedom to wear the clothes of your choice, even your freedom to think what you want were all under attack.  Even worse, they were reasons they wanted to destroy us.