I was at work. Got there around 5 or 5:30, answered emails and such. A little before 6 I went out to the car for some reason, don't remember just why. Turned on the radio and it was on a network (rather than local) feed. They talked about an airplane hitting one of the WTC towers. So I went back inside to see the TV we have in the lunchroom.
The news there was showing video of the tower burning, and talked about how a jetliner had hit the tower. Much later, the local RWDB radio talked about how it was obviously an attack (broad daylight in Manhattan and no pilot would do that by mistake and so on) but I am a strong supporter of Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. So I immediately assumed that someone had messed up bigtime.
But as I watched that tower burn, the second plane hit. And I immediately thought, "A lot of people are going to die for this." And I didn't even know about the other two planes yet, nor about the Palestinians dancing in the streets.
Never forget. Never forgive.
Iz out!
2 months ago
3 comments:
Absolutely.
I had no idea what to say, today. I just knew I wanted to say something. Thanks for inspiring a post.
Me, I was supervising construction work (not to far from where I am now, oddly enough), sitting in my vehicle, doing paperwork.
I had a phone call from the office, from a fellow worker, who told me that an aircraft had hit the World Trade Center. Like others, I figured it was a small aircraft that did so by accident. But the guy was upset enough that I turned on the radio, and found out otherwise.
I felt especially helpless, sitting out in a rural area as I was. But I stayed on the job, and let the contractors know what was happening, and that work would continue. They were plenty pissed; I wouldn't repeat what they said on a real bad FFOT.
But I got back to the room after work, and turned on the TV. Lord, I was simply stunned.
A couple days afterwards, I volunteered for active duty, and was sent on the first of my two tours a month later.
Never forget. Never forgive.
I was working a temp job doing filing for a company that sold mail-order supplies -- some construction and workplace safety stuff, but mostly they sold stuff to first responders -- first aid supplies, hazmat stuff, road flares, safety equipment, all sorts of stuff. They had contracts with lots of east coast cities, including FDNY. Some of the phone agents knew a few of the guys who went in and didn't come out. We spent the morning watching it all happen, and the phones were DEAD. Second half of the day, they were ringing off the hook. In addition, my in-laws were supposed to fly home from Europe that day, and we didn't know much at first about where the flights originated, their destinations, etc., so it was a tense time especially for my wife.
No, I'll never forget.
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