story8760.xml

story8760.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-12-16

I was already at work, starting to go through the emails that had come in from the day before and my one co-worker came out from his office and said that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. Two! I knew immediately it was terrorism, but I thought of small figher planes, never imagining full airline carriers.
Everything stopped. My coworkers and I rushed to find a television that would work. Unsucessful we settled for a radio that we set up in a common area. I immediately called my mother to alert her and her office to what was happening. We've been in those towers, I thought. I didn't know what to do next. I just sat.
Finally frustrated with the radio that was feeding the news from CBS, I decided to drive home to get my little portable black/white tv. I couldn't drive fast enough. Everything was a daze. It seemed that the world had gone quiet. All the other drivers around me were as stone faced with disbelief as I was.
As I ran into my apartment - I clicked on the tv. I had to see it to believe it. There it was - the tower on fire with a big hole in it. I grabbed the tv and headed back to the office. As I drove back, I had the radio in the car set to NBC news. I can tell you exactly what spot on the road I was when NBC's Pentagon reporter said that there had been an explosion at the Pentagon but they weren't sure what it was. I said outloud "Dear God, please protect us."
As I came back into the office, they had rigged the tv to pick up the news and everyone was gathered in a common area watching it. Across the bottom of the screen it read "America Under Attack." I couldn't believe my eyes.
We all just stood in silence as we watched with disbelief as the towers collapsed and the Pentagon burned. We all were shaken by reports of a plane down in Pennsylvania. My mind rushed. Where? Near here? How many more planes are there? Living near Philadelphia and Willow Grove Naval Air Station, I immediately began to think of possible targets - the air station and it's weapons, Independence Hall, etc.
They finally closed all of our U.S. offices as cities began to evacuate.
I sat at home all afternoon and evening glued to the TV. It was like trying to make sense of the senseless. I didn't want to miss a word, a picture. I finally fell asleep around 1am.
I awoke to the TV around 2am. At the change of the hour, they were playing doomsday music and headlining the events of the day. In my exhaustion, I had such a feeling of shear terror like I had never felt in my life. I got up and checked the windows and the locks on the doors. I left the light on and the tv on for the rest of the night. As I tried to sleep again, I repeated words I had said earlier in the day. Dear God, Please Protect Us.