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I remember seeing video of the first plane hit the tower on the CBS Early Show with speculation that it might have been a missile that hit the building (they didn't know it was a plane yet). Then, a few minutes later I was watching in the kitchen and my mom was reading the paper after just getting off work. Then, a second plane slammed into the tower and then the newsperson (don't remember who was speaking....I think it was Gumbel) said this definitely was a terrorist attack and they just went right into Full breaking news coverage. It was incredible and then I had to take off for school really fast.....

I got there and most people still did not know because it had happened during the first class period. A few knew because some teacher happned to hear about it and it spread to some classrooms. Anyway, myself and some others told the government class when we got there (the teacher did not know yet and couldn't believe when we told him). People were checking out VCR's to watch the coverage in their rooms. It was something else.

And then the principal came on and said that a plane was possibly headed to the White House and to pray and keep people in our thoughts. The principal was broken up almost....I will never forget the expecation of what was going on when the intercom came on and there was a long pause before he ever could say anything.

The next hour we were in shock watching as the towers fell (with several classes brought into the same room). My teacher kept saying this is something on the order of Pearl Harbor and we shoudl realize just how huge an event we were seeing.

THe only class that went normally that day was in English, where teachers don't stop for anything. We had an essay test that day in class. I couldn't believe they would continue like that.

It was an awful day and then to see news coverage 24/7 for a full week.....it is something I don't think will ever be out of my memory it was so huge.

I was at work when a friend IMd me and told me a plane hit one of the towers. So, I called a co-worker who was working at home and she was giving me the play-by-play from the TV. As I was checking FR and talking to her, she said, 'Oh my God! Another plane hit the other tower!' My reply was, 'You are lying! This is not real!' All she kept saying was, 'Oh my God...' and I got off the phone and immediately notified ouor team and our HR department. We went in search of a TV while co-workers scrambled to get one working. We went next door to the workout facility to see the latest... and when I saw the live coverage, something changed in me that I can't explain. It was like something was taken from me. We saw Jim Miklsheski (sp) freak out when the Pentagon got hit... I just stood there- transfixed, feeling helpless as the anger and patriotism slowly but steadily was reawakened.

We made it back to the office when the tv was set up- all the while in constant communication with each other via cell phone for the latest information. FR was a Godsend that day. All the latest was here and was reported before the networks knew a thing. So, everyone kept asking me what the latest was. I told everyone about the third plane hijacking and the eventual crash in Pennsylvania. And yet, we sat watching the television, hypnotized by the images we saw. When the first building collapsed, the entire office saw it... and everyone released a collective gasp. It was almost too much for everyone to comprehend. In a matter of two hours, our country changed forever. What had once been unimaginable had now become very, very real. And when the second tower collapsed, we just sat in silence. I calmly got up, walked over to my cubicle, put my head on my desk and began to cry for the first time that day.

When I drove home that day, everything was different. The sky was clear but not as blue. The once busy, intertwined jet trails were strangely absent. The grass seemed to be less green. Even the traffic, what there was of it, seemed to move along at a slower pace. And that thirty-minute drive home was silent except for the thoughts and images that kept replaying in my mind. As much as I wanted to forget seeing the horror, watching the grief, and living the emotion, I knew it was something I could never forget.

I knew it was something that we, as a country, could never forget…

It is amazing to think back on that day - Now I watch people fret over the markets and the democrats trying to make political hay over Enron/Worldcom... Which is really just a hill of beans compared to 911. I remember W with the megaphone standing with the firefighters at ground zero and throwing out the first pitch at Yankee stadium. I was very proud of him. I remember the liberals worried about how we were treating the terrorists held in Cuba. It made me sick. They did a quick about face on that issue once they realized that 99% of the American public didn't want to hear about the "poor terrorists". I remember peter jennings on 911 and have not watched him since. September 11, 2001 was a terrible day - a huge day - and so when I see the media play up the market downturn or Enron I just see it all as such petty crap. The media should be doing stories about our servicemen and women that are quitely doing their job, but I guess that would be too much to ask of such petty people. Really to me it boils down to; America is our country and anyone who attacks it can go to
hell. May bin laden, those in hamas, the palestinians and others who attack America suffer the worst of deaths a thousand times over.