| Tuesday September 10th 2002 In approximately 12 hours, it will have been one year since I heard a co-worker say "Wow - a plane hit the World Trade Center in New York". I was mildly curious, so I surfed to Yahoo News. There was one item there, and it contained one line: "A plane has reportedly struck the World Trade Center in New York City. There are no further details available at this time." If I'd realized the significance of that news item, I would have done a screen capture. As it was, I pictured a small two-seater clipping the corner of the building with its wing, or maybe brushing against a radio antenna. Interesting - maybe there'd be something on the news about it that night. I went back to work. But my co-worker kept tabs on it. There was more. It wasn't a private plane, it was a passenger plane. It might have been on purpose, but nobody was sure. Then a second plane hit the other building. When I heard that, the creeping feeling began in my stomach that would last the rest of that day. The rest of the news came in pieces, from what I overheard or could find on the net via the over-trafficked news pages. The Pentagon was hit. There were more planes unaccounted for. Everything was being grounded. The WTC was burning. I got through to a picture of the fire; a long-distance shot, with the Empire State Building in the foreground. I have a copy of that photo now. No more planes crashed. No more disasters. Everything would be fine - it was over. Then our co-op student passed the word; the first tower had fallen, completely, right to the ground. Perhaps different people had different experiences, but for me that was the worst moment - hearing that the first building had fallen. This wasn't just damage, like in '93. This was utter, successful, destructive madness. At least the other would remain standing, I thought, mourning its lost brother. Not for long. The WTC was a piece of trivia that I thought I could amaze friends with. I could picture them easily well before that day. I knew where they were located in New York, when they were built, and that they were two of the largest buildings in the world and the largest in New York. They were monumental. They were supposed to last. They should still be there. It really was like the previous generation's Kennedy Assassination. I'll forget the details of a lot of work days. But never that one. |