The One about 9/11 and the 2,953…

On September 11, 2001, I remember walking into a hectic newsroom during my day off and insist with the President of the newspaper company at the time that despite the day being on my day off, I’m responsible for many newspapers websites and having to make sure that the content reflected on the site is not from Sept. 10 but of what has happened in America that day.

I remember starting the morning off and waking up early.  I had to go in for cosmetic surgery at 9:00 a.m. thus had to commute and bare the busy traffic, so we woke up early and turned on the news and it was about 5:55 a.m. and realized that something bad has happened and live from New York, the first plane hit the first tower at 8:49 and there was confusion.

I watched in awe in that less than ten minutes, what I saw was another plane hit the second tower and was just surprised.  And then was just stuck on the news for the next hour and left for the commute and just listening to the news radio and then hearing about the first tower collapsing.

I remember being in the doctor’s office and everyone talking about going to war and really a state of confusion.

After my surgery, I headed back home  because I was supposed to get some rest but I felt uneasy because I wondered what was going on in the newsroom.  I should be in my office and as my co-workers were working their asses off, I needed to do my job.  I know that typically if it’s a day off or vacation, you should be out of the office and not come in to work.  But I felt that this day was too important and had to ask the president and quickly plead that I have a responsbility and with the many newspapers I was reponsible for, to get the AP feeds ready on the newspaper sites.

My eyes were glued to cnn.com and various newspaper sites along with what came in to us from AP and seeing each photo and watching each video, I was just numb.

I’d leave the office to get some air but just watching everyone in the newsroom, everyone looked numb.  No one really talked that day.  They worked, they knew they were on deadline and it was a very somber newsroom.

I’m on the opposite side of the country of where this is happening and this feeling of uneasiness because you want to be part of the rescue, to do something…but you can’t do anything but pray.

I managed to get the feeds going on various newspaper sites and what you see above is an image from one of the sites.  A screen capture I took at the end of the day and left.  I remember driving through the freeway and just shocked and numb.

We lost a lot of people that day.  Fathers, mothers, husband, wives, children.  Just thinking of that day, I just get teary eyed.  The following day, our community found out that we lost one person in our area during the attack on the Pentagon.  It was a friend’s brother.

I just think about the loss.  Of how the country was changed from that moment on and looking back years later, you still can never forget…

It’s been seven years now and I continue to pray for the family and friends of the 2,953 that died that day. God bless!