I Remember

I remember where I was on that day. I first heard about the attack when I was driving to work. I was the manager of a Radio Shack store, so I had wall-to-wall televisions on which to watch the atrocities unfold. I was working solo that day, so I didn't even have time to cry. As soon as I opened the doors, people came pouring in to buy TV's, radios, antennas, and batteries so they could try to keep up with what was happening. Several of my customers commented on the disturbing similarity to the ending in Tom Clancy's then recent book 'Debt of Honor'. There was a small but always changing group of people just staring at the TV's on the wall.

I was particularly disturbed by some of the early speculation that casualties could be in the range of 40-50 thousand killed (about 50,000 people worked in the WTC most days). As an amateur military historian, I was stunned that any non-nuclear attack could potentially cause as many casualties in one hour as the Korean War did in three years, or the Vietnam War in ten years.

It went like that for the whole day. People stopped on their lunch breaks to get an update on the events. It was the best sales day I'd ever seen outside of the Christmas season, but I would have gladly given up every penny of sales if it would have prevented what happened. Finally, it was closing time. I rushed through the closing routine and got home as quickly as I could. I had the local talk station on for more news as I drove home, and immediately turned on the TV when I got there because I just had to know what was going on, if the rescue teams would be able to find any survivors, and if there was any real knowledge of who had committed the attacks.

As the week went on, I continued watching events unfold, feeling a mixture of sadness, anger, and a growing pride as I saw reports of volunteers rushing to NYC and DC to assist in the rescue efforts. I loved the way nearly all Americans were trying to find a way to help. I wanted to go donate blood, but some medication I was on at the time prevented that. I remember seeing President Bush at the WTC site, hoping his words about the terrorists 'hearing from all of us' would come true soon. Customers would come in to my store, checking for updates and expressing their opinions.

There was an atmosphere of tension, as we all wondered what was next.

By the end of the week, I knew the world was going to be very different from what it was before. While my daily life didn't change immediately, the world in which I lived it was not the same.