This morning, I was listening to the radio, as usual, on my way to work. I listen to this crazy morning show that forever makes me laugh with their outrageous antics. Every once in a while, they completely take me by surprise - like today.
The Shock DJ asked for a moment of silence. Then after it was over, he said "We're going to do something that no one does any more, but we feel it's appropriate. You don't have to listen if you don't want to." And then he began saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
It's true. You don't hear that anymore. The simple words of dedication to the country in which I live for the first time ever moved me to a tear or two.
On this day, during the attacks, my husband sent me an IM with a simple link to CNN.com. CNN was running its "darksite" (that's where they take almost everything off the site except maybe a picture and some text, and maybe some links in order to accommodate a tremendous amount of people hitting the site at once). I had never seen a "darksite" in use for a website of that stature. On the site, there was a picture of a plane hitting a building.
I closed down my browser. I thought to myself that a hacker must have gotten to CNN.
Almost immediately, other people around me started hearing about it too. I opened my browser again, this time realizing that this was indeed happening.
That was just the beginning. I worked in uptown in a city at the time, and all the buildings were evacuated uptown. I am confident in saying that no one enjoyed their unexpected time off. J & I sat at home, glued to our TV for the next few days. The shock and horror was completely overwhelming. The news repeated itself over and over, but for some reason, we could not turn it off.
I am blessed to say that no one that I personally know was injured our killed in this attack on the US. Today, I will be saying a special prayer for people that cannot make that statement, and for the many heroes that come out of such a terrible situation.
(Photo - AP Stock)
1 comment:
Thank you for your reflection. I, too, was at work. In a computer company, too. As word passed, we all were displaying CNN. In disbelief. We were interviewing software testers and I had to call them to cancel as our campus closed in lockdown. One was Muslim, and rumors already were runnning rampant. I asked for his patience as this tragedy unfolded. We did come to work together as he joined us within a few months. The caring, friendly, diverse, patriotic, wonderful nation is preserved.
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