On 11 September 2001, I happened to be at home for the day (here in the UK) as I was taking a couple of days of my annual holiday from my job as a curriculum manager in a community college. As the UK is 5 hours ahead of New York, it was early afternoon and I was half-watching a film on TV when a newsflash announced the breaking news that something had happened to one of the Twin Towers. At that stage, it wasn't even clear that a plane had crashed into the building.
As it became apparent that something of immense importance was taking place, all scheduled television programmes were abandoned and I watched with horrified fascination and incredulity as the terrible events of that day continued to unfold, until I fell asleep in the early hours of the next morning. My thoughts today are with the people who died 8 years ago and their families.
I was interested to see that the anniversary has been designated a day of national service and, although some Americans fear that this could overshadow and diminish a sombre day of remembrance, I can't help but feel that if I were one of the people killed on 9/11, I would be happy to know that something good had come out of those terrible events.
Comments