Where were you when....

[kaellite]

It is a sad observation that every generation (or possibly every other generation) has one horrific day that as a society we join in sharing as a common memory.

I.e.  Where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?

Where were you when you heard about the Kennedy Assassination?

And for our generation (or mine), where were you when you heard about 9/11?

To answer that I was in a office and someone said a plane flew into the World Trade Center.  At first I didn't believe it, thinking she was referring to a single or twin engine plane hitting it accidentlaly, and how do you not see something like that.  Then I turned on the radio, and my heart constricted in my throat.

On a personal level, my college roommate was in NY, working in Tribeca for a production company.  I didn't know it at the time but because she had worked 20 days straight, she had the day off.   Regardless, well you can imagine my panic.  No work got done that day, or not much.   Though my employer tried, we were ordered to turn off radios etc and get back to work, which left a bad taste in my mouth.

But not as bad as was what to follow:

The company I worked for called us all outside for a moment of prayer.  But...the prayer was for vengence on the attackers, not mercy for the victims.  Christ's name was invoked as a call to violence, yet no mention was made of praying for the families and the souls of those lost.  Indeed, the words used were "Lord, help us smite these and all un-Christian factions as they will insidiously destroy the bedrock of this great nation."  I backed out of the group slowly, noticing as I did so that 3 employees whom I knew to be jewish and 2 whom I knew to be agnostic were doing the same.

I left the company that December, and certainly that was a contributing factor.  They are entitled to believe what they will but not to 'force' their employees to show support for it, however tacit said support might be.

It still amazes me that they could not see they were perpetuating the same circle as those who attacked the twin towers; using religion to inflame hate and justify violence.
 
 
On my break I called my Dad and got more details (remember that we just had heresay at that point at work).  When I got off, I turned on the news for maybe 30 minutes and then I couldn't take it. 

2 days later, I got a call from my roomie that she was alright, physically. 

Of everything I watched, read and heard on the news, the thing that struck me the most was one in direct contrast to my employer's reaction.  The victims who were stuck in the Towers; the ones who in their last moments used the cell phones not to call for help but to call their spouses and families and say "I love you" one last time.

There is a lesson there, and a better one than my employer tried to teach.

So, to all the families that lost someone on that horrific day, to all the people who banded together to help one another but not hurt another, I wish to say.

Bless you and you are in all of our thoughts.