September 11, 2001

I'll start right out and admit that I've never liked the term "9-11" in remembering the events of September 11, 2001. I'm not sure why - perhaps just because it brings out our talent in America to make thinks as short and sound-bite-ish as possible. But that's another story for another day.

I was reading another friend's blog today, and having read her comments on the events, and about never forgetting, I figured I would take a minute (or three) to remember.

I was working at my law firm the day of the attacks. The secretary outside my office announced heard something on her clock radio and announced that a plane had hit one of the Wordl Trade Center towers in NYC. I immediately thought it was an out-of-control, small piper cub type plane and didn't pay any more attention to it. When she then announced that a second plan had hit the second tower, it was time to investigate.

Fast forward about 20 minutes and the entire firm was in our conference room watching the events as they unfolded. Scary as it was, I did not get overly concerned about the effects of a terrorist attack in Pittsburgh until I heard that a third and fourth plane had gone down - one not too far from Pittsburgh, and closer to Johnstown, PA where Susan and the kids were. Suddenly, I was more concerned than ever. A quick phone call relieved my fears, and we all hunkered down for a few weeks of uncertainty.

Over the next few days and weeks we tried to explain what was going on to our kids, and we tried to understand it ourselves as adults. What should WE do now? How should WE alter our lives, if at all? I guess, in some ways, we're still trying to figure that out today - seven years later.

I like the coutry song that talks about a man who learned he was dying. When asked by a friend what he did when he heard the news, the dying man said:

I went skydiving
I went rocky mountain climbing
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'
And he said some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dyin'
He said I was finally the husband, that most the time I wasn't
And I became a friend, a friend would like to have
And all of a sudden goin' fishin, wasn't such an imposition
And I went three times that year I lost my dad
Well I finally read the good book, and I took a good long hard look
At what I'd do if I could do it all again