9/11: Some Personal Reflections
September 11, 2006
Before the memories become any more faded, I would like to take a few minutes to record my experiences five years ago this morning.
Like you, I remember precisely where I was when the news came. I was in my boss’s office across from the Ronald Reagan Building, overlooking Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue just a few blocks east of the White House. He and I were in a familiar place, on a conference call with our client American Airlines, discussing whatever pressing competition law matter there was that morning.
The first sign that that day would be different from any other came in the form of an odd and uncharacteristic interruption from my boss’s assistant. She walked into his office, seemingly ignoring our very important, ongoing phone call. Why? “A plane crashed into the World Trade Center this morning,” she announced. I immediately had a picture in my mind of a tiny, wayward Cessna accidentally running into a skyscraper. Odd. But certainly not worthy of an interruption. Evidently, my boss agreed, because our teleconference continued as before.
The second sign, which came not much later, was more clear. Pacing the office during the call, I glanced out the window toward the Reagan Building. Rising up behind it was a large plume of smoke. Odd. “Huh, where’s that from?” I asked no one in particular. My boss’s assistant reappeared: “Turn on the TV. A plane crashed into the Pentagon.” The horror of reality gripped us and didn’t let go. (Later that evening I learned that the plane that hit the Pentagon was the same transcontinental flight I had been on just a week earlier.)
As I recall, offices began closing across town, people began evacuating in mass. My bride was at work in a federal building, too close to the Capitol. I was three blocks from the White House. My children were “safe” at home – within a couple of miles of the Pentagon. I wanted the family to be together, but there didn’t seem to be much sense in joining the crowds clogging the rails and roads leaving the city. My wife and I remained at work nearly the entire day.
No longer would I feel safe living in this city. Looking back, I wonder how I ever could have. And I was among the fortunate – not one family member lost, not one friend injured. My most significant personal loss? My sense of security in my home and my workplace. I suspect every American lost at least that much.
