I need to make this post

So here we are at the 5 year anniversary. I remember that morning well, as most all of us do. I was at my desk when a couple of co-workers who come in later than I did burst into the door saying "a plane crashed into the World Trade Center." We immediately started surfing cnn.com and other news sites, and not much was there yet really. We have a TV upstairs in our training room, so I went up there and setup the antenna and tuned to a local station, which was by that time doing a live feed from CNN. Two of the owners of the company came up there and we watched in silence and shock. We were watching live when the second plane hit, and then it of course dawned on us that it was a terrorist act. The instant the first tower started falling my first thought was "Oh My God" and my second thought, following almost instantly on top of that one was, "the other tower is going to come down too." I just instinctively knew that, based on the obvious visual evidence right in front of me. I instantly made the connection that the second tower hit was hit LOWER and thus had MORE WEIGHT above the fire and that was why it went first - I did not have to wait for any experts to tell me that. I knew that in the first 30 seconds after it collapsed. I watched for about 15 minutes after the second tower fell and then I had to go back to work. Did not really get any work done that day - most of us were talking about it and following the news sites.

I urge all of you to remember your feelings that day. Remember the pain, the anger, the shock, the itch for quick revenge. All the things we are doing to try to prevent further attacks are designed with the goal to AVOID those kind of feelings in the future. Support the Homeland Security Department.

Here is the first e-mail I got that morning which referenced the attacks:

7:24 AM MST 9/11/01: Are you watching the news this morning ?......the two planes that were highjacked...one from Boston to LA crashed into the Pentegon and the other crashed into the New York world towers. They just said that one building has just collapsed. and they have ordered all airplanes now flying to land at the nearest airport.

Here is the second one:

9:33 AM MST 9/11/01: Are you watching the news?

Third one, who was cc'ed on the second one:

9:38 AM MST 9/11/01: OH yes, we have our big screen on, been watching it since the first plane flew into the WTC. It just gets more crazy as the day goes along.

Here was my first outgoing mail from myself that morning:

11:14 AM MST 9/11/01: This is horrible. Makes me want to cry, makes me want to scream, makes me want to torture someone involved in this atrocity. Thank GOD we have Bush and not Clinton in the White House..................

My cousin replied:

11:35 AM MST 9/11/01: Clinton is gladly gone. It makes me mad too. Palestinians celebrating in the streets. Whoever did it better not fess up. I have a feeling there won't be any of them left. I'm glad we're somewhat safe. Talk to you later.

I got this mail the morning of the 13th, which summarizes how the world felt about us that day:

This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing. America: The Good
Neighbor. Widespread, but only partial news coverage, was given
recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon
Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator.

What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the
Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the
most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the
earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were
lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions
of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries
is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United
States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the
Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and
swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When
earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in
to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by
tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped
billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those
countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd
like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the
erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any
other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet,
the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly
them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American
Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or
woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get
radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You
talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not
once, but several times - and safely home again. You talk about
scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for
everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and
hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are
breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at
home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were
breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When
the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody
loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000
times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in
trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco
earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one
Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They
will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they
are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over
their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those." Stand
proud, America!