Where Were You That September Day

It was a day like no other. Sitting in my office working on some construction drawings, concentrating on the computer screen, I heard the door open from the radio station, which was next to mine. I was isolated across the hall from the rest of the engineering firm.

Dan, the DJ and manager of the radio station entered my office. In his deep voice, he said to me, "The World Trade Center has been attacked." He continues on telling me about the hijacking.

Turning away for the screen, I stared at him in disbelief. This cannot be real! Is he pulling my leg? It would be a sick joke.

Not sure how long I was motionless. Time seemed to have stopped. This was not a joke. I could see the emotion in Dan's eyes. He continued, "We were told not to put it on the air yet until we got more information."

I finally managed to say something, "Oh my...this can't be real!"

Dan left to continue to inform the remainder of the DJs and our office people. We watch the events fold out on the television in the radio station's office. Shortly after, the events poured out from my radio.

My boss later went home and brought in a TV for us to watch. He then told everyone but me, to go home if they felt they needed to be with their families. I had to stay and get the work done. A couple people left and the remainder stood and watched the TV until the end of the workday.

Footage of the news events played out. The third airline that crash into the Pentagon and the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93, the passengers who prevented the aircraft from reaching the hijackers' intended target. Flight 93, believed the hijackers intended to target the White House or Capital. However, with the help of some passengers who fought back, it crashed into an open field nearShanksville,Pennsylvania.

I sat at my computer working for all those hours, listening to the radio knowing that I would see the footage play out repeatedly at home. At the same time, I could hear the conversations of my co-workers as they watched the news of the events. Knowing that this is what they were getting paid for during the remainder of the day.

Dan, the DJ popped his head in my office a few times during that day, offering a shoulder to lean on. I would smile back and thank him.

I am no country music fan. But I do like the lyrics by Alan Jackson of his song, "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)." Here is the first part of the song.

"Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?

Were you in the yard with your wife and children

Or working on some stage in L.A.?

Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke

Risin' against that blue sky?

Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor

Or did you just sit down and cry?"

What President Bush was doing during the second attack on the second world trade center tower?

Bush sat there in front of the students with his book upside down listening to the reading of a pet goat. When asked later, George Bush claimed to have seen the first plane hit the World Trade Tower on a television in Booker Elementary School before going into a classroom.

At the time there was no live footage of the first plane hitting the tower. It was shown after the footage of the second plane hitting the tower.

George Bush knew of the attack of the first Twin Tower on his way to an elementary book reading and before the media had broadcast it. He later lied at a Town Hall meeting aired on CNN on December 4, 2001.

"Well, Jordan (ph), you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident."

But I was whisked off there -- I didn't have much time to think about it, and I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my chief who was sitting over here walked in and said, "A second plane has hit the tower.America's under attack."

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