Hell on Earth-What Was My Experience on September 11?

Shortly before the winter Olympics.

September 11^th, 2001. Need I say more? That is the main historical event that sticks out in my mind. I was attending the University of Utah as a student at the time, while working at night. I recall that I did not normally have to get up very early at the time, so I had not found out until later in the morning.

I had called my wife when I was hearing about what was going on back east. The news was reporting initially that there was some type of bombing at the twin towers. At the University, TVs were set up where people were watching the news.

One of my professors, I assume a Muslim, was Caucasian, but had an Islamic name. He proclaimed that he would be changing his last name to Powers (I don’t recall the first name) as he thought that the attack had something to do with Israel and Palestine.

At work, in a call center that did bill collections, several people just called in sick and said that they would not be coming in to work. It was strange that there were so many people that were not at work. Not a lot of people called about their car payments and we did not make outbound calls.

At the time, Salt Lake City was getting ready for the winter Olympics. During the Olympics, it was surreal to see soldiers on guard with M-16s.

It was also interesting that society and the media didn't seem to want to joke around as much on TV. One good thing was that people seemed to care more about others and wanted to offer more service for a time.

That day is one that I will never forget.