Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about, well, you know...

THE PROMPT: "Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, this tragedy touched us all. It changed the course of history and altered our lives forever. Today is a day to reflect on those events and remember all of the innocent victims that were lost. The human spirit is always enduring and perseveres even through a horrible tragedy such as this. Write about your feelings, thoughts, emotions, anything that comes to mind, both then and now."

I remember, like so many others, exactly where I was and what I was doing on that tragic day. It was a weekend of all sorts of ups and downs for me. The Saturday before, I had my car impounded after a party and had to work Sunday on four hours of sleep. Then on Monday, my roommate at the time and I would meet up with friends at a bar called Razzberries down the street for karaoke. I met a girl that night that I'd wind up dating for a few months, and we were up pretty late.

I was fortunate on Tuesday that there was a co-worker who lived a block away from me and could take me to work. I'm not the kind of person who wakes up early, pours a cup of coffee and relaxes before I go to work...it's basically get up, shower and go. I was definitely feeling the effects of the night before on the short walk over to her apartment. It was a gorgeous morning...the sun was bright, the air was clean and warm, and I felt pretty good for being so tired. That was not the case at the opposite end of the great state of New York.

As I made it up the stairs to her apartment, I could tell she was still getting ready and had the radio on. I said hi and she had mentioned something had happened in New York City, but we couldn't figure out quite what. We still had about a fifteen or twenty minute car ride ahead of us to make sense of things, but we knew this much for sure: a plane hit the World Trade Center.

We were stunned, but still unaware of the extent this tragedy would become. We wondered if maybe the pilot was drunk! It just seemed too bizarre.

We worked for a local consumer electronics retailer at the time, and the scene as we walked in was surreal. A sales floor normally bustling with employees was quiet. Everyone in the building was sitting as one huddled mass in front of the 32" and 36" tv's. The towers had just collapsed...and I was wondering why we were watching on these tv's when we had another room with all the 52"+ big screen HDTV's. Not only that, but how were we supposed to work? Sure, this happened eight or nine hours away from us, but some of us had real, live connections to NYC.

All morning long we had people stopping in just to catch a few minutes of coverage, or buy an extra tv for their business or wherever they may be going to. While it was refreshing that life didn't stop for us, I know personally every few minutes I had of downtime was spent trying to soak up as much knowledge about this as I could.

But the one thing about that day that stands out the most wasn't the act itself, or the miraculous work being done by the first responders. It was our company's owner, and his ranting. He came into the store early in the afternoon and threw a fit about us having all of this coverage on, and demanded we put on something else. I didn't care if his company was worth nearly $20 million a year...this wasn't the time to play "hands-on, know-it-all" owner. It was about real people...the people he employed that had connections to the tragedy, and people affected by it. This wasn't a car crash happening at the intersection where his store sat; it was a bona fide terrorist attack on our country.

The days and weeks thereafter were different for me (as they were for a lot of people, I'm sure). Instead of coming home, reading the paper and jumping online to see what was going on at a new website I had just come across called Stories.com, I was flipping on to CNN to see what the latest reports were. I didn't normally watch a lot of tv, but I was riveted to the coverage.

My final thought on this, after having 10 years to digest it, is that out of tragedy I believe the United States has emerged as a stronger country with a more urgent sense of community. We didn't let the terrorists win.

Oh, and that co-worker I rode in with that morning? Even though we've moved on both out of that neighborhood and on to bigger and better things, every year on September 11th we exchange messages about it. It's one little gesture among everything out there that ensures we'll never forget.

MUSICAL BREAK:

In between breaks in football games and checking on my fantasy football team online, I noticed a lot of people posting tributes, statuses and videos commemorating 9/11/01 in one way or another. One I think was particularly fitting, given the overall context of what I do here in this space. While it's important to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and those who came to their aid, the work didn't stop there. New York City had a lot of work to do to rebuild not only the areas marred by this tragedy, but the collective psyche of the population as well. I think this video perfectly speaks to that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iul3ujcBGwU

VITAL STATS:

From that point on after 9/11, if you told someone from out of state you were from Buffalo, NY, they were very apologetic and comforting...like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about the tragedy...you guys must me going through hell right now. My condolences...let us know if you need anything!" That's nice, thank you...you know, what I really need is a map, so I can show you just how far away Buffalo is from NYC . I will say that when travelling out of state a few years after, we did use the "We're from NY" card a couple of times to get better bar service and a little sympathy from the local ladies. I know, we rolled like scumbags.

Some nice pre-game tributes going on at NFL stadiums today. My Bills, in their swanky new red, white and blue unis, trounced the Kansas City Chiefs by a run-up of 41-7.

I've got the Sunday Night Football game on NBC right now...Dallas Cowboys at the New York Jets in the new Meadowlands stadium. Classy move by Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, wearing a cap with "FDNY" embroidered on it. One of the things the owner of the company I worked for at the time did was start selling t-shirts through his apparel company that commemorated the day. "God Bless America" was one, "FDNY" was another. I definitely grabbed the FDNY shirt; my boy DMFM was a volunteer fireman at the local hall. His organization wasn't called upon to contribute to the clean-up, but I wanted to represent.

I personally want to take a second to thank all of those who defend, preserve and educate us about our freedom every day, from the troops to the cops to the firemen to the doctors and nurses to the teachers. It's an amazing thing you all do that allows us to do all the little things we do.

That's it for tonight, folks. Go out and tell someone you love 'em, cuz while hopefully the words I'm about to speak never happen, you never know when some crazy-ass terrorists who haven't learned their lessons the first time about the United States decide to pull some stupid shit again. Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!