New York City 9/11/01

At 9AM on Tuesday September 11, 2001 word spread in my office that a plane had hit the World trade Center. People on our 35th floor gravitated to the southwest corner office to see for themselves. A radio with the news was playing in that office, revising our immediate assumption that it was a small plane that had somehow strayed into the building. But no one said anything, we just stood and watched, NYC skyline, blue sky, and smoke.

Squinting, trying to see thru the black cloud of smoke, we began to realize the extent of the damage to the tower. The smoke was thickening. We saw what looked like a jagged, almost horizontal crack in the building. 

Then, without any warning,  the middle of the second tower exploded  into a huge fireball, expanding horizontally, double the width of the building.

Later, we realized that a plane had been on a heading from behind the towers, directly towards the towers, which blocked the plane from our sight.  But at that instance of impact, there was no sound inside, except the single woman who screamed 
'oh, my God'. 

Then, we knew. No accident, this was deliberate. 

The world changed for us, forever, at that instance. 

Photo: REUTERS/NY Office of Emergency Management

Litany Against Fear
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past,
I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Frank Herbert - Dune