Hi Serbian Canadian,
Great question.
I remember that day very well.
I had a job selling online advertising out of my home. My "office" was right in my bedroom. So that morning, I woke up kind of late, and began checking my email. At the time, I would have news headlines sent to me by email. That's how I used to read the New York Times. Anyway, I woke up feeling very groggy and then I checked my email. I saw a headline from the Times saying "Plane Hits World Trade Center." I didn't open it to read it. I figured I'd get to that email later. Also the first thing I thought was that one of those small propeller planes hit the WTC, and that it was only a pilot error. Then a second email came, and the heading read "Second plane hits World Trade Center." Still I couldn't imagine that America was attacked.
I logged onto Yahoo Messenger, which we were all required to do, then I started going through a list of people I needed to call for the day. All of the sudden, my Yahoo Instant Messenger beeped. It was a message from the company's IT guy in California. I thought to myself, what would the IT guy from California want with me? Usually it was the other way around. I would call or email him if I needed something. And he would get back to me in a little while. So I opened his message. It read:
"Are you OK?"
So I said:
"Yes of course. Why do you ask?
He then went onto explain how terrorists flew two planes into the WTC, and that the WTC was razed to the ground. Then I turned on the television and saw it all. And of course I saw that the Pentagon was also attacked, and that another plane went down in Pennsylvania. Then it all hit me. I was enraged! I thought to myself that it was all Bill and Hillary Clinton's fault. I wanted to call the U.N. and mouth off to them. But I couldn't find a phone number for them on their website.
Also, my phone was down. I was unable to make any outgoing calls. But I could receive incoming calls. My mother called me, and I cried to her. My manager called to see if I was OK, and said to take the day off. However, I didn't want to do such a thing. I didn't want the terrorists interfering with my routine. So I tried to go on like I normally would. But I couldn't. I was too upset.
I went outside for a few minutes. And I could see the black smoke from all the way downtown. Also, there was that awful smell that remained for several weeks. At one point, I had to put a wet washcloth around my mouth to try and avoid it while sleeping.
