Where were you

when the world stopped turning - that September day? (Apologies to Alan
Jackson)

I was at work. Talking in cube land. Then one of the guys walks in and
says that he heard on the radio that a plane hit one of the World Trade
Towers. I'm thinking - ok some private plane went out of control and and
hit one of the building. Bad but not terrible. So back to the office and
I start cruising the web looking for news. Response was really slow. My
work has (at that time) a pair of OC-3 lines to the public internet.
Things were slow everywhere I went looking. CNN, FOX, MSN, whatever.
Finally came across a news page that confirmed that a passenger jet hit
the tower. So I called home and let the wife know. She was just on her
way out the door but stopped to watch the tv. At this same time I found
a live feed from the BBC of New York. We both saw the second plane hit.
I don't think I've been the same since.

I was watching a review of the coverage on Fox News this afternoon. I
was doing ok with the coverage till the people started jumping. I can't
imagine what kind of hell you would have to be going through to
jump to a certain death.

My boss and a couple of co-workers were traveling at the time - out in
California. I was supposed to run a meeting that afternoon. Yeah right -
totally unable to focus. I just wanted to hug my kids and the wife.
Muddled through the day and went home and did just that.

Thing1 said that school was pretty quiet that day. They had the tv's on
in the rooms and were watching the coverage. Thing2 said that teachers
talked about it but tried to keep the students minds occupied.

Thinking back to that day - I was pissed. I wanted blood. And I
still do. I have to wonder if we (the U.S.) didn't invite this type of
attack by the lack of retaliation for the first WTC bombing or the
attack on the USS Cole. It seems that the Islamafanatices thought we
were just going to take it like we had previously. Maybe launch a cruise
missle into the desert. Wrong. W kicked the SpecOps guys loose in
Afghanistan. (Read 'The Hunt for Bin Laden' for more details) The Talban
are gone and millions are free.

I still want blood. When every terrorist that wants America destroyed is
dead - I'll stop wanting. Some may think that this line of thought
contributes to more hatred of America - I say no way. These people hate
our freedom, our lives, the fact that everyone has the right to pursue
liberty and happiness. No guarantees but the right to pursue is there.

And thanks to the men and women (and thier families) who put the uniform
on, who put their asses on the line, who sacrifice so much every
day so that we can live our lives as we do, we will survive. We will
prosper, and we will help make the world a better place.