DFW: The View From the Midwest

This past weekend we caught a good bit of the 9|11 tribute coverage (one would have to live in a cave to miss it), and it brought back the day in full... so tragic and life/generation-altering for so many. 

On 09-11-01, I was living and working in a suburb of the San Francisco Bay Area.  I heard the telephone ringing while showering.  When I picked up, my mom said, "I know this is illogical, but I had to call to make sure you're ok, that you aren't traveling." 

"I'm not, but why?" I asked. 

"Have you not seen the news?" 

It was 6:30am, Pacific Time (9:30 EST).  Although I usually listened to the news while getting ready, I had not tuned in as of yet.  I watched the first tower fall and then left for work.  Not going to work would have never occurred to me.  The thought of a passenger plane full of civilians being shot down made me nauseous.  The towers and the Pentagon crashes were in the past tense already.  The crash in Pennsylvania, once reported, felt like defeat.  Like everyone else, I read online reports all day.  I returned home for lunch for the sole purpose of watching more coverage.  That afternoon, I passed a Middle Eastern family on the sidewalk of my apartment complex.  They eyed each other and protectively glanced at their young child, trying to determine if I would be friendly or hostile.  I smiled and said, "Hello." They visibly relaxed and smiled back.  I watched hours upon hours of coverage that week.  Like we all did. 

Skip was living and working in Sarasota, Florida.  Having no time zone delay, he was apprised of the news immediately.  Adding to the surrealness of the day, he was working off site at a local hotel.  He lunched at The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort, where President Bush had lodged the previous night.  As a history major, he tends to view events in a broader context... that a successful attack was inevitable... that it will happen again regardless of which party holds office and in spite of our very best efforts and all available measures and resources... that we are naive to think otherwise. 

My favorite author, David Foster Wallace, penned an article chronicling where he was on 09-11-01.  The article originally appeared in an October 2001 Rolling Stone.  Bear with the opening page wherein he discusses the pressure to display a flag.  Given that he was eventually reduced to tears over his inability to procure a flag, we can assume he loved his country.