Re-Imagining September 11

A thought experiment: Place yourself back where you were the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The sky is that clear humidity-free blue that comes with the approaching fall, and the office towers of the Northeast are teeming with people as the work force is in full swing after summer vacation. You drop the kids at school, or go to class, or sit at your desk. Your mind is focused on work, on the cable news scandal of the day (the Chandra Levy murder was big back then), or your daily exercise routine.

You hear news of an explosion in an office tower in New York.  Possibly a small plane crashed into it. "Wow, isn't that something?  How could that happen?" You turn your attention back to your day. Minutes later someone says there was a second explosion in New York — was that another plane? You get yourself in front of a TV and begin to stare. "My God, is this terrorism? Did they say it was passenger jet? American Airlines? Are we at war? What is going on?" Your thoughts turn to people you know in New York — "where is their office again?" You try to make cellphone calls, but the networks are overwhelmed. Disconcerting.