In Ireland, it was roughly 2pm when it happened. One of my colleagues came back from lunch (this was when I worked obviously) and said "Someone's flown a plane into the Twin Towers!" Nobody believed her. Then someone went online and said yeah it's a biplane. Soon after that real reports began to sort themselves out and we all sat stunned. My boss, a prick but well clued up politically, said "That'll be Mr Bin Laden then!" Even at that point there was nobody claiming responsibility, but he was right.
Work virtually stopped for the day as we all watched the news, and contacted our agents in the US, some people trying to get in touch with relatives there. When I got home it was all over the news. It was heartbreaking.
Don't think for a moment non-US citizens were not hit emotionally by this. We were. When they had that memorial mass for the victims we were all standing in our sitting room watching the telly and I just broke down, sat down and cried. Yeah, I know: baby. But it only just then hit me what had happened, what we were mourning, and how senseless it was.
I remember thinking "I'm living through history. This is going to be on the school curriculum forever now. Nine-eleven is a worldwide event, a tragedy of epic proportions. And the world will never be the same again."
And it hasn't.
God bless all those who lost their lives that day, firefighters, cops, workers in the tower, passengers on the plane, the crews, and everyone who still lives with the memory of that awful day etched into their souls.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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