drolltroll
Chieftain
I was in Congresswoman Nancy Johnson's office in the Rayburn House Office building, in Washington, DC having arrived a little early for a 9:00 meeting. Another lobbyist and I watched CNN on a TV in her waiting room. We watched the replays of the second plane hitting the WTC, then we heard that the pentagon had also been hit.
We decided that we were not going to be having a business as usual meeting that day, left our cards and indicayed that we would reschedule our meeting. As we were starting to walk out of the building, I will never forget a Capitol policeman running down the hall, yelling, "everybody out, everybody get out of the building."
We had to walk from Capitol hill back downtown to our hotel, because the streets were in gridlock. I remember saying to my friend, "let's walk right down the middle of the mall, That way we have the museums between us and any further targets."
As we got to our hotel near metro center, a convoy of military buses and ambulances from Walter Reed drove past, fighting the grid lock, trying to get to the pentagon.
Later that day, I remember taking a break from the non-stop TV and going down to the street from my hotel room. The street gave me a surreal feeling. Where two or three hours before there had been gridlock, now the streetsof Washington, DC, at two or three in the afternoon were completely deserted. No one was walking, no cars were driving by, nothing.
About that time, I finally got through to my wife on my cell phone to let her know I was alright.
The next day, I was on the noon train out of Union Station. The first train leaving Washington, DC for Connecticut, where I live. As we rode up the eastern shore of the Hudson in New Jersey, The feeling looking out the windows at the Southern end of Manhatten which was now very smoky, and which was missing those magnificent twin towers, was almost overwhelming.
My hope as we take this time to remember, is that we will never forget, and that we will never allow ourselves to become so complacent again. We must redouble our efforts to stop terrorism. Not just against America, but anywhere in the world. Not just in the middle east, but in Africa, in Southeast Asia, in the Indian sub-continent, where ever it exists. Terrorism must be seen not as a legitamate way for the oppressed to strike at there oppressors, but as an EVIL, whenever, and wherever it occurs.
We decided that we were not going to be having a business as usual meeting that day, left our cards and indicayed that we would reschedule our meeting. As we were starting to walk out of the building, I will never forget a Capitol policeman running down the hall, yelling, "everybody out, everybody get out of the building."
We had to walk from Capitol hill back downtown to our hotel, because the streets were in gridlock. I remember saying to my friend, "let's walk right down the middle of the mall, That way we have the museums between us and any further targets."
As we got to our hotel near metro center, a convoy of military buses and ambulances from Walter Reed drove past, fighting the grid lock, trying to get to the pentagon.
Later that day, I remember taking a break from the non-stop TV and going down to the street from my hotel room. The street gave me a surreal feeling. Where two or three hours before there had been gridlock, now the streetsof Washington, DC, at two or three in the afternoon were completely deserted. No one was walking, no cars were driving by, nothing.
About that time, I finally got through to my wife on my cell phone to let her know I was alright.
The next day, I was on the noon train out of Union Station. The first train leaving Washington, DC for Connecticut, where I live. As we rode up the eastern shore of the Hudson in New Jersey, The feeling looking out the windows at the Southern end of Manhatten which was now very smoky, and which was missing those magnificent twin towers, was almost overwhelming.
My hope as we take this time to remember, is that we will never forget, and that we will never allow ourselves to become so complacent again. We must redouble our efforts to stop terrorism. Not just against America, but anywhere in the world. Not just in the middle east, but in Africa, in Southeast Asia, in the Indian sub-continent, where ever it exists. Terrorism must be seen not as a legitamate way for the oppressed to strike at there oppressors, but as an EVIL, whenever, and wherever it occurs.
). My wife, having recently given birth, was sleeping soundly in the bedroom as I maintained silence in the house. 
