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Remembering September 11th...
Authored by: rkchang on Sep 12, '03 01:51:32AM

I can respect Rob's decision to pause a day and reflect. Every man has his way of coping with Sept 11, and no one way is more correct than another.

Here are my thoughts and experience on the matter: I was working in the Washington DC area at the National Institute of Health (NIH; yes a national agency). I had been at work about 10 minutes before a co-worker announced the attack on the Twin Towers. When we finally got a TV antenna wired up, we were confused by images of a damaged Pentagon. Shortly afterward, governmentally owned offices (including mine) were closed for the day. What was usually a 5 minute drive home turned out to be about half an hour. Both my land line and cell phone were virtually unusable, as all avenues of communication were tied up. When I got home, I was bombarded by images of the Twin Towers on the TV, that I felt I had to turn off the TV and move on and do something constructive. Since the NIH Hospital was within walking distance, I walked myself over and donated a pint of blood.

Since then, my feelings have been the same. The best way to make it out of this tragedy, is to move on. If we let everybody stop us, then the terrorists have won. I do want to stress, however, that this just my PERSONAL strategy. As a psychologist-in-training, I realize that everybody has their own equally valid ways of coping. While I'd wish that Rob would continue to post hints for today as a sign of moving on, I respect his decision and see it as a perfectly valid and good way of showing respect. Since this site is primarily run by him, he definitely has the power and right to use this forum as such.

On a side note (and in an attempt to spark some debate), I sort of feel that the damage to the Washington DC area has been marginalized in comparison to that of NYC. Emergency crews were just as busy at the Pentagon as they were in NYC. The DC economy and atmosphere has been hit probably as much as that of NYC. While we should still remember those who lost their lives at the Twin Towers, let us not also forget those who lost their lives at the Pentagon, nor those in that Pennsylvania field.


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"I have seen the evils of procrastination, and I vow to change my ways tomorrow."



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