June insisted on watching the end of Bicentennial Man (terrible Robin Williams movie) when we got up that morning, otherwise, I would have been watching CNN at the time the second plane hit. She was in the shower when I switched to CNN, and I remember being really confused about what I was seeing, and the commentators still weren't sure, either. And later, after watching the towers fall, we left the house believing that ten thousand people or more had just lost their lives on national televison. It seemed wrong to be going to work, but we didn't know what else to do...
A co-worker left the office sobbing that afternoon when he found out his cousin had been on the first plane...
A couple of days later, June said we needed to get a flag, and I understood the sentiment behind it, but I also knew that jingoism was just around the corner. She knew it, too -- we didn't get a flag. We both feared the backlash against Muslims in this country, and sure enough, the hate crimes began before the week was over.
After the fog of the first few days lifted, I knew that our "leaders" finally had carte blanche to do whatever they wanted in the name of revenge, justice, and patriotism. And nine years later, they still do...
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