It was 11:00PM Penang time when I logged into an audio conference meeting with my US Counterparts. I still remembered vividly, DA (one of my counterparts) had called in from home that early Tuesday morning, Pacific Standard Time. About half way through the meeting, we could hear his wife shout from the kitchen and we asked what had happened... and he told us what, until today still bring shivers to the bone - "My wife just told me that a commercial airline has slammed right into one of the World Trade Center Towers..."
While the people in NYC, at what is known now as Ground Zero, were running for their lives, I almost felt as if the rest of the world came to a standstill... Terrorism in broad day light, in one of the largest cities in the world, in the city that never sleeps....
All the attendees in my meeting were horrified. We quickly ended the meeting and dashed home. I remembered calling IL at home telling her the horrific story - who immediately called my sister-in-law to make sure that she was okay (who by the way was MILES away from New York - in Tulsa). But well, it was just precautionary... but the family soon discovered that the phonelines into the United States were jammed! Well, we soon got to her and confirmed that she was alright.
The rest of the night were pretty much spent glued to the telly, tuned to the CNN channel.
And it's been 7 years past now. How time flies. And how most people around the world may have easily forgotten about the horrific incident on that dreadful Tuesday morning. There is a sense of solemn-ness, being here in the US as this nation remembers 9/11. Flags flown at half mast, TV News Channels observing a few minutes of silence, The NYSE stops and observes the same minutes of silence. The newspapers' headlines filled with the nation's flag and pictures of flowers and filed-pictures of the incident, with columns of interviews with the survivors and familes of the victims. Well, being the nation under attack - I guess it is quite tough to just totally forget what happened 7 years ago.
I guess the most (or the best) that we can do (no matter what faith background you may come from) is to utter s short prayer of peace and healing for those who have survived and those whose loved ones perished in this inhuman attack 7 years ago as we remember September 11...
boon out...
