When I was younger, I remember talking about the Kennedy assassination with my father and him saying that he remembered exactly what he was doing when he heard the news. At the time, I remember both wondering if memories around such a tragic event could really be that clear while hoping that I never had to witness such an event in my lifetime.

On September 11, 2001, i was working as a tech support specialist providing support to users of a web based telephony service. Although it wasn’t allowed, I took advantage of the fact that I was wearing a headset to keep a German radio station streaming in the background. After all, having something in the background besides the monotony of my co-workers dealing with angry customers probably helped assure my sanity. I remember receiving a call from a woman, but can’t at all recall what she was calling about. At some point during the call, I remember thinking it odd that the German station was reporting a heck of a lot of something about New York. Eventually, try though I might, my mind wandered from the customer’s issue and I found myself listening with incredulity to the German broadcaster. Eventually, it became clear to my customer that I was not paying attention and she rudely asked if I was still on the line. I assured her I was and asked if she happened to be near a TV. She admitted she was and I asked her to please tune in CNN. I don’t know why she didn’t hang up on me, I’d probably hang up if a tech support rep asked me to do such a thing, but she obligingly turned on CNN. After maybe a few seconds, I heard her sharp intake of breath and realized with sudden clarity that I wasn’t misunderstanding the German newscaster.
That particular support call lasted about thirty minutes, way longer than the time allotted by my employer for such calls. My customer kept up a steady dialog describing what she was seeing on the TV, both of us apparently having forgotten her original issue. I don’t know if that particular call was ever monitored for quality assurance, but if it were, the person monitoring it would have heard us both in tears by the end.

As mentioned above, I was providing support for an Internet based phone company and as such, I received calls from all over the world. over the next few days, I received many frantic calls from people desperately trying to contact friends and relatives in and around New York. I received two calls I’ll probably never forget.
The first caller was a man from a country in the middle east. After waiting forever to talk to me, he informed me that he felt so terrible about what happened that he was calling all the US companies with which he was doing business to personally apologize. I remember him tearfully trying to explain to me that such actions are not condoned by Islam and that the events that took place in New York were something he would regret for the rest of his life. I really had the impression the man was sincere, after all, it must have been important to him given the amount of time he had to wait to speak with me, especially given the cost per minute for the call itself. I wondered if I’d feel strong enough to do what he did, personally apologize to people I never met for events I had nothing to do with.
My second call was from a woman who was trying to contact her sister. She knew her sister was fine, but was frustrated that her call wasn’t being completed over our network. I could see that her calls were being routed via one of our data centers in New York, a center that for obvious reasons had gone offline. I tried explaining this to the woman and attempted to reassure her that call capacity would soon be restored. As I was doing my best to calm her, she broke in saying, “oh, does this have to do with that silly bomb thing in New York?” I didn’t know what to say, I mean how can one respond to something like that? Our call was “accidentally” interrupted, I’m not sure if my slamming the button to hang up had anything to do with it, but suspect it might have. How could one guy feel so passionate about what happened that he was moved to call around the world to apologize while someone right here in the US felt inconvenienced by what she termed “that silly bomb thing??

Like everyone, OK almost everyone, the events of September 11 effected me greatly and I came to realize what my father meant when talking about his memory surrounding the Kennedy assassination all those years ago. I remember hoping i’d never have to witness something so traumatic and realize my kids will now undoubtedly be hoping for the same thing. To all those effected by September 11, know that you’re in my thoughts and prayers.

Steve