9-11

September 11th, 2001 I was in Sacramento, CA on business. It was early on the west coast and I was preparing for my day and listening to NPR. Like everyone else, I instantly turned on the news to see what was happening.

I won't go into the particulars about how I felt at that time other than extreme sadness for all of the victims of our terrible enemy. People I could easily identify with because I to am a business traveler, noncombatant, and simple citizen.

I know how the airline industry works. So as soon as I heard flights were grounded, I rented a car. The first day I made it to Flagstaff, AZ. The next day I was in Amarillo, TX. The third day brought me home.

It was a lonely drive, filled with talk radio and an audio book book I purchased for distraction, "The Third Hand." Not a particularly good story, but it was something to listen to other than the radio.

Bruce Springsteen went onto do a great album about the attack, The Rising. One song in particular caught the essence of my drive, "Empty Sky." I've been on so many planes I instinctively look up and count the airplanes when I am outside. There were none on my drive and it made me feel very lonely. I don't mind being alone, and sometimes I crave it, but that is different than feeling lonely. The world was different that week.

It has tried to get back to normal, but it never will be. The bar for evil has been raised to an all time high. Anxiety is founded on reality, and just leaving on a business trip or vacation has added stresses that we never thought of before this date in 2001.

I still travel, as do countless other people. But isn't it more than just sad to think that your fellow passengers and crew are so similar to all the people we lost eight years ago, as well as the people working in the Twin Towers and Pentagon.

The brave firefighters and police who ran into the carnage are heroes of unmatchable courage, and I will always admire them.

Flight 93 in western PA was full of selfless people who saved possibly hundreds if not thousands of lives, and the will always be heroes.

It's 9-11 again, and that is how I feel.