A few words on 9-11.

I'm sure, especially in the U.S., we all know where we were when we heard the news on 9-11-2001. I was home. A day off. I slept late getting up. About 8:40 I left my bedroom, walked into the living room and turned on the TV. The Imus in the Morning program was on MSNBC. Within a few minutes Don Imus mentioned that something happened at the World Trade Center. Just as with the Kennedy assassination, I along with everybody else was glued to the television from then on. I learned that the two planes that hit the towers originated here in Boston. Then we learned about the crashes in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. This was, should have been, and is a giant wake up call for Americans. That was a scary day but not as scary as it was to the people who were killed on that day. All innocent victims going about their lives. Travelling for various reasons, business, pleasure. Going to work. Walking down the sidewalk. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was off that day and generally spent the whole day and evening in front of the television.

About 200 people who perished had Massachusetts and Boston connections. Though I did not go out that day it was pretty chaotic around here. Those first two planes flew out of Boston. The terrorists were here first. What happened in New York cast a shadow over what happened here, as it should have. New York is the premiere U.S. city. The attacks happened there. Still it was an uneasy feeling knowing my city played a major part in this event. The city itself happens to be the big city closest to New York City. There has always been the sports rivalry. No matter what the sport. Back to the days when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth the Yankees. That could have been us. But all that is just superficial silliness. That day we all mourned and were angered as Americans. They were on our shores. And of course there were the attacks in Pennsylvania and Washington. They don't get the press or talk that the twin towers get, though they were no less horrific, but I can only comment as someone who was in the Boston area. You almost can't help feel just a tiny bit of guilt because that act started here, at least on American soil. It is a day we can never forget, just like the Kennedy assassination. A day we know exactly where we were and what time it was. We should never forget. I know I won't.