On September 11, 2001, I was on the air at KTDY. CJ was off that day. One of my colleagues from our news/talk station, KPEL, came to the studio door and said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. I hurried to the news computer- on the other side of the building in those days- and read the bulletin. I didn't believe it. I thought that someone had hacked in to the news system with a cruel prank. Then I looked up- there was a small television in the KPEL studio then- and by that time, there was a TV camera aimed at the World Trade Center. It still didn't really sink in, even as I looked at the scene with my own eyes. I grabbed what little information we had at that point and tried to digest it so that I could speak about it- I had to report what we knew in our next newscast. I'm sure my voice was trembling as I read the terrible news. As the minutes passed, and the second plane hit, the Pentagon was hit, the towers collapsed and Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania, we came to realize the enormity of the incidents and that they were no coincidence.

When I watch the news footage and the documentaries now, eleven years later, it still seems unreal, and it still breaks my heart to hear the stories of the heroes, survivors and those who lost their lives that day. Do you remember how you felt when you first heard about it or saw the video footage that morning? The shock and horror we all felt? September 11, 2001 truly was the day everything we knew about our world changed. No matter your politics, always remember the Americans who had no choice that day. Let's never forget.

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