A Sombre Day

   Hard as it is to believe, today marks the 14th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks in New York, Washington D.C and a field in Pennsylvania where one attack ended after passengers stopped the terrorists before they could reach their target. This is one of several images burned into the mind of anyone who watched in horror those events unfold September 11, 2001.
   I vividly remember that Tuesday morning. We were living in Regina, and I'd just got home from taking my wife to work. I had the coffee going, and was sitting down to watch CNN when I saw the first tower engulfed in smoke and flames. Then the second tower and Pentagon were hit, and of course 3 World Trade Centre towers ended up falling that day. In all, more than 3 thousand people were killed.
   I was so gob-smacked by what was going on, I never even thought to call the newsroom at the station I was working for to see if they needed me to come in early. Needless to say, it was frantic when I did get in. We weren't an "all-news" station, but we were giving updates every 15 minutes, and breaking in to programming with urgent items.
   It was one of those events you will remember as long as you live, watching it unfold right there in front of you. I've lived through several (but nowhere near as many as a lot of other people) starting in 1963 with the Kennedy assassination. Then there was the death of John Lennon in 1980. The Challenger explosion in 1986. And the list goes on.
   On this date, take a moment to remember the lives of those who were killed on this day 14 years ago, including first responders like the firefighters who rushed to the scene in New York City that fateful day.

TTFN