About 9:30, an employee walked in my office, asking me if I had heard about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.  Of course, I had not and wondered how such a thing could happen.  Making a mental note to pray for the victims that night, I resumed my work.

Shortly afterward, I heard a TV in another employee’s office, which was highly irregular.  Investigating, I learned of the second plane crashing into the other tower.  Then, they asked if I had looked out my office window, which had a view of the Pentagon.  Returning, I saw the huge billowing smoke, and it was drifting toward my wife’s office, also in Alexandria, where they eventually evacuated. 

Turning on WTOP, the local all-news radio station, I heard that a truck bomb had been detonated in front of the Federal Reserve, a short distance away.  Fortunately, it was untrue but it certainly helped set the tone of a massive terrorist operation.

Since there could be no focus on the job, I told anybody who wanted to go home that they could leave immediately.  Along with one assistant, I stayed throughout the afternoon, in case any clients wanted to talk.

Whenever I looked out of my window, I could see the smoke and flashing lights at the Pentagon.  Looking down, I could see the traffic was virtually grid-locked.  I saw smaller cars trying to drive on the sidewalks.  When I finally left the office, it took me 3 1/2 hours to get home.  Frequently, during the interminable delays on the road, I offered silent prayers for the dead.

The lady who lived next door to us worked in the Pentagon and was severely traumatized by the attack.  In fact, I doubt she ever recovered fully.  As she ran from the Pentagon, she lost one of the heels she was wearing and obsessed about the lost shoe for a very long time.  Maybe, that helped her to live with the memory, and I wish her well.

With ten years of perspective, I now think Osama bin Laden did to the U.S. what Reagan did to the U.S.S.R.  (Remember the Strategic Defense Initiative?)  That is, bin Laden forced us to choose between capitulation or bankruptcy.  The U.S.S.R. essentially capitulated but too late to avoid bankruptcy and no longer exists.  The U.S. will never capitulate and predictably chose the path to bankruptcy (or at least accelerated on that path toward bankruptcy).  I know we won’t get there, but I am very glad that the insanely brilliant bin Laden is rotting in hell, where he belongs!