So here's My Response to the September 11th Question Below

I was mostly unemployed doing a contract for Prodigy (Internet Architecture for an online Help system). The job was a hideous far drive away, a hideous maze of cubicles, and a hideous experience overall (though paid well). It was a six week gig and I finished the work in about two weeks, so for four weeks I had to show up and spend eight hours of my life sitting at equipment that barely worked, eating Baked Lays, and writing while I waited for the clock to count down. The job ended the week after the 11th.

There were TV monitors in the huge open halls where the elevators were (this was an immense corporate office). As word spread, people filtered into the hall to watch. I probably stood there for a couple of hours, then went to call my best friend (who was a New Yorker for twenty years). Then I went back out and sat on the floor and continued to watch. I was still fixed to the screen that evening when I saw an interview on one of the major TV stations with a Minister and a Priest and the guy who was interviewing (Man, I wish I could remember who it was, but it was a biggie), asked the question: Should Americans have the right to demand vengeance? The minister said yes and encouraged an immediate response that included eye for an eye mentality. The priest said no Christian response could ever include "vengeance" as a motive for anything.

The priest was shut down and not allowed to finish his statement or continue the discussion.

I turned off the TV.

It felt like the end of the world.