I wrote the following about what I saw on September 11, 2001.

I work on 40th Street and Broadway, in the Times Square area of New York City, on the top (25th floor) of 1440 Broadway, 4.6 miles from the World Trade Center. On Tuesday morning I got a late start, as I was having a great time out with friends the previous night. I boarded the southbound 6th Avenue express IRT at approximately 9:20 am. The trip was going along quite normally until we were passing between 125th Street and 59th Street. During this point the train had excessive delays, and the conductor explained that the reason was because “two planes had collided with the master broadcasting antenna atop the World Trade Center”. I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not they had collided together, and what type of planes they were that collided with the antenna. Were these people trying to get on the news, flying small planes and trying to land on top of the building and missed?

At long last the train arrived at my stop, 42nd Street. I got out and started to walk west to Broadway. As I entered the building, I noticed something was going on. The building security was making everyone sign in, show identification, and was searching some people before letting them in. This is quite different from the virtually non-existent security that I normally see in the building. I saw two co-workers going towards the elevator, and asked them about the heightened security. They (and the building maintenance men that were also waiting for the elevators) looked at me strangely, and told me that two planes have flown into the Twin Towers, and one of them had collapsed. I couldn’t quite process this, and had to see for myself.

When I got to the 25th floor, I immediately went out to the balcony overlooking southern Manhattan, and saw that they were right indeed. I sat on the balcony for a few minutes, soaking in the scene. Where one of the towers was, I only saw a tremendous plume of smoke. There was a gaping hole in the other. I still couldn’t process the magnitude of what was going on, but knew that I needed to immediately alert family members and loved ones that I was OK. I went to the phones and saw a voice mail message waiting to be picked up, and it was my mother, concerned about my safety.

It took a while to reach people, because the phone lines were most likely getting overloaded with people calling in. About 20 minutes after sitting at my desk to make a call, I heard a co-worker shout for everyone to come to the balcony again. I got to the balcony and watched the second tower. I could feel the floor of my building shake from the monumental collapse of this 110-story building. I can still hear the agonizing sound of millions of tons of metal buckling and falling.

About an hour later I was satisfied that I had reached the majority of people that I needed to reach. E-mail and instant messaging were godsends to me, as cellular phone service was out, and the landline circuits were still pretty overloaded. At this point I started to realize what danger I could be in. The radio was on in the office, and I heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon. As I was finishing my calls/e-mails, I heard about the plane landing in Pennsylvania. I looked out the office window, and saw the Empire State Building, a mere .7 miles away, and got a sinking feeling. If the rumors were true, and there were more hijacked planes out there, and we could not stop them, then the ESB would be another prime target. If that was the case, I needed to get out as soon as possible. However, two of my colleagues had just been outside, and told me that they saw people shooting outside, apparently looting. I waited in the building for about a half hour, weighing my options.

I needed to get back to my Bronx apartment, which was about 10 miles north of the office building. I hit the street approximately 12:30 pm. First on my mind was my church. Being a man of faith and prayer, I knew that prayer was needed for the many victims of this tragedy. However, by the time I reached the church at 51st and Broadway, the group prayer had already finished, and the pastors were urging everyone to get to t heir homes safely, not to wait another minute. So, I walked into a corner deli, bought a bottle of water, and started walking.

I walked up Broadway from 51st to 181st street. For the most part, as I was passing through the Upper West Side area (70s and 80s) people that I saw on Broadway were taking this situation rather lightly. I heard a woman complain about her local Starbucks being closed, so now what would she do without her raspberry Frappucino? As I got to the Columbia University area (116 Street) I heard military jets fly overhead for the first time. I started to see people who were attempting to grasp what was going on. The cell hone conversations (when people could get connections, which was rare) became different than those on the Upper West Side. I heard one woman exclaim over the phone, “Yes, Dad, this is real. There are military fighters flying overhead!!”

Once I got to 181st Street (around 3 pm), I turned off Broadway to cross the bridge into the Bronx. It was a site to behold on the bridge, as there was a 100:1 ratio of people to cars. I also saw many good Samaritans doing kind deeds. People in vans were picking up elderly and pregnant women, and offering water to people who needed it. I paused for a moment on the bridge and looked southward. The gigantic plumes of smoke, that I was sure were so real to the people around the WTC, were still blanketing the entire southern tip of the island. I would have to wait until the many fires were finally put out before I saw the new Manhattan skyline, without its most prominent member.

Life on the Bronx side of the bridge was more normal. Whereas one could not get a cab, and there were precious few cars on the road in Manhattan, in the Bronx one could catch public transportation and cabs as usual. A kind family offered me a ride back to my apartment, as they were going the same way. As I sat in the back of their van, recounting with them portions of the views that I remembered, it started to sink in. America had just been attacked.

Throughout this tragic day, I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness and generosity of fellow New Yorkers. People went out of their way to help each other. It’s unfortunate that we needed such circumstances to see the goodness in one another, but I hope that we all sustain the spirit of harmony in starting to rebuild southern Manhattan. If those who performed this evil deed thought that they would divide this country, I can say first hand that I saw the opposite happen.