Reflections

Six years ago today, I was hurrying across Lehigh's campus from my house on Montclair Avenue to get to my Intro to Law class on time. As I often do when focused on getting somewhere in a short period of time, I made myself oblivious to the world around. This was the time just before the iPod was released to the music-listening public, so I was not walking at neck-breaking speed to the rhythm of the music coming through my headphones. Instead, I went through my mental checklist of things I had to accomplish that week - classes, upcoming assignments, calls I had to make, marching band practice, sorority meetings... I had made it to the Rauch Business Center with time to spare and was considering getting a drink from the vending machines when I was yanked from my personal reality and back into the reality around me.

Pools of students were gathered around the televisions in Rauch, fixated by the video footage of an airplane flying into a building that was playing. The silence was incredible. Still, I didn't put two-and-two together. If I were closer to the televisions, I would have figured out that the students weren't watching a trailer for an action movie about to be released in theaters across the nation. I would have seen that they were tuned to CNN's coverage of the attack on the World Trade Center. That the footage was reality and not something that made the transition from storyboard to movie set.

Regardless of the increasing number of spectators, I walked to my classroom and sat down in the seat I was assigned on the first day of class. With less than five minutes to spare before the start of class, I noticed that the room was a lot emptier than it should have been. I began to wonder whether I missed an email from Professor Zirkel about class being canceled. But I didn't have time to wonder for long because Professor Zirkel strolled in, walked down the stairs, and took his place at the front of the room. I pulled out the briefs I had typed up, pulled out my notebook and textbook, and waited, with pen poised, for Professor Zirkel to choose someone at random and to begin the inquisition. He never asked the first question of the class because one of his TAs ran into the room and announced what had happened.

"Someone crashed a plane into the World Trade Center."

I've never seen a room clear out as quickly as this one did. It was at that moment that all of the things I had witnessed just before class started began to make sense. I finally understood what was causing the sense of uneasiness I was experiencing. I wanted to stay in Rauch and watch the news coverage like everyone else, but it was overwhelming and my brain began to immediately list through the people that I knew who lived or worked in New York. Were they okay? Would it even be possible to reach anyone? I then thought about the trip I was supposed to make into New York with a bunch of Lehigh students who were interested in attending law school. We were supposed to go to some sort of symposium at the World Trade Center the very week those planes hit the Towers. But, there weren't enough students signed up to justify the expense, so the trip was canceled at the last minute. Someone was watching over us.

I made the decision to go home. To watch the news coverage there with my housemates. To try and make sense of what was happening. All around campus people were scattering about. I caught snippets of conversations as I made my across down Packer Avenue. Classes were being canceled for the rest of the day. No one could reach family members or friends who worked in the Towers. By the time I got home, my housemates were already crowded around the television in the living room. We watched the South Tower collapse to the ground. The sound of the television was the only sound you could hear in the house. I'm not even sure any of us were breathing more than absolutely necessary because we didn't want to miss what the newscasters were saying. Then, all at once, our phones started ringing.

My mother called me to find out if I was okay. Was I close to the plane crash? Was I okay? Could I see anything? Was I okay?

I had no idea what she was talking about.

She called just before the news aired about the plane crash in western Pennsylvania. She was worried that Lehigh was a target because of its reputation as a steel town. Wow. It took a while to convince her that I was hours and hours away from Somerset County and that I hadn't seen the plane crash. It took even longer to convince her that I was "okay." Who could honestly say they were "okay" while all of that was happening?

Although I haven't stepped outside my apartment yet, I can already feel a change in the air. Somber. Respectful. Life outside my window seems quieter than it usually is at this time of day.

Six years ago.