business trip, 2001

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the atrocity of September 11, 2001, in which over 3000 defenseless women, innocent children, and unarmed men were, without warning, indiscriminately and mercilessly killed as an act of war by a group representing a movement led by people who had never been harmed by the people they murdered.

That's a fairly long sentence, but it sums up the basic facts about Patriot Day.

On this day in September, 2001, I was on a business trip, flying to Georgia to conduct some work. The plane had a scheduled stop in Dallas, TX, for passengers such as myself to change planes. Upon landing, the passengers were informed about the events in New York and told that flights out were delayed. As the morning wore on, all flights, as you know, were cancelled.

Passing by a television, I saw on the screen the second plane going into the second tower, and I knew that this was no accident and that the nation was under attack.

It was a remarkable scene there in Dallas International once 10,000 people realized they were now stranded. But, because of the immense impact the atrocity had on people, everyone in the airport acted calmly, rationally, and without rancor, except toward the bastards who brought war to the nation.

Obviously, my business trip was cancelled for the time being, and I had to make arrangements to get home. Compared to most others there in the airport, I was lucky in that Oklahoma City was just a few hours north on I-35, and if all else failed Pam could come and get me - we would just have had to make a long round-trip of it since by the time the news broke all hotel rooms were filling up very quickly.

I knew by instinct that the availability of rental cars would be quickly exhausted, but began to make my way to the car rental area anyway. On the way there, I met a man and overheard him speaking on his cell phone that he was making his way out, that he had secured a car, and would be in Kansas City sometime that night. Once he got off the phone, I approached him and told him I had overheard and asked if I could share a ride. He heartily agreed, and I introduced myself, "I'm Rick Scott." He appeared slightly startled, and introduced himself as "Hello, I'm Scott Ricks" and gave me a business card. And I was startled as well.

At the rental car counters, there was an immense line of people, and obviously there would not be enough cars for all of them. But, everyone stood politely, calmly, but they all had looks of grave resolve, as I must have had. As folks left the rental car counters with an available car, they each, without fail, announced into the crowd their destination and asked if anyone needed a ride.

When Scott got his car, he did the same and we picked up a passenger needing to get to Kansas City. I don't recall the name of the other passenger, but he later identified himself as one who had worked as a building engineer, one of his previous jobs being to help build the World Trade Center in New York.

It was an interesting trip north on I-35. Every main artery was clogged with vehicles - apparently, the local and federal authorities, concerned about security in various parts of the city, had blocked certain streets and highways. But, eventually, we were cleared of the city and on the open road. The third passenger, the building engineer, did not seem confident that the World Trade buildings would survive the fires, and that if people did not evacuate quickly there could be upward to 10,000 deaths as a result of the collapse of the buildings. When we got closer to Oklahoma City, the news became clearer about the cause, the effect, and the extent of the damage in New York. And this was the first time we heard about the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

Outside the house in Moore, OK, I said goodbye to my traveling companions and wished them well. There wasn't much more to say, but the three of us, having shared the past few hours of our lives together, gave each a look that indicated there was little we had to say, we were all thinking pretty much the same thing, that is to get to our loved ones and begin work.

On the farmage this morning, Pam and I spent time watching some news about the day, taking care of the morning chores, drinking our coffee as usual. But, the feeling we have is the same feelings have every time this year, remembrance of an atrocity that should never be forgotten.