September 11, 2001

I remember that day very well.  I was working at the Mayo Clinic at the time.  I began my shift at 9 am Central time and I had stepped off the city bus at Mayo. I stopped in the cafeteria to get some toast, ate that then took the elevator up to the 6th floor of Methodist hospital. I said good morning to fellow workers, swiped in at the time clock and began my shift.

Two minutes later Penny runs in and says "you won't believe this but a plane just flew into the World Trade Center". I was stunned. I went and turned on the radio and there were reports that not only the Trade Center was hit, but so was the Pentagon and a plane went down in Pennsylvania. A co-worker then said "we need to pray". So we all joined hands and prayed.

I asked a co-worker named Jim who would do this and he said it was Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden orchestrated the attacks, he heard it on FOX radio. Then one of the Doctors came in and said there is a story going around that Al-Qaeda had a hit list and Mayo was #7. I wasn't sure if it was true but I called my parents to let them know in case they heard it. I wanted them to hear it from me.

At break time I went down to the cafeteria. There were at least 50 people crowded around the TV. All day I was on edge, was the United States at war? Is Al-Qaeda going to do more damage. At noon the Clinic closed the doors temporarily of the Plummer building in memory of the victims. The last time that ever happened? November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated.

When I left work, I sped home. I know I was exceeding the speed limit. Before I left I did call my parents again to let them know the rumor about Mayo being on the hit list was unfounded.

I stopped at home, grabbed a bite and headed to church. I got an e-mail from the pastor saying there were going to be special services because of the terrorist attacks. So I went, and I prayed. And prayed. And cried.

In the days and weeks follow the attacks, I went from disbelief to outrage to depressed. I guess a lot of others were the same way.

I still blame George Bush Jr for 9/11. Clinton may not have gotten Bin Laden but he made more of an effort and might have actually gotten him if the Republican controlled Congress hadn't hamstringed him by cutting the defense budget and harassing him about Monica Lewinsky.

Bush never cared whether or not he got Bin Laden:


And check out this gem of an interview 5 years after the attacks:


Thankfully President Obama cared about getting Osama Bin Laden and he did: