[weisan]

Got to work earlier than usual here in Austin. A few weeks ago, the boss decided that we ought to be "tuned in" with what's going on around the world and came up with the brilliant idea to have the entire office plastered with wide screen TVs mounted everywhere and CNN News blaring at us non-stop 24/7. So when 9/11 happened, we all knew almost immediately because we were bombarded from all sides with the news reporting. We all stopped what we were doing and were just glued to the TV screens. It was silence and just plain shell-shocked for the most part. I remembered thinking to myself (and I say this without any malice or prejudice), "What a bunch of cowards! I was not surprised they would stoop this low but what surprised me was, it didn't happen more often or sooner." As someone with an outside perspective, I guess I was always aware and sensitive to the seething hatred harbored by certain people around the world towards the US, it was just a matter of time and opportunity that something like this would happen. No matter what, it doesn't change the fact that this is evil in one of the many expressions going on around us on a daily basis but because of its impact and geo location, it got us to sit up and pay attention.