A completely empty sky

By Doug Wagner: I was working in Communications at Rockwell Collins on that day. Not long after we had finished our stand-up meeting in the center of our department, my desktop computer news gathering widget started buzzing with notifications that a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. "Not that bad..." It wasn't long after that when the widget offered a nearly continuous feed of information. The notifications went from bad to worse to horrible to, "I can't believe this is happening."

Rockwell Collins had recently installed video monitors at select entrances to broadcast information for employees and visitors alike, and I walked to the nearest door to find someone re-tuning the monitor to a local television station. They were on a national feed of what had happened. I was amongst a number of people who stood, transfixed by the sights broadcast from New York City, albeit through a fuzzy screen because we were picking the feed up through an antenna and not a direct feed.

I called my wife and we talked about the horror of it all. Several co-workers and I talked about what we had seen and scoured news sources to find the latest. The minutes flew by, as if in fast forward. Later in the day, I remember stepping out into what seemed to be a cooler than normal day, though the high temp was normal. As I looked up into a crystal clear, blue sky, I noticed something that an American may not have seen in decades or scores of years. An empty sky. Not only no clouds, but no contrails. It was a completely empty sky.

This emptiness was reflected in the hearts and souls of people across the country and around the world. But, in sorrow, many came together in houses, businesses, neighborhoods and places of worship to reaffirm the same ideals and values our country and our humanity was built on. We asked how a Creator whom we love and loves us could allow such a thing to happen. And we received the answer in the quiet conversations and acceptance of outreach from friends and strangers alike. We were made to find a way to share joy and multiply it, as well as share sorrow and divide the pain.

I pray that our children and their children will never have to live with the memories of such an act. And while the skies above us are full again, I'll never forget my 9/11 earthbound view of a completely empty sky.