We must never forget and we must find and avenge these actions. But that's a task best suited to our government. There will be rumors for days about who is responsible. It is possible that members of certain ethnic groups will claim responsibility. But we must ask you to remember that most members of these ethnic groups are just regular people and please remember that most of your neighbors are just as scared, or more so, than you are.

Right now, we're all a bit freaked. Our economy's been troubled and now this has happened. We must take our time to grieve for our fallen citizens. But we must not allow those responsible to permanently affect us. In a day or so, we'll all go back to work. As a society, we must pull together and keep our heads up, recover, rebuild, and move on. Our best wishes go to everyone, and of course our deepest condolences go to those who fear for their loved ones.

For those of you reading this from outside the U.S., please send your good thoughts to those in American who have been impacted by this tragedy. It has not been a good day for the United States, but the courage and dedication of emergency management personnel has been incredible. Also, we have many readers who are involved with the various news services. Our thanks to those of you who are going to extraordinary lengths to keep us informed. Hang in there, everyone. We'll survive this.

One final note: there has been some fear that Wireless World 2001 was at the World Trade Center today. This is NOT true. Wireless World 2001 will not happen for a few weeks (and it'll obviously be somewhere else).

Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - Aftermath
What an emotionally trying day it has been for us all! It's 3:23am on Wednesday and I'm just getting home after spending the evening with good friends, trying to make sense of this tragedy.

As I walked up to my front door from my car, I met my neighbor, who'd just gotten home as well. Completely out of the blue (this is a guy I might pass on the way to my car once every three or four months) this neighbor of mine decided to tell me that I should work out more and that he'd whip me into shape. When I told him I exercise regularly with a trainer, his response of "Well, then he's obviously not doing a good job," nearly sent me over the edge.

I was livid -- and bummed. I didn't want to be angry at my neighbor today. I wanted to be able to say kind things and reinforce our little sense of community. Instead, I did a "Yeah, Freddy, whatever you say," shook my head sadly, unlocked my door, and fed my elderly cat her thyroid medicine three hours late.

These little vignettes are being repeated across the nation. Everyone's freaked. Some react in kindness and some are striking back out of their own pain. And some just say the wrong things. Because I was so stressed, I had the urge to slug the guy. Fortunately I've got a good deal of self-control and I was way too drained to get into a silly battle with a neighbor.

I can't really say anything here to soften the shock and horror we're all feeling. There are people still trapped under the rubble, calling out with the few precious remaining minutes of cellphone battery juice. It's so unsafe to approach what's left of the World Trade Center that hundreds of firefighters are still missing and presumed dead. So the only lifeline these trapped people have is a possibly final call for help on their phones.