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You are here: WiredSafety > Special Programs > September 11 > Archive > A week in the life of a volunteer since Tuesday 11 September 2001 A week in the life of a volunteer since Tuesday 11 September 2001To WiredPatrol volunteers everywhere, we have always been a team and although we sometimes work in isolation, we are never really alone, thank you for being there... 06:30 GMT, Tuesday 18 September, 2001 Since I woke at 6.30 am last Tuesday morning, I have racked up 23 hours sleep, the remaining 145 hours have been spent in front of my computer. Tuesday 11 September began as a normal day. As I say, I rose at 6.30 am, saw my kids off to school and at around 8.00 am, coffee in hand, I headed for my office to begin my day. I had been working for around 6 hours or so and had just downloaded a bunch of e-mail from folks in New York who had obviously not long gotten into work themselves when two neighbors arrived, obviously worried and tried to make me listen to what they were saying about the news that had just begun to break from America. Even now, it seems like a horrible dream. Practically leading me to the TV (I don't remember actually turning it on) they stood in silence, watching, as I experienced the awful truth revealed. One of my hands covered my mouth, the other my heart and I felt a chill run through me in a way I had never known before. Even the tears which had begun to run down my face felt cold. I thought of my husband (and bitterly regretted the strained tone of our most recent conversation), my friends, my colleagues, all in Manhattan at their offices. I thought of the passengers on those fated planes, the workers in their offices and the people on the busy streets below the World Trade Centre and as the first tower disintegrated, I very nearly collapsed myself. My neighbors tried to tell me that the 'phone lines were down, but I dialed my bank of familiar US numbers anyhow, one by one, in sequence, like an automaton. Again and again and again to be greeted only by a computerized voice telling me that my call could not be connected. I remembered that the Internet was designed not to be disabled so easily and turning to my 'net connection, I was able to begin tracking down some of my people within minutes. Those minutes turned to hours and although I was happy to have found my friends and colleagues safe and well, my husband's cell phone just kept patching me through to his voicemail. By the time I finally reached him, some 17 hours later, my work here was already in full swing and relieved to hear he was safe and well, I pitched myself 100% into the task that lay ahead. Thousands upon thousands of people were going to be accessing the Internet for help, comfort, guidance, information, solace...and thousands more would be accessing to defraud, denounce and disrupt. I knew this in my heart and although it was aching for the people affected by the unspeakable acts of terrorism I has witnessed a few hours before, it was also resolved to helping and supporting everyone I possibly could. The one and only way I could. As a WiredPatrol volunteer. WiredPatrol has given me the opportunity to assist many hundreds of people in a way that I could not have imagined. I have researched, posted, coded, uploaded and generally done anything and everything I could to make sure that our Web site was kept up to date with the latest information for the families and friends of the victims of Tuesday's terrible events. I have spanned the full spectrum of emotion during the last seven days. Horror, shock, disbelief, grief, hope, panic, anguish and anger. But the one emotion that ran true and constant throughout was love. It is that love which gave me the strength to keep going and it will continue to do. I will not give up. I have moved my bed into my office and when I do get a chance to catnap, the Internet connection is left running and the e-mail alert volume is turned to maximum, I don't miss any important messages that way. But I am not tired. Just inspired by the love alive in our world. No guns, knives, bombs or any other acts of violence or cruelty can ever take that away. So...since I woke at 6.30 am last Tuesday morning, I have racked up 23 hours sleep, the remaining 145 hours have been spent in front of my computer... |
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