My diary entry from 12 September 2001:
Yesterday was a truly unprecedented day. It was quite a while before the magnitude of what had happened really sunk in. When I heard about the first plane crash, I assumed it must have been a small plane that crashed. Not unheard of. I think there was even a film in the 70s on that premise.
Then as I realized that the reason that yahoo news was not responding was that we had just undergone a terrorist attack of unprecedented scale, I went into shock. I had planned at staying at work, despite the offer that those who felt uncomfortable were free to leave. Until I discovered that another employee who I needed to set up some network stuff had already departed. As I was writing an e-mail alerting other employees of my planned departure, the VP came around and let us know that the building was being evacuated.
I don't think I really became fully aware of the extent that I was in shock until I made it home and after lying down on my bed for a moment quickly fell into a deep sleep.
I went for a couple walks through the neighborhood in the evening and turned the TV on and off, not being able to watch for very long.
And what I realized is that what I fear far more than any terrorist attack is the seemingly inevitable reactions by Americans. Is there much room for doubt that there are morons assaulting people of middle eastern descent and throwing bricks through the windows of mosques? Or that the government will soon do the same on a much larger scale with a knee jerk (and ultimately fruitless and self-defeating) attack on some mid-Eastern nation.