9/11

On September 11, 2001, My alarm went off at 5:30 am, to get me out of bed in plenty of time to make it to 7:30 Aikido class at Suginami Aikikai in San Francisco.  It was a clock radio, so I woke up to the surreal announcements of "an airplane has crashed into the world Trade Center."   After realizing I wasn't dreaming (I probably hit the snooze button), I jumped out of bed to go to the TV.  Shortly thereafter, I saw, with millions of others around the world, the second plane crash into the second tower.

I watched for some time.  Finally, I made my way to the dojo, feeling numb and confused.  We set up a TV that we could see while we trained.  We trained slowly, in stunned silence, wiping the mats with our tears rather than our sweat.  I remember thinking "this is exactly why we train -- to learn to resolve conflicts peacefully."