I was too young to remember when JFK was assassinated but as I grew up remembered people saying "where were you when." to those old enough to have experienced the sad event. Now as an adult, I find myself in that same position; old enough to "remember when" although my children are not.

As I sat in my office with my daughter in my arms, little did I know that what was about to occur would not only change my outlook on life, but my hopes and dreams for my daughter's generation and the future of our country.

It was September 11, 2001 and I was sitting in my office with the door shut, breastfeeding my infant daughter. I was a working mom, enjoying my employers' willingness to let me return to work with my daughter when she refused to take a bottle after four months of breastfeeding on maternity leave. The classic example of the benefit of living in this country had been handed to me. There were no laws to prevent such a decision by my employer and no indiscriminate firing because of my circumstances. My employer wanted me there even with my child because they felt I was worth it.

My feeding session was interrupted by my assistant opening my door to tell me that a plane had hit the trade center. I remember thinking it was an accident; probably a small commuter plane. Several minutes later she returned. A second plane had hit the other tower. I felt the blood draining from my face and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was no accident. I looked at my daughter and instantly felt fear. Not for me but for her. It was the defining moment; the line drawn in the sand of time separating "then" from "now".

As I watched our country step towards an inevitable attack against Afghanistan I wondered how much of this was intended as a mechanism to goad us into a broader conflict. Surely the terrorists knew some sort of retaliation was in order? The timing of the murder on September 10th of General Massoud, the head of the opposition to the Taliban seems to correlate with the attacks, many surmise not by accident. His death gave more control to the Taliban and their terrorist counterparts and prevented further help being provided to the U.S. when we retaliated. It appears at least on the surface that a plan was devised to deal with the retaliation.

The attack made us all feel good. We were doing something; taking away the safe haven of the group responsible and making a difference in a country where perhaps we had left too quickly

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