This morning I was walking into a client's office which happens to be a large transit company in a metropolitan city. As I was about to walk through the automatic double doors a gentleman stopped me and asked if I worked for this transit company. I replied yes. He asked if I would take an large manila envelope inside for him and run it up to accounting.
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In milliseconds my mind went through a series of thoughts: 1. Why can't you take it upstairs? 2. What's in the envelope? 3. Why are you asking me? 4. Security should be able to take care of that. 5. Where is your employee ID? 6. Could that be a bomb? 7. Could that be anthrax? When I finally regained my composure I let this person know that I would not be able to help with his request and that he should seek assistance from the security guard at the front desk. He said OK as he departed. He never tried to speak to the security guard.
I was left wondering, would I have reacted with such almost rude suspicion before 9/11? It didn't matter what race he was, or that he had on a nice suit or that he was rather polite. All that mattered was that envelope, the contents and why he couldn't take it in himself.
Like many, 9/11 had a profound effect on me. I lost friends, colleagues and memories when the towers came down. In the mid 90s I worked across the street from the NY Stock Exchange. For a little extra exercise I would take the subway to the Towers stop, drop of shoes to be repaired or clothes to be cleaned, grab a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee (official NYC breakfast) from my favorite sidewalk guy and walk to work. From 1998 until 2001 I flew to anywhere in the world that tickled my fancy, on a whim. That has changed drastically. On 9/11 my favorite Mexican restaurant was destroyed and one of my favorite places to shop was obliterated. The place where my then boyfriend proposed to me is gone, international travel has slowed to a trickle and I still can't bring myself to go down to lower Manhattan when I visit New York.
The experiences of that day have made us all more careful in our daily dealings. However, I was never more concious of how 9/11/2001 effected me until, on May 10, 2007, this gentleman asked me to perform the simple act of taking an envelope into a building and I refused. The entire interaction took less than 15 seconds and I had to ask myself...
Am I paranoid?
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