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8:30 AM I'm aboard a train quickly taking me away from NYC and heading up North for work. It's another typical day in a string of long and tiring days that I've been struggling with this year.

8:45 AM I step up to the food car and just get there when the guy behind the count exclaims, "No way!" Yes, way. A plane just struck the World Trade Center.

An accident. Yes of course it had to be an accident. The Twin Towers were built to withstand that sort of thing. But then the report filters back to us that another plane has struck the other tower. There's no accident about it.

I begin to wonder where all my friends and family are at. Being someone who lives so close to NYC and works in the city, I know of many people who take that daily commute into the WTC. I know of even more people who work in buildings shadowed by the two great towers.

Franticly, I start dialing every number I had in my phone. The towers had come down. No signal. No signal. No signal.

The group of 10 of us was trapped in the train with no way to get out to our families or loved ones. One lady, who had just gotten disconnected from her husband, shared with us that her husband had just gone to help out. As a volunteer rescue working in the city, he would have been one of the first at the scene. Now, she had no idea if he was even still alive.

All this time, I had one wish in my mind. I wish I were near a terminal. I could sit down and zip out emails to the folks I loved and tell them, "I'm okay, how you are?"

Nearly 11:30 AM and I finally arrive at my station. I zipped off and grabbed a taxi as fast I could. "Take me here, quick." I raced upstairs and before I even said hi to anyone else, I sat down and started opening up my emails.

Sighs of relief. For when the phone systems failed, millions of voices cried out on the Internet. They reached me, letting me know they were okay, letting me know they were safe, letting me know who was missing still and asking me how I was doing. They were voices of friends, family, and thousands of unknown people, all united.

When the world stopped and all other technology prevented us from reaching out, the Internet was still there. It was a beacon in my life, keeping me connected to those I loved even though I was trapped hundreds of miles away. It was the only way for hours I could reach those I cared about to see how they were doing.

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