FIRE!

You know how when you yell, "Fire" in a crowded room/building, it's the fastest way to get everyone out? Well, what if you yell "Fire" and everyone just thinks you are trying to get them out or it's a drill; so instead of fleeing to the nearest exit, they begrudgingly trudge towards the door making sure they grabbed their cell phone and some snacks in case they are stuck outside a little while before they're able to come back in?

That's sort of what happened yesterday at work. Around 10:15 am or so, this sound went off (which obviously was the fire drill) that started off slow, almost like someone stepped on a cat. At first I thought it was my co-worker's cell phone (he has some pretty crazy ringtones), but then I realized it was the fire alarm. After having experienced so many fire alarms while I was an RA (since we had a faulty system), I was ready in like 30 seconds. I locked my computer grabbed my purse and cell phone and walked out.

My fellow workers (on my floor and the other companies on the other floors) weren't necessarily as quick to respond as I was. I'm on the 15th floor, in case you were wondering. As I head to the stairwell I hear grumblings about how they can't believe they have to walk down 15 flights, and how they chose today to wear heels. Once in the stairwell, many of the other people from the other floors had similar complaints.

We had several "traffic jams" if you will and we had to stop several times (I still don't know what the hold up was) while in the stairwell. I kid you not, it literally took us 15-20 min. just to get down all those floors and outside to the "safe spot." Many people said if it had been a more serious situation, we all would have died in the stairwell (this statement was later refuted, however, because all high-rise buildings are required to build stairwells so that in case of a fire, the occupants can survive for up to 2 hours).

Many people thought it was a drill. Still others, I'm sure, immediately (or perhaps it slowly dawned on them) thought it was a terrorist, since it was in fact the day before 9/11. You know what I was thinking? All I kept picturing was "The Office" episode where Ryan burns his pizza and so the fire alarm goes off and everyone has to evacuate. Then, Dwight, the couragous, do anything for Michael person that he is, runs back into the "burning" smoky building to retrieve Michael's cell phone, which incidentally is in Michael's pocket. I just kept replaying the funny parts of the episode in my head as I made my way down the stairs (that and how I needed to write a blog post on it).

While I do not want to make light of the fact that today is September 11th and that it seems crazy that it was seven years ago that it happened, I think that those that died that day would not want us to not live our life in fear. Our country has made great strides in our safety and security, and while we do and should remember the tragedy and the lives lost that day, we must also do all we can to live the lives that sadly they could not. Remember the events of 9/11 to improve tomorrow and make the future better so that it does not happen again.

For those that were curious, it was a real fire, but it was in the building/parking garage that is attached to ours (there's a little cafe over there). Not sure how big, but there was a fire engine. Oh, and by the time we got outside, the alarm turned off, and everyone was allowed back in. Yeah, I went out to lunch. (And may I just say, my legs are so sore from walking down all those stairs!)