I'm no fan of USA Today, but I found this article fascinating.  Makes you ask the question, "what would I have done?"

[url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=676&u=/usatoday/20020903/ts_usatoday/4412365&printer=1]Delay meant death on 9/11[/url]

Good article.  Thanks for the link.  

To be honest with this question I would have to reply by saying "I don't know". This is a situation that I think is impossible to evaluate unless you are actually right there in it. But to speculate... If I witnessed the attack on the first tower my instinct would lead me to start running down the stairs (that's of course after running to the bathroom to clean myself up). The last place I want to be is in an elevator when things are looking shaky.

The other instinctive thing would be to pray. Even those who do not acknowledge the existence of God, or those who know He exists but pay little attention to Him will instinctively call out to Him when they are powerless to change a situation.

I'm am certain that I would have got on the phone and called my wife - that's the first thing I did when I heard about the attack on 9-11.

I found the fact that people lived or died in groups to be very sad. It brings to mind the helplessness of the situation. It is also an interesting commentary on human nature -- when unsure, people tend to follow the crowd.

That's my thoughts in a nutshell.

"Delay meant death"   Usually does.  

I find two things make this article worth reading: they correlated the exact location of the victims/survivors, job type, prior experience, etc. and came up with a fascinating picture of what made people decide to do one thing and live vs. something else and die.

The other thing is that what actually unfolded in the Towers on 9/11 turns a lot of cool analysis on its head.  I tend to analyze and be indecisive, and I almost certainly would be dead.  The instinct to flee saved a lot of lives, while others who try to be "cool under fire" ended up in little vials.

Other than that, look at the very last story about the guy who "went out to take a look" and was the only person in the meeting to live.  Its a sober reminder to make your peace with God, because you never know what the next hour will bring.

BTT, cuz, hey, why not?