yesterday, we were sent home from work early because of the proximity of our building to the sears tower in chicago, which people feared was a potential target for terrorist attacks. i have often wondered what would happen if our building, which has 23 floors, ever caught on fire. would i have the presence of mind to find the exit and run down quickly enough to escape? in 1991, when i was still living in manila, there was a massive earthquake whose epicenter was a few miles away from the city. our 8-story building shook fearsomely. the walls swayed at least six inches and i was sitting there petrified to my seat. even though we had been trained to head for the nearest exit and run as far away from the building as possible, i had NOT acted. i was in shock and i couldn't move.
when i saw on tv how some people jumped off from the building because they couldn't stand the flames, i felt for them. they knew they couldn't survive the heat, and so they pray that the jump would deliver them.
i feel numb.
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