At 9:38 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77, under the control of al-Qaida terrorists, slammed into the west side of the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.

Just moments before, I had driven by the Pentagon, hanging on the radio reports coming from New York about two planes that had struck the World Trade Center.

As I stepped out of my truck in the parking lot of the The Journal Newspapers, where I was executive editor at the time, I heard the impact of the Boeing 757. I thought it was a Dumpster being dropped from the back of a truck.

The ground trembled and then the smoke appeared, barely visible above the trees that surrounded the office.

On that day, when we worried about our friends, our homes and our country, I imagined many possible futures. None of them match what has happened. We have a country at war around the world and with itself.

– David Farmer