Fear followed the hours of confusion and awe. In the end anger set in &8212; deeply.

As the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, approaches my mind is almost numb again.

&8220;Has it been five years?&8221; my mind wonders.

Some days it seems like yesterday that the telephone rang.

&8220;Kevin, get up. Two airplanes have hit the World Trade Center. Get here as quickly as you can.&8221;

The tone of the voice on the other end of the line was edged with the shock of someone who had just seen something she wished she hadn&8217;t.

In an instant, the TV was on and the ignorant bliss of my slumber was a memory. Nothing would truly be the same again.

A shower, so quick that the memory has all but completely gone away, followed.

Back to the TV as the socks and shoes found their way on.

Now smoke from the Pentagon.

&8220;Holy crap,&8221; my mind screamed. &8220;What&8217;s happening? And, when will it stop?&8221;

At the office, almost every one of the employees there had gathered around my desk where the building&8217;s only TV loomed overhead.

Never before had our staff been speechless, but today was different.

Eventually, we began getting over the initial shock and started dispatching reporters and photographers out to gauge reaction in our community.

Late that night, the headline for the next day&8217;s edition was typed: &8220;America attacked!&8221;

Subheads &8212; newspaper lingo for the smaller headlines below the large ones &8212; told more details: &8220;Knife-wielding terrorist forced down four planes&8221; and &8220;President urges calm in wake of nation&8217;s worst terrorist attack.&8221;

Although we discussed lots of options that day, we went with a pretty straight, pretty newsy headline. No trying to be clever with words, just reporting the news.

In newspaper circles, headlines are compared and criticized. Large news events, such as the outbreak of war or national disasters such as Sept. 11, offer an opportunity for all kinds of newspapers to compare to one another.

On Sept. 12, 2001, The New York Times&8217; head was wordy, but on point (and capitalized by its editors for emphasis, not capitalized here for better legibility): U.S. attacked: Hijacked jets destroy Twin Towers and hit Pentagon in day of terror.

Another newspaper, on the other side of the nation was a little more blunt with its message across its special edition published on the day of the attacks.

The San Francisco Examiner put it simply: Bastards!

Out of all the stories published describing what happened that day, The New York Times&8217; front-page story summed it up best.

Quite simply, reporter N.R. Kleinfield boiled all of the day&8217;s events down with a four-word sentence that summed up the day&8217;s horrors.

&8220;It kept getting worse.&8221;

A more apt description of the flood of emotions felt on that day could not have been written.

Today, as the world prepares to mark the five-year anniversary of the attack, the emotions are still present.

While not as on the surface as they were immediately after the attacks, the emotions &8212; anger, frustration and helplessness &8212; still linger when images of the horrible attacks are seen.

Perhaps the only thing that can rival the anger of the attacks is knowing that for five years, some of those responsible have still continued to live and breath while the victims&8217; families have had five years of mourning and pain.

And until the headlines read, &8220;War on Terror ends: Terrorists obliterated from face of earth&8221; the anger will keep us focused on the need to defeat the enemy.

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

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