Post-terror Decosit: A weird, slow-motion dream
By Susan Andrews -- Furniture Today, September 17, 2001
BRUSSELS, Belgium — After two days of good business at the Decosit fabric fair here last week, all thoughts of commerce vaporized as news of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington reached the halls of the Brussels Expo.
The first impulse of American's here was to contact family back home, but cell phones were iffy, regular phone lines impossible and the Internet clogged.
Then came the realization of impotence in the face of random, catastrophic violence.
The next day, when everyone had been able to make some contact with home, the situation resembled a weird, slow-motion dream. With air transit at a virtual standstill, there was no way to return quickly to American soil, no matter how desperately people wished to do so.
The sense of being a proud American was universal among U.S. exhibitors and visitors, who were drawn like magnets to be with one another as a group. Huge American flags were raised at the Covington Fabrics booth and at others, while a sickening sensation of helplessness washed over everyone.
Most everyone showed up at their stands on Wednesday, not for commercial reasons but because of ingrained professionalism and the knowledge there was nothing else to be done for the moment.
The palpable sense of frustration was overwhelming and no amount of rational thinking could squelch the impulse to get home. It simply felt wrong to be anywhere but home.
On Monday, fabric executives had characterized show activity as ranging from "average" to "very good." Mike Shelton, president of Valdese Weavers, summed up the post-Tuesday mood: "It's an entirely different world today and none of that matters."
