Remember 9/11
 

9/11 - don't forget. Don't ever forget.

Yup, I was just talking about it with my daughter as I drove her to school today. It happened right about the time I was standing up at the school bus stop with her, sending her to Kindergarten, and now she's in junior high. Doesn't seem that long ago.

I came back from the bus stop just in time to see the second plane fly into the tower, and experience the incredulous reaction from the news anchor - who was it? "This isn't an accident!"

I just realized, after I dropped her off this morning, that the college students I'll be sitting in class with today were 11-12 when it happened. My daughter's age.

I'm not sure what that means to me yet; I think it's important, though. Maybe something about life going on, or maybe the college kids having grown up in a world we older folks always hoped was a temporary concern.

May our children live in peace.

I was at work when the secretary came in and told me, "We'd better all turn to chanel 7----- a guy came into the clinic and said a plane flew into the World Trade Center,"

I remember being so confused. "What!?"

We all were stuck like glue to the tv that entire day at work---no one came to the clinic that day.

I remember lots of things. The panic and gridlock in DC as I walked several miles home (I was afraid to take the metro underground.) Cops cars all over the place like angry hornets. The smoke rising up from the Pentagon as I stood taking in the panorama of DC from various bridges.

And then later in the afternoon, the silence everywhere and the beautiful day outside when we went to the park. Save the sound of the occasional fighter streaking overhead every half hour or so.

One of our delivery drivers came in and told us about a plane crash in New York. Half of us had been there, and of those all had been up the Twin Towers. By the time we switched the news on we knew it was a terrorist attack.

We were a telephone helpline department, so took it in turns to go into our Director's office to watch the news. By the end of the day, only one person was needed to man the phones - sales dropped off rapidly as people stayed home.

There were rumours that Canary Wharf was going to be hit, and people worried about getting home - we worked in West London and all but one of us lived in East London, so it was a good hour on the Underground. I was annoyed at people trying to borrow trouble, and the fact that some of the secretaries were crying because they knew people in America (none of them anywhere near the places targeted). The idea that hours later the terrorists were going to strike again just seemed like scare-mongering with everyone already on Red Alert.

To be honest we found it all quite exciting. The reality didn't hit home for quite a while. It seemed like something out of a film to start with.

I will never forget watching Bryant Gumbel (is that his name?) being SOOOOOO flip -- "we've had a report that a plane has hit the WTC, but, haven't confirmed anything just yet" and he moved on to other matters. It was his delivery that - in hindsight - bothered me most.

I will never forget being unable to reach my brother who works in DC, lives in VA, and the look in his eyes when he FINALLY made it home to Central PA - he decided that he didn't need to ever go back. Or the argument between him & his wife that we can't let terrorists dictate how we live our lives. (she won...)

I saw a military plane fly over this morning coming in to work. I don't know if it's heightened security or just a normal run (we're not that far from Wright-Patterson AFB.)

I was working at the Country Club that summer, so I didn't go in until later...my ex turned on the TV and said "you're not going to believe this." I watched and all I could say was "Why?" At that point it was all still confusion; no one was sure what was happening.

Then some golfer came in to the Club for lunch and said "who'd we piss off now?" I wanted to smack him, did he not see the horrific events that were unfolding?

Talked to one of my best friends this am - He worked in the North tower on a weekly basis for a company on the 90 whatever floor - He was there the week before and had appts scheduled the following weeks as well. It was pure fate that he was not there on 9/11. He worked with/knew about 175 people that perished that day. I am thankful for him as a friend and that he wasn't there when it happened. He will never forget, nor will I.

I hope that those that lost members of their families on that day have recovered and are enjoying life again.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/column...2284636.column

:'(

I remember my husband calling me from work, and saying turn on the TV something terrible is happening, and just sitting in front of the TV, stunned. Even this morning I was in tears, had to leave the room, ven the news coverage still upsets me. I live about a mile from a military base (literally) the size of Delaware, and I know they are on heightened security. My school district has red white and blue day for the kids. Mine were 5 and 1 when it happened, so they really don't remember when it happened, but we talk about it every year. It is still so painful to think about.

I remember when I was in elementary school and the space shuttle blew up. The teachers were absolutely beside themselves...but I guess it's harder for the full gravity of an event like this to pop the bubble of a child's blissful innocence.

When you're a kid, things blowing up is something that happens in movies, so it's usually pretty cool. The reality that things blowing up can be a bad thing...that's a hard lesson.

Plus, we're conditioned as Americans to expect that we will be the ones doing the blowing up of stuff, not the other way around. Our default reaction to something blowing up is to cheer. It's especially confusing to a child--to not cheer when something blows up.

I was instant messaging with some online friends, when one of them started telling me what was happening on the news he was watching. I didn't get the scale of it at first. He was a New Yorker, living a long way from NY. I watched his heart break in 3 text messages.

Juniper, a similar thing occurred to me today. For us this was an event, with smaller or greater repercussions depending on how personally affected we were. For the youngsters approaching young adulthood it is one of the foundations upon which their modern world is built. It is part of the ground on which they tread.

Like the Cold War. I don't know anybody who didn't have nightmares about nuclear missle attacks.

I wonder what kind of nightmares are making the rounds these days?

Edit: The important difference being, on second thought, that the nuclear war never happened (unless you're Japanese), whereas we're talking about an event here which did happen. What's worse, as far as "nightmare material," the suspenseful build-up, or the actual event?

I remember the rage I felt. Still feel, really.

I was totally clueless about it until the early afternoon. It was my day off and I slept in. When I woke up I just dithered around the apartment...didnt turn on the TV or the radio. I took a shower around noon and then went to the bank. The drive-thru had notices up saying the bank was going to close early for some reason or another and I was curious about it but didn't think much of it. Then I went to the Dime Store and as I was getting my purchase rung up I asked the clerk if she knew what was going on with the bank. She said something about planes flying into a building in New York. I just thought whats the big deal??? Then I got in my car and turned on the radio and found out. I went to my Mom's to watch the news about it. It was totally surrealistic for me. It still is...really.

If you haven't seen United 93, I recommend it. The account of the events as they happened, as the powers that be realized the magntitude, it's really incredible, and hard to watch.

I was out and about inspecting unused guardshacks for the Navy and when I finished and returned to my workplace, I found everyone glued to the TV and the receptionist told me I'd better get in there. My first thought was I had missed a training lecture but the raw emotion flowing out of that room told me something bad was up.

I went in just as the second plane hit the other tower. My words were... "Oh SHIT!" then silent for another hour while I absorbed the events.

All at the same time, we ran for the phone, called our detailers and tried to get onto a a Med Fleet ship. Unsuccessfully, it turned out, as the rest of the armed forces had the same idea. We burned up the phone lines in Washington until they cut em off.

I wish I could have gotten back on my previous ship but it sailed that day.

My memories are of the hospital. Having spent an entire 14 hours enduring labor through the night, right around the time I was starting to feel the "push" urge...the doctor walked in and announced that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and we were having a baby today. All of the concentration and meditation I had used to control the pain (it's not "pressure" like they said!) without meds, sort of dissipated and things felt very disconnected. The gravity of that statement he made didn't really hit me in that moment. Something about him being a doctor and my being in intense pain and ready to have my late-term baby led me to feel a momentary, annoyance at a doctor's use of arrogant high drama..."wait...what did he say?" A few hours later, in a percocet(sp?) induced haze, I remember laying on the hospital bed, while my son's father was out, getting groceries and gas. Tired and relieved, I turned on the television. "Hmm...this looks like an action movie." *flip channel* "What? The same movie on this channel, too?" *flip*flip*flip* "What the hell is going on?" Yeah, it was surreal for sure...and very sad. Recovering from a Cesarean in a hospital leaves one feeling a little sheltered, but also a little paranoid. I was wondering whether it was safe to go home after that. What a scary time. I feel fortunate that I have something to celebrate from that day, though.

At least you'll never forget his birthday.

So how is it for him having his birthday on this day? Does it have any affect at all?

The deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States was the Galveston (Texas) Hurricane of 1900, on September 8th.

Yeah, huh?

We don't really mention the coincidence to him much...we have talked about it with him, but the central focus has always been his birthday. He is aware that it is the same day and somehow I think it enhances the drama of the day for him. He still has a sense of solemness (is that a word?) about it, but that doesn't overwhelm his excitement about "turning 7" at this point.

I remember I was getting ready for work, and I had the news on. It was after the first tower had hit and they were showing the fire and reporting on it and then I saw the second plane hit live. I was like WTF!?!? And then the shocking realization that this was not an accident and that we were under attack sunk in. I was freaking out.

At that time I was teaching Microsoft certification classes at New Horizons. I called my uncle and my mom and woke them up and made them turn on the tv. I told them we were going to war.

It was really strange going to work and seeing no airplanes in the sky. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion that day. A lot of people were scared. Very few students actually showed up and those that did were more interested in whether or not more planes had hit.

I pulled up some streaming news, but the net was so congested with other people trying to do the same thing it was hard to get a feed.

I remember people were walking around quietly and sort of like zombies. About 3 or 4 days later, people were filling all the talk radio stations talking about dropping nukes on the middle-east. People were pissed and wanted someone....anyone to pay.

George W. Bush had already let the whole Bin Laden family leave the country and rather than go after the Saudis or Egyptians (15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi, and 4 were Egyptians), he started spreading lies about Iraq having WMDs and being an eminent threat to America even though the CIA told him this wasn't true. He was looking for a scapegoat, and he found it in Saddam Hussein.

That pretty much sums up my thoughts except I'd include the ghosts of those who died, too, in the hope that they have moved on by now. One of my strongest memories is watching the newscasters struggle to get a label for the events, a shortcut for future reference. They tried so many and then began drifting toward calling it "nine eleven". And hearing the bits of reporting you knew, were certain, would be scrubbed from future newscasts as they retold the story. Without scripts the poor dears were confused as to what they should say or not say. And the silence in the sky because commercial aircraft were grounded was the background music for it all.

People used to share stories like this about JFK, too. I never really understood the need to do this before 9/11.

I remember Challenger, too. I was sitting in class and the announcement came over the PA.

I was going from Art class to Geometry, and I heard about it. When I asked people, "Did you hear the space shuttle Challenger blew up?" They kept asking for the punchline. They thought I was joking.

I remember around this time the movie "The Day After" came out and they warned us that it would be traumatic and horrifying.

I amember when Reagan got shot...I was walking from track practice back to the HS and my friend yelled over and told me.

9/11 was an awful day. For the people personally affected, forgetting isn't an option. Continuing to use "Never Forget" as a political weapon is done though. It is time for America to stop bull-shitting herself. In terms of scale, worse things have been done to people, some of those things by Americans, they just weren't repeatedly watched on tv. I'm just going to thank any flamers in advance.

I think about that sometimes Griff, especially when a big natural disaster strikes, like the tsunami or the recent earthquakes in China... and the news reports are talking about 30,000 dead. That's more than ten times the number we lost in 9/11, and twenty times the number who died in Katrina. We can't even conceive of losing that many people in one event.

9/11 was personal; you can only blame the gods for a natural disaster...but 9/11 was personal, like someone breaking into your home, violating you.

I was at work and on active duty. We watched it on TV right after the first plane hit and then we watched live as the second plane hit. It changed our views and changed our country.

Falling...

(warning: graphic) not for conspiracy theorists who think the government blew up the towers with explosives.

http://www.werismyki.com/artcls/falling.html

I was in the 8th grade at the time.

I was in a video production class...our movie was running late because the boy who was chosen (by the teacher) to be on camera that day was too stupid to read the cue cards so by the time we got back into the classroom it was almost time to switch classes. I remember seeing everyone crowded around the GIANT WALL SIZED TV that was in that room...and there was the first tower, on fire. I figured it was a movie at first, and was confused about why my teacher was watching it...then I noticed the tension in the air around the adults, and kids being rushed to class in the hallways, gym classes being ushered inside. My next class was with my second cousin who teaches social studies, he had us come in and sit down in our seats, and told us what was going on. He gave us the option of having our class with the TV off or on. We decided to have it on with the sound down. (The second tower had been hit in the change between classes, so we were doubly confused at that sight.) I have no idea what he taught that day, but about halfway through class the realization that this was something very big and very scary hit me, and I started to cry.

I remember that for gym class we were walking the track around the football field that day, and we all walked very slowly, talking quietly amongst ourselves. You don't realize how quiet it is without planes in the air if you live next to an airport.

There were rumours going all through the lunch room about us being a target because we had an old airplane factory here during WW2 or something, everyone was confused and it was building into more lies and scares.


When I got home that day I took a long walk by myself, and I guess I must've been pretty unusually quiet around dinner, because my mom pulled me aside to ask if I was ok. I told her I was, I was just scared about what it all meant, who had done it, and why. She said she felt the same way.

It's interesting to see how everyone's accounts are similar, and different, and how it's something that we all remember, relate to, and share. I'm suprised at how much I can remember, the clear blue sky, the silence that hung in the air with grounded planes, how it felt wrong to enjoy the nice breeze and warm sunshine, how some of the adults tried to hide it from us, and others were very up front (no talking about it in some classes, TVs on all day in others.)

Hope that gives a little insight on how the kids felt that day.

I had just arrived at work, and heard the uncertain news reports trickling in on the radio. No one was quite sure what to make of it. They talked a bit about the B25 that crashed into the Empire State Building in the 40's during bad weather. It was only when the second plane struck that it became apparent that it was a terrorist act.

We didn't have a TV where I worked, so one of the guys ran up to WalMart and bought one. He got the last one...people had been snapping them up right and left that day. We watched the coverage, horrified, stunned, transfixed, for the rest of the day. No phone call from clients passed without the attack being the first thing discussed. Family members called many times out of a sense of discomfort and fear.

For me, the greatest horror sank in, not when I thought of those who were vaporized by the impact, or burned alive by the blazing fuel that exploded through the building. It was the images of the living who chose to jump to their deaths rather than suffocate or burn that stuck with me, and still do to this day. The sight of those people plummeting, clawing at the air, legs churning as they reached terminal velocity is an unparalleled horror in my mind.

It is an event that hasn't ended yet, as our government has chosen 9-11 as an excuse to strip us of our rights, record our comings and goings, tap our phones at will and generally move forward with the trappings of a totalitarian state...all supposedly in the name of our safety. But by making us safe from outside threats, we become more vulnerable to threats within our own government. Years after the beginning of a war which has caught and killed everyone except the one person who stood before a camera and said, "I did this to you", our country is hemorrhaging money at a rate not seen in modern times, and we are told that to question *any* of it means we are not patriotic, that if we do not willingly surrender our rights, we are helping the terrorists, that we should trust our government to only spy on the bad guys.

The terrorists succeeded beyond their wildest dreams on 9-11-01.

I wish eternal rest to those who died on 9-11, and to those who have died since while pursuing their sworn duties to protect us, the American public, whether the battles they fight are justified or not. I wish comfort, peace and strength to the survivors of that day, both those who lost loved ones...and to us all.

Personally, "Never Forget" has nothing to do with politics, it has everything to do with remembering those who lost their lives and their families.

The Wife woke me up, saying "A plane just hit the World Trade Center!"
I thought "Ahh, it's bullshit. Probably a movie she tuned into halfway."

If only...

I was in algebra class. When I got out all of a sudden there were all these rumors about a bomb, planes, country-wide attacks. It was insane, confusing, and I thought it had to be some crazy bullshit. I didn't get the whole story until I got home and could watch the news. Its still surreal.

When I was 10 I believed that nuclear war was inevitable. It had been talked about so much and we had been given instructions on what to do - I just lived with it as something that was coming at some point.

What I had childhood nightmares about was being blown up on the Tube. In the end it wasn't the IRA that hit the Tube, it was the Islamic terrorists, but the IRA were targeting stations (as well as pubs, tourist attractions, hotels etc etc) and it was my own private, personal fear. Before every trip we took to London (and we spent a lot of our holiday time there) I lay away for hours, crying and offering frantic prayers to my Guardian Angel and to Mary as they were known to be softer hearted than God. I was terrified of being trapped in that rushing dark with smoke and death and splinters.
I would say - both. The IRA were a very real threat, and hit targets in England enough times that they weren't just bogeymen - they were killers. I was never actually afraid in London. Once I was on the journey, with my parents, grandparents, siblings, I felt protected, normal, unworried. It was the night before that was the issue. Alone and frightened and knowing that I wasn't just being silly because people had died.

The actual events were worse of course. Although I was never involved, some of them make me cry even today. I find it hard to talk about Enniskillen and Omagh for example - I wrote about Enniskillen on here somewhere and it still made me so angry.

Terrorism is worse than the fear of nuclear attack imo. Because it's the gift that keeps on giving. You get disruption, fear, suspicion, insecurity, and the acceptance that what has happened before will happen again except this time it might take your family with it. And someone, somewhere will be celebrating when they do.

I don't remember much, but I do remember that I was in my 10th grade art class when our teacher turned the t.v. on and we finally found out what was really happening after hearing all sorts of rumors in the halls.

There were a fair number of transplanted New Yorkers at my school, and I remember some of my classmates being either in mute shock or wailing hysterics. Hearing one New Yorker friend's thoughts in a creative writing class I had that semester is what I remember most of that time period -- the broken-hearted shock, the sadness, the rising determination, and always the question of Why, why, why.

People's parents started to come pick them up to take them home, and as we moved from class to class, the population dwindled. The administrators tried to make an announcement to turn off all t.vs, but the teachers let us choose. We usually asked to keep them on, because the uncertainty was worse than anything.

Some people became convinced that "they" were going to come bomb Disney World, because it was a cultural icon, or Miami, because it was a port town, or our high school, because it was a... well, I'm not sure why anybody thought our high school would be a target. But the fear was in us just the same.

My 9/11 story is a little odd. At the time, I was married, and my and my then wife were attending Pittsburgh Technical Institute.

She had morning classes, I had evening. She didn't have a license, I did. So we drove in together, she went to class, I got my night's sleep (a longer story) in the car. Yeah, that's right. For three years, the only sleep I got was in my '93 Ford Tempo......anyways, as I was sleeping on 9/11, my ex woke me up, said "Andrew, wake up...the WTC and Pentagon have been bombed"....I was in sleepyland, so I thought I was still dreaming, literally. So I said, "yeah, yeah, alright..." and rolled over in the driver's seat to nod off a bit more. She kept on, and I finally woke up, and put the radio on. So the radio started up with just what she said, the WTC and Pentagon all blown up and shit. Well, I was still rubbing the cobwebs away, and I still did not believe what I was hearing. All my life there'd been nothing but peace in my country's boundaries.

It actually took me to physically out of the car, walking into the campus, and hobbling on into the cafeteria and watching the bigscreen in the corner with CNN on for me to believe what was going on.
After that, I went to my first class of the day. The professor walked in, a tad pale-faced, and said, "Classes are cancelled for today, go home and be with your loved ones. Pray for survivors." It was horrible, that day. We actualy had a few guys in our class stand up and say "Fuck it I'm enlisting right the fuck now" and they left right then and there, headed for the barracks.