9/11 - do you remember?

[Carth]

SO ON ANOTHER NOTE

This morning, at about 9 AM, a news network was replaying some of the 9/11 news footage, so I sat down to watch it with my dad. I'd never actually looked at the footage very closely before - I was only eight when it happened, of course, and I could hardly comprehend what I was seeing, much less be shocked beyond "aww, the towers are gone." And...it was sobering thinking of how terrified and hurt people must have been that day. [size=0]And if, nine years later, we can prove we ARE strong, we HAVE recovered, and that we aren't still running around in panic wait i did say it was another note never mind[/size]

I also found out today that my uncle had an appointment every Tuesday in one of the towers on the higher floors, but due to a delay his appointment was canceled on September 11th. His two children were seven and five at the time. Oh my god.

[SilverPrince offline]

Hm. I just went through the thread and apparently I haven't posted in it until today.

So yeah. I was in 4th grade. I remember my teacher leaving, and then a few minutes later she came back and said to us all - I still remember the words - "Somebody bombed the World Trade Towers." I had no idea what they were. She turned on the TV and apparently classes were cancelled that day because we didn't do any actual school stuff the rest of the day. The building was locked down.

I don't specifically remember how I felt that day. "Oh my God, so many people..." or something like it, probably. It didn't actually dawn on me until a few years later - I was a very naive child - that someone actually attacked this country with the intent to kill people because they didn't like our way of life.

I remember, for much of the year after that, after the Pledge of Allegiance, we would sing God Bless America. I also remember that the local paper gave out these free posters of the flag with the words "REMEMBER 9/11/01" below it, and they were everywhere for quite a while.

I also found out today that my uncle had an appointment every Tuesday in one of the towers on the higher floors, but due to a delay his appointment was canceled on September 11th. His two children were seven and five at the time. Oh my god.

Stories like these always give me the chills. I can't imagine what it would be like, to have an appointment or something but you end up not going for whatever reason and then something horrible happens where you would have been.

[green offline]

I also found out today that my uncle had an appointment every Tuesday in one of the towers on the higher floors, but due to a delay his appointment was canceled on September 11th. His two children were seven and five at the time. Oh my god.

My dad had a business trip to go on that would've taken a lot of travel time, so he had intended to leave the night before, but I made him stay long enough that he was too tired to leave until the next morning. If I hadn't he would have been on a subway line that wen't right under the towers at the time of the attack. The details are sketchy since I was about 7 at the time but still O_O

Not to mention I have a lot of family that lives in New York (Manhattan specifically). I may not have understood it at the time, but it's definitely a very sobering thought now.

[JesusFreak offline]

My aunt used to work in the Pentagon....


On the actual day of the attack, my dad was on a business trip. During school (I was in the 5th grade I believe.) we were inexplicably forced to stay inside during recess All I heard when I got home from school was that terrorists had hijacked some airplanes from the same airline he was on. Oh God, I was so scared.

The whole day emphasized a theme in my life; nobody tells me the whole story until it's too late or until I can't hear it, unless I look myself.

[TheLQ offline]

Wow, 9 years ago was a long time.

I was 9 when it happened, and was at Elementary School. I do remember some teachers coming around to other teachers talking about something. I also vaguely remember a random (at the time) moment of silence. The rest of the day all the adults seemed a little sad or depressed, and didn't talk much.

That night I remember going home and seeing the video's of it happening on the news, as well as night shots of NY where half the city was flashing lights from police, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles.

My reaction was actually not mad or scared. To me at age 9 it was a bazillion miles away and didn't affect me. It wasn't until a few years later where I actually started to care. It might seem harsh, but at that age its hard to feel sorry for something when it didn't affect you.

--

Its interesting to watch some of the shows that analyze the whole thing a few years later once people could use the Freedom Of Information act to figure out what happened. Its surreal, since most of the stuff that went on behind the scenes wasn't reported to the news.

[. offline]

I remember being scared. Vulnerable. I remember this stuff being all over the news, and every single channel was covering or off the air. The only channel that was actually still running during this time was comedy central.

Thank God for Comedy Central, in a time when I think plenty of us DESPERATELY needed some form of escapism, they where the only ones offering.

I remember being angry. That huge surge of patriotism we all had the months following. Bush was a freaking rockstar back then. We wanted to go to war and take these sons of beotches down.... So began the war on terror! .... and then for some reason we invaded Iraq. 9 years later, we still haven't caught Bin Laden. *le sigh*

The only positive thing to come 9 years later is that I feel very confident that they'll never be able to do something to us on this scale ever again. And with each passing attempt, we've thwarted them/they've shown their own stupidity.

[TheAppleFreak]

Well, today is the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. Guess this is a good time to revive this thread.

*moment of silence*