My alarm clock radio was set to NPR, and I turned it off, but in the few seconds it was on, in my sleepy haze, I could hear in the voices of the broadcasters that something big was going on, so I got up and turned on the TV.

Good morning, America. Time to wake the fuck up.

I remember 9/11 so well because I was basically fired that day I was working front desk at a hotel, but I wasn't supposed to be there until 3pm. Well, I woke up at 12pm and found out that my mother wasn't at work because she had quit (We worked at the same hotel) and she didn't want me to go because she thought that I would be fired. I disregarded her and left for work. I stopped at the mall and it was being evacuated. I still had no idea what was going on . I stopped someone and they said, "haven't you heard, America is being attacked!" In was shocked, but still not completely in the know, so I sat there and called a friend who filled me in. I have to mention that when I first woke up, I turned on the television and saw what was going on, but I did not pay any of it any attention because I was so consumed with what was going on in my life

BTW, I turned around and went back home.....I was fired for not going to work on 9/11/01.


Smooches;)

I was feeding my baby, he was born august 18th so wasn't even a month old, my emotions were all over the place and i can remember thinking what the hell has my baby been born into when people can so easily kill masses and masses of people and think it is ok and just.....

i remember vividly feeling a mixture of things from devestated to guilt for having my babies safe in my home.

Sitting in second period physics. Class was just about to start, and someone whispered to me, "A plane just hit the world trade center." I didn't believe it, I thought he was kidding. I wish he had been.

I got a call from my wife who was already at work. The call woke me up, and she told me to turn on the TV. By then, all targets had been hit. I gave my friend a call and ended up getting him out of bed. We both watched the towers collapse. In my mind, I was thinking someone is really really gonna pay for all this.

i was at work, news came over the loud speaker,everyone was like is that a joke i walked around in a daze,thinking about my kids and wondering how anyone could do this.....

I think I was at work.

I had just got off an 11-7 shitf...grabbed some breakfast and had just laid down....a co-worker called me and told me to turn on CNN ASAP....she was to messed up to explain what was going on....I do remember that Aaron Brown said that it was a horrible way to celebrate his first day on the job....so I was just sitting in bed....watching this take place....it took me a minute to fully realize what was going on....and the first thing that popped into my mind was that the first bombing on the WTC in 93 was a warning shot that we didn't pay any attention to...then I saw them say something about a fire at the Pentagon...I knew then that the peaceful life that we had all been living up to that point was gone....no more would we feel secure....and truthfully i haven't felt secure about anything sense....i now know how ppl in the middle east feel....having to worry about going into a major city with the thought that you could just simply not come back....I haven't been on a plane since....but i'm ready to go now....

It happened 2 days b4 I graduated college. I didnt have classes so I was at home in bed.
I never watch morning news but something told me to turn on the tv. As soon as I did that I saw one building and smoke was coming out of it...then a plane was coming towards the second building

I was scared and confused
The news anchor said " Is this real?"

My graduation was held in a large building downtown in the fashion district ( not in New york). People were scared to show up,some couldnt fly;so my college graduation was very depressing. Practically an empty room,I could count the people that were there on 2 hands.

I'll always remember that day Sept 11th 2001.
[Edited 9/11/04 13:10pm]

Kayleigh said:

TheRealFiness said:

I had nightmares too, sweetie...nightmares about war...I was scared to death.

CarrieMpls said:

The night prior to 911, Saudi Arabia had just approved the sale of a handful of F-15 fighter jets and at the same time, there was chaos at a major international racism assembly that the US walked out on due to arab countries refusing to back down on some issues concerning Israel. That night was a busy and angry night on the internet.

In Tel Aviv the war had been going with suicide attacks every day for over a year. That morning I was in my office trying to figure out why all 5 of the 6 biggest cyber-terror networks were suddenly quiet and instead of using terror sponsoring ISPs in Turkey and the UAE, there was a strange amount of activity going on from Boston. Since this never ever happens I scratched my head and wondered if there was going to be a big demonstration or D.O.S attack. I could never have imagined what happened next as everyone rushed down to one of the conference rooms to see the news on the sattelite feed.

Funny thing about the Israeli news. Before the second plane hit, the broadcasters were already trying to estimate that if BinLaden was in Afganistan or Pakistan, how would the US strike back and at which country. Amazing journalism.

I was sitting at home feeding my youngest son when the news came on and broadcasted the story. We lived in a small town in WA state but close to Hanford(which we found out was also a target along with Seattle) I went and picked up my other 3 kids from school and kept them home for a few days. I can never imagine what the people of NY went through on that horrible day. And my thoughts and prayers are always with the family and friends of all that lost someone on that tragic day. I know that these are only words on a screen and on a forum but they are sincere.
Steph

As soon as I get up in the morning, I turn on the TV to catch the traffic reports.
The sound was turned down so all I saw was the 1st tower that was on fire.
Jumped in the shower still unaware of what the real situation was.
When I came out of the bathroom my wife had turned up the sound and that's when it hit me.

Immediately I thought of my dad who goes into that area during the week.
Tried to call him and couldn't get through. My next thought was to leave L.A. and go home to NYC.
Stupid idea that was quickly eliminated.

Like almost everyone else that wasn't in the Ground Zero area, for the next 24-48 hours I then entered the glued to the TV/radio helplessness zone.

I got to see the Ground Zero area last year and still can't believe this actually happened.

To all those that lost someone either physically or mentally to this tragedy -


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

My ex-wife woke me up and said, "A plane just hit the World Trade Center." In my half-awake state, I figured that the plane was something like a little Cessna and that it had been an accident. I made some bitchy remark and went back to sleep.

When it came time for me to wake up and go to class, I turned on CNN. By this point, both towers had been hit (but were still standing), and they were showing footage of the second plane. I immediately realized that it was a planned attack and that the planes were big passenger jets. I watched CNN (including the collapse of the towers) until it was time to go to class.

After class, I drove across downtown Indianapolis to my job. There was a police officer standing on every street corner. At work, I heard that at least one of the skyscrapers in Indy had been evacuated.

The other thing I remember about the day was how the sky looked. There wasn't a single cloud, and because of all air traffic being grounded, there wasn't a single plane in the sky. That was odd, because there are planes flying over Indy all the time, especially since it has the world's second-largest FedEx facility.

Now, it's time for me to put on my asbestos suit, because I know some people aren't going to like what I'm about to say.

What happened on September 11, 2001, was a tragedy for those who were injured/killed, and their friends and families. But I think it's important to put 9/11 in perspective.

First, nothing like that had happened since Pearl Harbor, 60 years prior. That's a pretty decent track record, especially in a "free" country where we sacrifice some security for liberty. It's also a nation that has had plenty of enemies over that time.

Second, our response to 9/11 has involved killing over 10,000 innocent Iraqi civilians. That's over three times the number of people killed in the 9/11 attacks.

I'm unhappy with how our government has responded to 9/11. Our civil liberties are being taken away from us. We had so much sympathy from other nations immediately after the attacks, and we've squandered it all with what we've done in Iraq. We're pretty much universally hated now.

One of the justifications for invading Iraq was that Saddam Hussein allegedly had ties to al Qaeda. I've found nothing to support this allegation--in fact, my understanding is that Osama and Saddam did meet once years ago to discuss a possible alliance, but they couldn't come to any agreement, and that they basically hate each other.

Again, I'm very sympathetic for those personally affected by 9/11. But I think that we, as a society, have turned it into something bigger than it really was.

matt said:

i feel the exact same way and i was always told that was because i "wasn't here" when the attacks happened. as if being on american soil would have really changed my point of view. as much as 9/11 was a tragedy, it's been a long time coming and when you look at what america has done to others, 9/11 isn't much. it's just a shame that so many innocent lives were lost and we STILL didn't get the point.

My mother woke me up to inform me of the attacks. I couldn't believe it. And then I saw it on TV. It was insane. Then the 2nd plane hit and then it got even more crazier. My mother and I were just at home watching the events unfold at home.

Then after the towers collapsed, we decided to chant together and hope our loved ones were OK. Especially my brother, who was in that area. He went to college near the WTC, but I found out that once he found out about the attacks, he jetted. He took the bus which went directly to Harlem and made it back home.

matt said:

Well...my parents lived through Pearl Harbor and my mother still talks about it to this day. She also talks about the Kennedy assasination. It's a national tragedy...just like those two events. I agree with you on the way that our government reacted to 9/11...it was a nightmare of mine that it would happen this way. But, that doesn't take away from the fact that people in the US, and the world over, are still deeply affected by the tragedy of it.

Laying in bed, listening to the radio and not knowing what they were talking about, because I was in a sleepy daze. Waking up, hearing more, still not putting it all together, until I woke up and went into the living room and turned the television on...

Hate to do this on this thread, but...

matt said:

I notice you didn't say nothing like that had been tried...I recall vividly the images and pictures of the first World Trade Center bombings...the desire of that bombing was to do exactly what the plane crashes on 9/11 succeeded at: to bring the towers crashing down. Perhaps had we given those bombings more importance--or more directly, given fighting terrorism more importance--then 9/11 may never have been allowed to grow and become what it became...


Is there any specific reason you choose to sum up our response as doing nothing more than killing "10,000 innocent civilians", as if killing as many innocents as possible was our only goal?? Newsflash...killing as many innocents as possible WAS the only goal of the terrorist on 9/11...there is a difference.


What is it that we're unable to do now, that we were unable to do before??...Can you name one civil liberty that has been "taken away"??...Just one....I doubt it, cuz none have.


We were universally hated before 9/11, too...the reason there's as much venom towards the U.S. now, is precisely because there was already so much in existence before 9/11 occurred. Our response simply validated the reasons for that hatred in their eyes.


Well, the 9/11 commission found evidence to support those ties...they did not, however, find evidence to tie Saddam to 9/11...but they DID say acknowledge the numerous meetings between Al Qaeda and Saddam over the years.


I hate to say it, but that "fact" has almost taken urban myth proportions now...kinda goes like this: Saddam and Osama met once, hated each other, and never spoke again, thus goes the first, last and only time Saddam ever came in contact with al Qaeda. Sounds good, I suppose...it's not true, but it sounds good. Again, even the 9/11 commission report acknowledges that there was far more than this one "I hate you" meeting between Iraqi officials and Al Qaeda...


I've heard that before...and I'm trying to figure out exactly how we are supposed to guage this tragedy to determine to what level of importance we're supposed to give it, what level of importance it merits...I think 9/11 showed the world what a handful of well organized terrorist can do within a relatively small amount of time (meaning, the time it took between the planes' take off and their destruction)...A million "what if" scenarios rose from that tragedy...what if the third plane had hit the White House instead of the Pentagon...what if the 4th plane had not been crashed into the open field in Pennsylvania...what if the terrorist had been able to sneak some sort of chemical weapon on board the planes, thus spreading it all over downtown NYC upon impact with the towers...what if...what if..on and on.

To me, the level of importance it should be given is not merely because of sadness over witnessing such a tragedy...it was a graphic and violent wake up from a naive slumber that terrorism is something we don't need to confront, it's just something we need to keep in check...
[Edited 9/12/04 11:40am]

lollyp0p said:

Yes!!! I was halfway through my second pregnancy and still breastfeeding my first baby, and I was crying and crying thinking why did we bring children into this world. I called my sister-in-law who also had just had her baby and we were on the phone crying together about the state of this place. I was probably last to know about it too, since I never had the radio or TV on. My dad called me and said do you know what's going on? but he wouldn't tell me, so I had to watch TV to find out and it took me a long time to understand.

I wasn't able to sleep, i was scared and excited, wishing i could call my boyfriend, had an ESP thing going on i believe.

oh, and when i heard the news, hours later in the late morning...i was at home having breakfast.

I was in bed sleeping when my husband came home from his night shift, (around 7am) and said to me have u seen the news? I said NO ive been asleep obviously!
He told me they had blown up the World Trade centre in America, and i said oh thats pretty bad.
I didnt even realise what the WTC was, or the enormity of it all, until i got to work and watched it on the TV there. People were sitting around crying, there was a mood of disbelief and horror.
Absoultey chilling.

It was very late at night in Australia and I remember watching in disbelief as it was unfolding...newscasts replayed some footage the other day and it STILL sends shivers up my spine 3 years on - one of the things that sticks in my mind and one of the saddest things I've ever seen in my life is the people jumping from the towers before they crumbled

I was in the hospital; saw the tragedy unfold on a roommate's tv set.

On a related note.... My supervisor has a photo of herself and a friend enjoying a boatride on the Hudson River. In the background is the NYC skyline against a picture perfect blue sky. The photo looks like a postcard, the sky's so blue. Anyway, it wasn't until AFTER 9/11 that I noticed something different about the picture: the Twin Towers were in it as plain as day! Actually, they'd always been there, it's just that I had never noticed them before.

I worked on the concourse level of one of the towers during the early/mid 80s. The last time I was in the towers was in January 2000. I purchased a watch. I still have the receipt.

UptownDeb said:

Yeah I got up there a few times to I think it was called "The top of the World" lounge.

Everytime I look at all the photos I took up there I get this spooky feeling.