THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL DISCUSSION FOLKS


Tomorrow marks the 6th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, or to me, the day the world changed.

Prior to being notified that the event took place, it was a gorgeous, non eventful day. That morning, I remember the most riveting piece of news worthy enough to discuss at our 7:30 AM breakfast was whether or not Michael Jordon should come out of retirement. I for one liked it when he bowed out early, at the top of his game.

It was just after the first plane crashed into the tower, that I was told about it. One of our developers walked up to me and said, “Guess what, some Cessna crashed into the World Trade Center.” To which I chuckled.
“A Cessna?” I responded a bit amused. Thinking to myself, who would be stupid enough to fly a Cessna into the World trade center? You don't just accidentally fly a plane like that into one of the largest buildings in the world unless you're exceptionally stupid...
Curious, I got up and followed Fred into the breakroom on our floor and looked up at one of the two TV monitors. What I saw stunned me. There was this gaping hole in the middle of one of the Trade Center buildings. Not something a Cessna could create, but something far larger. This obviously was a passenger jet of some kind. Moreover, the day was as sunny in New York as it was in Tampa, completely clear and visible. The casual amusement I first felt, and am ashamed to admit it, melted away as I realized this wasn’t the case of some drunk redneck in a single engine plane, but a major accident of some type costing several lives and families.

Within minutes from walking in, the helicopter that was reporting the news from the first tower was filming the live “second explosion” from the tower behind our view—at that time we thought we were witnessing the original wreckage re-ignite. It wasn’t until a few minutes after that when they announced the second building was hit, that my heart broke completely.

You see, on some weird level, I knew the world changed. The joyous pre-Y2k party of the 90s was over, and something darker was going to be ushered in.
I admit that I am very short cited, but when Om Shen Rikio (sp?) attacked the Tokyo subway, or when Al Caeda attacked the trade center earlier in the 90s, unfortunately, the impact and the numbers simply didn’t wake me up to how dangerous these people could be. I’ll refrain from digressing this into a political discussion, as this is not the intention of this thread, but I will say that I become much much more aware of the world around me on that day. I become much more sensitive to trying to understand why power, and yes America, is hated. Any one of those 3,000+ people could have been my family.

I also noticed something very odd that week. Americans were nice to each other. I mean, genuinely. Sometimes, I miss that.




What was your experience that day?






spelling edit
[Edited 9/10/07 16:36pm]

I woke up in the morning and did what I normally do. Then I get this mental phonecall from my dad, saying turn on the radio, and then he berated me for not knowing ANYTHING

So I turn on the TV and then I called my sister in-law and we cry on the phone, since we were both about to bring new children into the world, and we thought then it was all gonna end.

It was an extremely difficult day for me, as I'm from New York and I have several family members that either worked in the buildings or in a building very close to the twin towers. I was in 10th grade and I was in my Spanish class when my high school's principal came over the speaker and announced that there had been a plane that crashed near the twin towers. I remember thinking whoa, how could that happen and why would a plane be flying so low near the buildings. I didn't really give it much thought until a bit later when I went to my art class and we were listening to the radio. I couldn't believe the news and I pretty much cried for the rest of the school day, thinking about my family members. As soon as I got home from school, I turned on the news and watched it for the rest of the day. We couldn't get in contact with anyone and I couldn't even function just thinking that someone I know is there. . . maybe alive, maybe hurt, maybe dead. Although some were missing for a couple of days, everyone I know was alive, but it was absolutely horrible thinking about everyone else's loved ones.
[Edited 9/10/07 16:52pm]

ZombieKitten said:

Like as in the Rapture? Or just the way of life as you saw it?

My aunt was in Bangkok and she said it was as if things stood still in the bars with folks just glued to the screens wondering what on earth was going on.

It was especially eeri for me at the time cause my office building was facing the Tampa International Airport which was completely grounded just after noon time.

Obviously, one of the most horrific days of anybody's life. I was laid off from my job and at home that morning. Just as my alarm was going off, my mom came running in the room to tell me to come see what was on TV. Nothing of what I thought could have possibly prepared me for everything I was about to see. My sister called to tell us a plane crashed into one of the towers and that it might be a terrorist attack. I sat down just in time to see the second plane hit and there was no doubt what was happening. We were being attacked.

I sat there just horrified and shocked and felt sick to my stomach. Watching as people jumped from the flames.....you could see it was happening and yet it was just so horrifying you really couldn't believe it was really happening. But it sank in, those poor people jumping because a death by fall was better than death by suffocation and fire Then, watching as the towers fell one by one..... I was crying so hard by this time and I was asking my mom about all the people. What about all the people that are dying? The whole day just unfolded from hell to more hell. And all of it worse than any movie that could ever be created. I remember feeling the most helpless that I might have ever felt in my life.

No matter how this event has been manipulated, I will never forget the unity of this country at that time.

I was working a 12 hour shutdown shift at a papermill in Decatuer, Alabama...I had just gotten down from the project I was working on when one of my guys told me his brother called and told him about the plane hitting the tower. We turned on the radio and listened to the events unfold the rest of the day over the airwaves...we didn't get off work until 7pm....I had no visual of what had happened that day until we got back to our hotel...I felt fucking helpless, I wanted to go home...the lil' town we were in was in a panic...lines at gas staions were unbelievable...I called home to check on my wife, she was upset and scared...so was I...we didnt know what else was gonna happen...
my room mate and I watched the news for awhile that evening 'til we couldn't stand to see it anymore...we decided to rent an inroom movie...it was Swordfish with John Travolta, a fucking movie about a terrorist....

without a doubt the most surreal day of my life...I'll never forget it...
[Edited 9/10/07 16:52pm]

The oddest thing was that there were no planes in the sky that whole day afterwards. I never noticed how many there normally were.

Every so often you see the towers in movies or TV and I can only see planes flying into them, that image is burned into my head.

Imago said:

like in the movies, you know independence day, one place will be blown up and then the next and the next after that

Imago said:

I don't know about anyone else, but I live in So Cal and there are airports all around where I live and I remember the starkness in the silence in the air for those 4 days when flights were grouded. Growin up, you always heard planes as background noise to the point that you barely even notice them anymore. But the silence of no planes in the sky was deafening.....

jess555ja said:

My coworker had a mother who worked in a tower that was adjacent to the site, and she was totally freaking out. And we couldn't get in or out of New York Citie's phone system.

It was a rough day for so many.

NDRU said:

I always become incredibly sad when they show the towers between scenes on Friends

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

exactly!

ZombieKitten said:

It really did feel like it would never end.

Tower one attacked
Tower two attacked
Pentagon attacked
Tower 2 falls
Tower 1 falls.

Just waiting with no idea if other cities were in for it.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

They figure pretty big in the end of Trading Places.

And they stopped showing the episode of The Simpsons where Homer's car has a boot on it in front of the towers. They just recently started showing them again.

i was getting ready for school and listening to the radio, and i thought it was a joke in REALLY bad taste when they first announced it. i watched the coverage of it on tv, totally numb & horrified, until my mom made me go to school. most of the teachers didn't bother teaching, they just put up internet news feeds and let us do whatever. i got a detention for telling my french teacher it was ridiculous that he wouldn't do the same.

roodboi said:

awful

I was at work and a client told me over the phone but at the time it was being aired as a plane crash...like an accident.
Our manager would not let us turn on the TV until lunch time.
We did not have internet connection at that lame place.
So I really did not get the whole story until I got home.
It was a very sad day.

I cannot go there right now.

I cannot cry anymore today.

My eyes hurt.

I pray for all of the families and loved ones that still cry everyday.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

i remember that. the area i lived in was heavily into the areospace industry, so everyone there was used to planes overhead all the time. it just added to the strangeness of everything.

I don't want to give a long detailed report but some of my memories include:

* Emailing all day long with my friends at work, one of whom had a father that worked near there and couldn't get in touch with him all day.

* Walking home off the bus from work and the church by my house had hung a huge banner outside that said "Open for prayer. All denominations welcome." And I don't know why but that's what finally made me cry. So there I was crying, walking home.

* Gathering with my friends at the bar (which is still what we do in times of stress and struggle) and holding hands with violet as we watched the president give his address that evening. It was the only time I ever was able to watch an entire speech of his without lookign away or tuning out in disgust.

CarrieMpls said:

It was extremely emotional. I remember it just felt awful.

evenstar3 said:

OMG, then the Anthrax and DC shootings. That was a period where everything about the way we lived our lives became susceptible to the madness of man. Just when you thought things were under control, they spiralled even further out of our grip. This event made me think about the power our country uses in a way I never did before. I took so much about my upbrining and our history for granted. I remember one day after the Afghanistan war had started listening to NPR and bitterly asking out loud why we were being forced to know about places like Kandahar or Kabul. Not really even being conciously aware that we already had a history with those places when I was a kid.....

CarrieMpls said:

Isn't that the only time he ever seemed like a leader? It sure didn't last.

CarrieMpls said:

I remember meeting my friends a couple days later and the way we hugged and cried over what was happening. I too felt a huge sense of Pride in president Bush.

.
[Edited 9/10/07 17:05pm]

I was at work. A co-worker came to up to me and said a plane hit the WTC. I thought it was an accident.
Then he told me another one hit. My dumb ass was thinking "what fool at air traffic control is directing planes into buildings?!!" I was not capable of thinking someone would do that shit on purpose.

Then someone set up a TV in the back of the office. I walked back there and could not believe what I was seeing.
I was trying to reach friends in New York to no avail. A friend that worked at Morgan Stanley there called in sick that morning.
Wow. He went to work the next day at a different location to find out which of his co-workers and friends made it out of there.
A lot of them didn't. I went home and was glued to my television for days.
No planes flying overhead.

mods, this really should be a sticky.

I mean, it's just that god damned good.

Imago said:

This is not the thread for Crowing Dan!

NDRU said:

In the film The Wiz, the WTC was the Emerald City. Anybody remember that? The dancers dancing around the the large sculpture that used to be there? wow.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

The thing about Bush's first speach was this for me:

1) it too forever for him to make it. I seriously felt lost you know? It felt like our leadership was gone.

2) It wasn't that he felt presidential to me, but sincere. It honestly appeared that he was feeling our pain with us.

And then when the world reacted with their various moments of silence and ceremonies, it was all too touching. Alot of emotions boiled in me that month.

Imago said:

It's good to see the terroists haven't affected your sense of importance...

Imago said:

I thought Bush appeared strong, too. He had always seemed scared by the office before.