Remembrance

[Octavian X]

It had started out as a normal day at Columbia Catholic School. It was my final year there, in the eighth grade. Classes that morning had been mundane and rather boring, as was the norm at said school.

Then, at the end of my social studies class that morning, something happened. There were whispers. Whispers, from a friend just out of a car with a radio. Whispers, of a trajedy. Whispers, of attack. Whispers...

I remember, not believing this word of mouth. How could this be true?

My fears were confirmed at the prayer before lunch, when the principal mentioned the attacks in them.

That is how I remember 9/11.

 

[Silverflame]

Living all the way in the west coast, by the time I woke up around seven everything had already happened. It was all the way in the east coast, so I had a feeling that it didn't affect me, yet at the same time I had a feeling that it did affect me (I have no idea). As of right now, I still have a very hard time talking about the subject and I am still very confused about how I felt about that day.

But this thread is reviving those memories...

 

[benstandby]

I was living in San Dimas, California. My roomates who leave for work at 5:30am woke me up as they left and showed me the TV. I stood in my boxers in the living room staring at the smoke coming off the first building. I just knew this was a horrible dream.

I woke up an hour later and found out how wrong I was.

I sat at my computer listening to the radio (Bill Handel on KFI) and watching the videos on msnbc.

I didn't cry, but for the next three or four days, I was on the verge of tears 24 hours a day.

I drove 25 miles to get to school, but I ended up just sitting in the car depressed, angry, shocked, still half not believing. 90 minutes went by, and I just started the car again and drove home.

The next day, my philosophy professor tried to have a discussion about it in class. Nobody said anything. 20 minutes later he just sent us home.

By the next week I was wearing a white T-shirt on which I had scrawled: Never Forget Black Tuesday

9-11 hadn't become the buzz word it is today.

I still wear that shirt.

I too got goosebumps when I read this thread.

I also cried. I guess I was just too overwhelmed at the time.

I will never ever forget.

Not ever!

 

[naervod]

It was beginning of 8th grade, I was getting out of the car on the way to early morning band. A friend told me that one of the towers was down. I didn't believe him as he was known for joking around with people alot. However, when I entered the classroom, no one was playing music, everyone was listening to the radio. I realized this was for real, and also heard about the attacks on the Pentagon and second tower and was worried about family friends who lived less than a mile from the Pentagon. All we talked about was the attack in school that day. I will have to say I will never forget that day.

 

[Turner]

I don't recall exactly how I found out, but I think it was when I came home from work. I heard about a plane crashing into the WTC. I thought it was a little Cesna(sp?) plane. I turned on the TV, and saw the smoke billowing out. I couldn't believe a little plane created all that havoc. Then I saw the second airliner crash into the WTC. I was numb from shock.

Pentagon? What's going on there? You can't see the smoke in NY from DC! What? Another one? Oh my god. . . . "Ground them all." I said to no one in particular. "Ground them all." How could we know what was going on? I spent a lot of time online, and unable to get to news sites on dial up. All of my info came from the TV and the people I was talking to online.

Oh what a thing timing is. My wife was in NYC near there just a week or two before. What a difference a week makes.

I remember hearing a helicopter in the air two or three days after the 11th. We were quite surprised, and people in my complex ran out to look at it. Was it another attack? No, just a lifeflight helicopter.

I heard a story - probably not true, about a co worker of my wife's who was in Dallas going to Chicago on business. The plane was scheduled to take off shortly after the second plane hit. When the captain informed the passengers that they would not be taking off, several cell phones started up and the people were talking in arabic. Terrorists? Sure felt like that then. True or not, it gave me chills. And showed me just how widespread it could be.

My dad travels a lot on business. At the time he worked closely with a senate subcommittee on Indian Affairs. Was he on the plane? Was he in DC? Finally, several hours later, my mom emailed me back and said that he was at home in CA. That was a relief.





I see how it touched me and the people I worked with. After reading AoA's thread last week (mods: Any chance we can bring that to page one?) I realized just how horrible it was for people in NYC.

 

[LouLong]

I was in Hong Kong at the time so we had it in the evening (but then it was just one "accident"). Later we learnt more (English channels there had just switched to US ones).
It sounded too much like Pearl Harbor that I could not think of a possible WW3, despite the fact it was not a direct attack from another country.

I consider it much worst than Pearl Harbor though because it targeted mostly civilians.

I am no American (many victims were not either) but I just want to express my deepest sympathy (original meaning). And, actually the target was not just the US but a certain civilization and economy.

Kyborgi, Chairman Yang, WickedSmurf : I have had a hard time (being a French) for a long time now and actual reasons and choices for answers by the US can be debated but this is a remembrance thread and not a discussion one IMHO.

 

[Damo]

I live In Australia. It was late at night local time when this occured. I went to bed having turned off the late evening news I guess moments before the channel interrrupted with the breaking news.

In the morning I turned on the TV and the full horror was revealed to me. My 2 yr old daugther was in my arms, crying. I cried with her. In the following days the numbers lost became apparent, including many Australians.

Since that day most Australians have felt a kinship with America and Americans. We have stood side by side in many theatres of war for 100 years. And there appears to be more to come.

In Memory:

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

 

[bigfatron]

Kyborgi, Chairman Yang, WickedSmurf : When we remember our dead in two world wars we do so to honour their sacrifice; analysing causes and failings is for a different time and place.

All nations have their tragedies, this tragedy affects Americans deeply and we should respect that. Their loss on this day was real and traumatic.

You don't have to participate in the rememberance, just back off and let those do so who wish to.

In dealing with loss there are four stages of mourning (or so the psychologists tell us): grief, denial, anger and acceptance. It is for the rest of us, as friends of America and americans, to help them move beyond the anger. Not to forget, but toward an acceptance that will allow everyone affected to get on with their lives as best they can.

Your comments are not calculated to help what is, after all, a very difficult process. Perhaps it would be better to keep them to yourselves, at least on this day?

Perhaps the true problem that annoys you is not that America remembers 9/11 too much, but that the world recognises and reacts to other tragedies too little. In this I would agree with you, but this is neither the time nor the place....

RIP

 

[vaulsforge]

The swedish foreign minister suffered multiple stab wounds yesterday and died 5.29 this morning. She was probably going to be our next prime minister and this will really effect the EMU elections we will have on the 14 September. My father also knew her personally from the days when he worked at SSU in Stockholm with her.

Like Wicked Smurf said I will always remenber September 11 after her. To Anna Lindh.

As for the world trade center I could not really belive that it was true at first when I saw it on tv. I felt really sorry for the people involved but I have to say that I was more angry. Angry at George W Bush and his government for leting this kind of thing happon. Angry at him for having such abyssimal lack of knowledge and respect of foreign nations and people. After I had been angry for a while I was worried about what he would do to retaliate and what he was willing to do in order to do justice. If there ever was a president who could do something bad and not worry enough about the consiquences it would be George W Bush.

By the way I'm not bashing the american people or their right to mourn. I'm just showing my fellings towards their president.
Moderator Action: warned, threadjacking and trolling
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Plexus]

And that is not the purpose of this thread, vaulsforge.

 

[s_whitehouse]

On 11th Sept 2001 I had just finished lunch when I heard about the World Trade Centre. This tragic act of terrorism has changed the world, for better or worse.

To all those who died in the World Trade Centre, those who have died in the misguided "War Against Terror", and to the Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh who died early this morning, may you rest in peace.

 

[benstandby]

Originally posted by vaulsforge
I felt really sorry for the people involved but I have to say that I was more angry. Angry at George W Bush and his government for leting this kind of thing happon. Angry at him for having such abyssimal lack of knowledge and respect of foreign nations and people.

I'm sorry, but the neither president of the United States, his cabinet, or any of our judges or legislators has any control over who gets on airplanes and who doesn't.

By the way, America was not attacked for anything our curent president has done. America was attacked because it is the modern symbol of "The West's" colonial exploit and marginalization of the global south. If you blame George W Bush for this tragedy, you're ignorance and hatred has blinded you.

I am angry at you for your lack of knowledge of "foreign nations and people".

As for your foreign minister: I understand how difficult it can be to see a bright young leader killed by a lunatic with or without a political agenda. But I think that the reason it was mentioned here was in protest of percieved American narcissism.

I am sorry you feel this way.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

on September 11, 2001, more than 40,000 children died when the (IIRC) World Monetary Fund forced the privatization of the water supply in many countries. That made me feel truely sick, very very sick. But I learnt that a few days after sept. 11, so It doesn't really count.

What I can remember (living in Australia) is waking up to go to school, and my mother telling me that America had been attacked. I was glued to the TV for about 30 minutes before I had to go to school. Everything had happened by then. When I got there, it was a very eerie day, I rushed to get home and find out about what else had happened.

That day was horrible. I knew from when I saw the first pictures from when I woke up (not a very good way to start the day, mind you) that our world had changed. It would never return to what it was. So far, it hasn't.

Later on, when Iraq was invaded, I didn't care about weapons of mass destruction, etc. I didn't care about terrorist links. All I cared was to show these dictators and terrorists that we wont put up with their crap. Threaten us, laugh at us in our lowest moment, and you deserve all the whipping you get, boy.

 

[Cilpot]

I remember it very well.

I was at work as a telephone salesman when it happened, and needless to say, we all were dismissed early. But the people I talked to were all searching for a way to express their sympathy to the people affected by this terrible event. I called many people all over Norway, and everybody reacted as if this had happened here.

I will never forget my feelings on this day, a kind of mixture of anger and incapability to do anything about it. (I lack a better vocabulary in english to express it)

Lets never forget!!

 

[Jayne]

I remember September 11 2001 very well. It was quite an unusual day for me.

I was working that day as a pharmacist in a health centre pharmacy. The previous day we'd found loads of old prescriptions stuffed behind some old boxes which the previous pharmacist had neglected to submit for payment. They went back years, so my boss came out to help me sort through them. This meant I didn't have my lunch until 2pm (9am New York time). I could hear a little of the conversation in the shop in my office and I could hear a customer talking about a plane crash. Then one of my dispensers came in saying that the customer had told her 2 planes had crashed into the WTC destroying it, another into the Pentagon, and another was thought to be headed to the White House. We weren't sure whether he was pulling our leg, or World War III had started. We were phoning relatives who had radios at work to try and find out what was happening. We just felt so numb - only able to imagine what was happening and who was behind it. On the front cover of the newspaper on September 13 was a picture of Mohammed Atta - which I find just chilling to look at.

But, I would remember September 11 2001 for another very special reason. I was pregnant at the time, and that morning was the first time I got to hear my baby's heartbeat - which is a very precious memory for me. And I think it was even more special to me to hear it on a day when so many people for across the world lost their lives.

 

[col]

I think the first I knew about it was via the web. I was at work in the afternoon. I immediately switched on the TV and watched. I phoned home to my wife to tell her to stop what she was doing and watch also.

We'd stood in the WTC exactly one month earlier on 8/11. We'd been on holiday and had done the touristly stuff you do taking lots of photographs and walking through the atrium, having a cup of coffee and admiring the boats at the yacht club.

Watching TV and the events of the day unfold brought home to be the randomness of it all. Another roll of the dice and I'd have been there just like all those people. I remember reading AoA's post that day. A brilliant first hand account of what it was like. I was 3000 miles away and yet could picture and understand a little.

We're now two years on. Some progress has been made but the Bali bombs indicate that perhaps not enough. The threat of further attacks seems no less today. The US and the UK are probably the targets of choice. We get weekly warnings of possible terrorist attacks and the level of vigilance and security is high. Life has been changed.

Some events in one's life, one cannot forget. The events of 9/11 fall into that category.

 

[Karasu]

I was at work.

I remember a colleague shouting over the corridor that an airplane had crashed into one of the towers, and our disbelief. What kind of an accident would that be?

I started checking a news site, and piece by piece I read the updates, saw some pictures; then, of course, the site was overloaded.
It was like the fragmented slow motion of a nightmare.

Thinking back to that day, I still find it difficult to persuade myself to believe it really happened.
There is no nationality nor belief of any kind: I only saw the death of human beings.
There are no words nor comments: I only join the astonishment and grief for the mindless violence and the immeasurable loss, wishing I could do more.
There can be no forgetting.

 

[Chieftess]

I was up and getting ready for school, and had just gone upstairs at 7:55am. I turned on channel 21 (NBC I think - the Today Show was just getting ready to end). I watched it for about 2 seconds while getting my shoes and socks on (yes, I have a VERY clear memory), when they said, "We interupt this broadcast to bring you a special announcement". I was thinking, "Ok, so the president is going to give a speech or something". That's when they showed the WTC. My mom was also talking to her friend in Long Island and finished just when the first plane hit. I called down to my mom and said, "Look, there's a gaping hole in the WTC!". I didn't quite know what happened first (remembering once, that a plane did hit the Empire State Building in the 30s I think due to fog). But, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Some time later, the 2nd plane hit. I was on another forum then, and the users there couldn't take the stress either. One was talking about marrying his girlfriend (who worked in the WTC) weeks earlier, and he was pretty distraught. I think she was above the 100th floor of the first tower. The forum was pretty much in a dazed posting frenzy, with many people getting banned just to bring order to the forum (it was a game company public forum). I remember posting on the forums, then turning around, and watching the first and second towers just collapse. After the first, I thought, "huh, where'd it go!? The first tower just collapsed!?". I also watched CNN when they said the pentagon was hit. My mom was worried about her brother, who works down in Fort Meade, Maryland. Her other brother worked in the Social Security Administration building, and my dad was doing eletrical work in that building.

I did go to class that day (which is typical, since my college has a reputation of staying open through blizzard, hurricane and disasters). My class finally did let out 5 minutes early. It was my Scientific Writing class, and we were in the library using the colleges library networks looking for information on a report. I don't think anyone was following that day, and I have no idea why they even kept us there. My parents picked me up, and the roads were just packed with cars. My mom even called her brother in Fort Meade to make sure he was safe.

Do I remember September 10th, as the semi-philosophical phrase goes? Yes, it was my late grandfather's birthday. No, he didn't work in the WTC, he lived in Baltimore, and liked to hunt. We would have birthday parties in this little restaurant (which has since closed down). The staff would always bring out a birthday cake and play music on the jukebox (The thing from the 50s that plays music. I think that's what it's called). I guess that kind of philosophically shows the calm.

 

[jack merchant]

I just walked out of the university building towards the library when I heard someone talk of a disaster in New York...not paying attention much I continued to the library, a 200-metre walk. Right in between the faculty and the library is my favourite pub, and as it happened, they happened to have a big screen up for that night's Champions League matches. A friend of mine was in there and called out through the open window to come and see.
I ordered a beer (still unaware of what was happening) just like I did there so many other times, then turned around to the screen.
We sat there there for two hours in horrified silence as the footage of the planes crashing into the WTC (which I had stood on top off too, two years before) was repeated again and again, the smoke billowing out into the clear New York sky, footage of people running away, jumping off the building..... I was awfully reminded of the explosion of SE Fireworks in my hometown of Enschede, which flattened an entire neighbourhood on an equally beautiful day, May 13 in the year 2000. But this was much, much worse.......

To this day, I cannot understand how anyone could do such a thing, and my faith in humanity hasn't come back yet since then.

In memory of all those innocent people who died Sept. 11, 2001,
I remember.

 

[jack merchant]

I must add that this thread is truly shocking insofar as it reveals the attitudes of some posters. To Feänor and others I say, the death of innocents is never deserved and their murder never justified. To say that the US somehow 'had this coming' is to betray a level of ignorance and inhumanity that is really beneath contempt.