9/11

[Vorcha 1]

This may or may not be a subject some of us want to talk about, but for those who can, what was everyone doing when they found out about the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th, 2001?

[Vorcha 1]

I myself just finished my 5 year enlistment as a Corpsman in the US Navy and was finishing up my discharge examinations and discharge paperwork that very morning when the terror attacks on the Twin Towers began. Having seen what was going on at that very moment angered me so much I immediately stopped my discharge process and re-enlisted for an additional 9 years. And on October 7th 2001, my first deployment to Afghanistan began....

This may or may not be a subject some of us want to talk about, but for those who can, what was everyone doing when they found out about the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th, 2001?

[Duck Fallas 209]

It was my normal Tuesday off from my job at the time. I was half-awake when I heard over the radio (I sleep with it on) "Apparently a plane has accidentally collided with one of the World Trade Center towers", I immediately woke up realizing that the odds of it being an accident were slim. I flipped on the TV and within 10 minutes of watching the news coverage, I watched the second plane hit the second tower. My first comment to my girlfriend was that "someone really fucked up now, here we go to war." Neither one of us moved from the edge of the bed for the rest of the day. We watched the news all day long.

[WindyCitySports 407]

I was a little 2nd grader at the local elementary school. I remember different teachers coming in during my class and whispering things to my teacher. Then at lunch the older kids came up to us and tried to scare us. Some said the school was going to get bombed, others said that a plane was going to crash into our school. The school gave our parents the option to pull us out of school. Also, no recess was allowed for the next week or so. I watched the news with my parents after school and talked to them about it.

 

A lot has changed in the last ten years, but I still can't believe that a decade has passed.

[Shotgun 442]

I was 13 and went into my computer class. A teacher came in and talked to our teacher, who then turned on the TV and told us what happened. Shortly after that the 2nd plane hit. Everyone had to stay in their current classes for the rest of the day, so we just watched the news. I watched the news when I got back home and continued to for the next few days.

[Tridentdawgpound 1,043]

1st grade, I was more mad about not having recess than anything else at the time.

[Piggly Wiggly 960]

I was in 5th grade. I remember the woman walking into our class and telling us that a plane flew into one of the Towers. Thought it was like a Cessna that accidentally flew into it. Shortly after that, we got news that it was a terrorist attack after the 2nd WTC tower was struck. Our school was dismissed in the late morning, I suppose due to our relatively close proximity to the WTC which is about 30-35 mins away.

 

Unreal that it's been 10 years already.

[BwareDWare94 723]

I was in 7th grade in Social Studies class (history). TV got turned on, school got dismissed. I was too young to comprehend much of it, really.

[rzb+ 367]

I was in art class in the 9th grade. We turned on the tv and watched. Kids were being pulled out by their parents in fear that the Arsenal was next on the hit list. When I got home, I remember seeing my mom crying in front of the tv. Crazy thing is, that's when it hit me that this was huge.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

I was in 6th grade, and the class had actually just finished singing Happy Birthday to me. We were doing a vocabulary word search puzzle as the first plane hit the tower. One of the other 6th grade teachers came into the room with a terrified look on his face and told my teacher to turn the TV on... and there it was; one of the towers was smoldering in hot ash and flames. I remember how frightened I was when we saw the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. I couldn't believe that planes were being used as missiles against towers full of innocent people. It was clear at that time that someone had decided to declare war on America. We only went into further dismay as we got the news that a 3rd plane crashed, now at the Penatagon in DC. The teacher then tried to take us outside for recess to get our minds off of what was happening, but we were only outside for about 10 minutes when the 4th plane crashed in Shanksville, which is only about 45 minutes from where I went to school. I wasn't sure if the horror was ever going to end. All of these events seemed to stretch over an entire day, yet they all happened within a matter of a few hours. We were then taken to lunch and sent home from school immediately after that. On a normal day, I would have played video games or something the rest of the day, but all I did was watch the news the rest of that day, and many days after.

 

I didn't have a birthday party that year. None of us could move away from the television, but I didn't really mind. What was important was to get all of the breaking news about what came to be known as the darkest day in American history. We then learned that a terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, was responsible for the attacks. My blood boiled at Osama bin laden's image each time they put his ugly mug on the screen. This was the man responsible for thousands of lives lost, and total chaos on what began as a beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky that day, and the temperatures were dreadfully perfect. It was only fitting that this could be considered the calm before the storm. We had no idea at the time the events that were ahead of us, but looking back, it only made more sense.

 

I can never enjoy my birthday now. My birthday is forever associated with the day that America was a victim of a most heinous attack. However, the silver lining is that my birthday will also always be remembered as the day that America joined together with such unity that had not been seen in years, and maybe ever in the history of our great nation. The undieing patriotism and pride of America was evident more in the months following 9/11 than at any time in our nation's history. It's unfortunate that it took such a devastating tragedy for this to happen, but in those months, I saw more neighbors helping each other, more classmates sticking together in schools, and more enemies set aside their differences for the common good of America than I ever thought possible.

 

In many ways, 9/11 was the worst of days and it was the best of days, and I will never forget any of the vivid details that I still have in my memories of that day.

[Krawnka 282]

I was in between jobs, just got laid off in my former company's 5th downsizing, as did both of my roomates.

 

Because of 9/11, work in my industry ramped up for a while, and my former company ended up calling me back in as a temp, while still collecting my severance pay.

 

To be honest, I'd never even heard of Bin Laden before 9/11, in my 20's, the only current affairs I was knowledgeable on, was drink specials, and live music listings.

 

 

9/11 opened my eyes, and expanded my world.

 

R.I.P. to those that passed.

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

i had watched the Monday Night Game and slept late.

while i was getting dressed and ready for my day i turned on the tube and while flipping through the channels i ended up with CNN and i saw the plane hit the second tower.

 

it was like one of the worst nightmares ever imagined.

people in panic mode all over the streets and people leaping from the towers.

 

911 was the darkest day of my life.

[Vorcha 1]

I know that some cultures are very dedicated to their religion and beliefs but what I dont understand is how did they think they were going to murder American citizens and not be held accountable for their actions? When OBL gave the order to execute these terrorist attacks on American soil he had to of known he was signing his own death warrant. And its painfully obvious that OBL at no time ever had a conversation with Japan prior to September 11th, 2001. I have always felt America was very flexible and understanding with how other countries beliefs and how they do things. But when innocent American citizens are killed/murdered the gloves come off and diplomatic solutions are no longer an option but thats just me....

[Krawnka 282]

That's just it, they're prepared to die for their beliefs...too bad they won't just commit suicide without taking innocent people down with them.

[Duck Fallas 209]

I know that some cultures are very dedicated to their religion and beliefs but what I dont understand is how did they think they were going to murder American citizens and not be held accountable for their actions? When OBL gave the order to execute these terrorist attacks on American soil he had to of known he was signing his own death warrant. And its painfully obvious that OBL at no time ever had a conversation with Japan prior to September 11th, 2001. I have always felt America was very flexible and understanding with how other countries beliefs and how they do things. But when innocent American citizens are killed/murdered the gloves come off and diplomatic solutions are no longer an option but thats just me....

Sadly, religion does that to some people. Because we are viewed as a "Christian" nation (even though we aren't one), OBL convinced some of his fellow radicals that we were infidels and an insult to their God. That is really all that he needed. I think that he also thought that we were weak because of our culture and would not retaliate if we were attacked. He underestimated the dogged determination that we possess as a nation and how relentlessly we would pursue him at bring him what he asked for.

[Vorcha 1]

I agree with you 100% we all were "Americans" but we were divided up by religions, where we live, and by race. And its most unfortunate that something horrific like 9/11 had to happen so that we all come together as 1 unit to help and support each other in these dark times....

I was in 6th grade, and the class had actually just finished singing Happy Birthday to me. We were doing a vocabulary word search puzzle as the first plane hit the tower. One of the other 6th grade teachers came into the room with a terrified look on his face and told my teacher to turn the TV on... and there it was; one of the towers was smoldering in hot ash and flames. I remember how frightened I was when we saw the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. I couldn't believe that planes were being used as missiles against towers full of innocent people. It was clear at that time that someone had decided to declare war on America. We only went into further dismay as we got the news that a 3rd plane crashed, now at the Penatagon in DC. The teacher then tried to take us outside for recess to get our minds off of what was happening, but we were only outside for about 10 minutes when the 4th plane crashed in Shanksville, which is only about 45 minutes from where I went to school. I wasn't sure if the horror was ever going to end. All of these events seemed to stretch over an entire day, yet they all happened within a matter of a few hours. We were then taken to lunch and sent home from school immediately after that. On a normal day, I would have played video games or something the rest of the day, but all I did was watch the news the rest of that day, and many days after.

 

I didn't have a birthday party that year. None of us could move away from the television, but I didn't really mind. What was important was to get all of the breaking news about what came to be known as the darkest day in American history. We then learned that a terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, was responsible for the attacks. My blood boiled at Osama bin laden's image each time they put his ugly mug on the screen. This was the man responsible for thousands of lives lost, and total chaos on what began as a beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky that day, and the temperatures were dreadfully perfect. It was only fitting that this could be considered the calm before the storm. We had no idea at the time the events that were ahead of us, but looking back, it only made more sense.

 

I can never enjoy my birthday now. My birthday is forever associated with the day that America was a victim of a most heinous attack. However, the silver lining is that my birthday will also always be remembered as the day that America joined together with such unity that had not been seen in years, and maybe ever in the history of our great nation. The undieing patriotism and pride of America was evident more in the months following 9/11 than at any time in our nation's history. It's unfortunate that it took such a devastating tragedy for this to happen, but in those months, I saw more neighbors helping each other, more classmates sticking together in schools, and more enemies set aside their differences for the common good of America than I ever thought possible.

 

In many ways, 9/11 was the worst of days and it was the best of days, and I will never forget any of the vivid details that I still have in my memories of that day.

[oochymp 2,393]

I was in 8th grade and wasn't told about it until the afternoon. My middle school made the executive decision not to tell us, I don't know why, probably because they didn't feel like trying to explain it. I remember walking into my civics class, 6th period, probably around 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon, right after lunch, we had no idea anything was going on outside of the school so we were all still kind of in the lunchtime high, excitedly trying to finish our lunchtime conversations. I'll never forget the words of my civics teacher as we were all settling into our seats "America has been attacked." I don't think I've ever been deflated that quickly. We then had a brief conversation about how the school had said not to tell us, had forbidden teachers from turning on the tvs, but that she (my civics teacher) couldn't take not telling us. She gave us a few details, planes had flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but to be honest I didn't know what the World Trade Center was (I was in 8th grade in VA, if you'd shown me a picture I would have recognized the NY skyscrapers, but I didn't know them by name) I didn't really know what had happened until I got home. I don't remember anything else about that day, I just know that I spent that whole afternoon in front of the tv watching coverage and that I was pissed at my school for sheltering us, to me, that was something I should have known about.