What do you remember about 9/11?

[dhyatt]

What do you remember about 9/11?

I remember sitting in traffic on I-40, listening to Don Imus tell his listeners that “…a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Towers.” I remember arriving at my office in Research Triangle Park and watching live coverage on one of our hallway TV monitors and seeing a jet come out of nowhere and hit the second tower. I remember thinking “Oh my God! This is deliberate!” I remember hearing reporters sounding as dazed as I felt as they tried to absorb it all. I remember hearing reports of a 3rd, 4th, and 5th plane. I remember hearing a report about a truck bomb that turned out to be wrong. I remember sending employees home because there was no way we could concentrate on work. I remember thinking how the day’s events would screw up my race for a Town Council seat. I remember going home and hearing gasps and screams on the radio as the first tower fell. I remember pulling up my campaign sign from my front yard and putting out my flag and I remember feeling conflicted about doing it, like it somehow meant more than if I’d been flying the flag the day before. I remember watching the second tower fall and scouring the web for any information, anything at all, that might help me make sense of it all. I remember finally breaking down and sobbing uncontrollably as I thought how this would change everything. I was afraid of what it would mean to my family.

In the days that followed, anger and resentment set in. Patriotic fervor soared. My emotions were overloaded with hatred of Islam and gut wrenching disgust at seeing Palestinians dancing in the streets – celebrating the deaths of innocent people. After a few weeks, planes started flying again. I was nervous and fearful every time I saw one in the air. They were no longer impressive to me. They were weapons, usable at anytime by radicals I didn’t understand. Over the ensuing months, my fear has subsided, my hatred of all Islam has been reasoned way. The anger remains. Fueled by memories forever scorched in my brain, it’s more focused now and grows with every terrorist act. Yet even the anger has undergone changes. From a pure adrenaline fed, heart pounding rage, it has evolved to an ever hardening resolve. If the terrorists really want to take over America and install a fundamentalist Islamic state, they will have to go through a lot of people just like me. There is no flip-flop and there is no choice – terrorists, foreign and domestic, should be eliminated as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I forced myself to watch some of the beheading videos and they helped me come to a conclusion. Though I could never treat another human being that way, I could shoot any of the terrorists, point blank in the head, and never lose a wink of sleep. As we go to the polls next month, I have only one thing on my mind - which candidate has the better plan for killing terrorists? Which candidate has the same steely resolve I do?

[Cathy]

I was living in Philadelphia in an apartment on the sixth floor and was going through the morning routine of helping my hubby get off to work. The TV was on and tuned to MSNBC as usual and the news went to the report of a airplane crashing into the Tower. We stopped what we were doing stopped and we watched the report. Reporters were speculating and wondering about the size of the plane and could it be a mishap.
As they were speaking another plane entered the screen and we watched in disbelief as it slammed into the other Tower while the black smoke poured from the first one. It was immediately clear to us that it was no accident, but it was too bizarre to grasp. I watched the scene transfixed.
Within a minute of the second crash, I told my husband, "That building is going to fall." I could see the top part tilting, and felt that it would topple over any moment. I was still surprised and horrified to see the buildings implode into a pile of rubble and dust, as surely as if they had been slated for demolition by professionals. After that it was just mind numbing disbelief for quite a while, and waiting for the explainations to come.


If you want to see something interesting that is related, check this website out: www.citizensunited-interactive.org/C41.11/
It's a movie being made.

[kellyc]

I was at work, and a former coworker instant messaged me about the first plane. We have CNN all over our building so I simply started to watch. All I could think about was the fear that those people in the plane must have had if when the looked up and saw that building as they were about to crash into it. I didnt know at the time it was a jet. Then the second plane hit the 2nd building and part of me wanted to think that it was a replay of the first one, but both buildings were on fire. My husband called and said we were under attack. It scared me.

Where I work we border crabtree lake, and when the air space was closed I remember watching plane after plane after plane going across the water to land, and then they just stopped. And there were no more planes.

I remember my company having dump trucks stationed outside our building to protect the DOD networks that are ran out of our building and that scared me even more. I can remember a sense of fear, and a sense of making sure I knew where all of my family members were. My customer's network became overloaded with traffic because all their employees were watching stuff online, and I can remember having to focus on fixing their stuff, yet not caring. I remember when the towers went down, that our customers site in WTC #3 just dissappeared and wondering if they were okay. It was a horrid feeling. And after a day I was sick of seeing the buildings collapse...why...because I knew those people were dying. I couldnt stand watching them die over and over and over again. Funny how we think that TV has caused people to become immune to these feelings of being sick over watching death. I also remember being glad the GW was president and not Al Gore. GW was very comforting to me...to see him get shook up, made me feel okay that I was really shook up...

[Karen]

It still seems a blur to me. What I remember most is digging through my address book trying to find my old college roommate's phone number. I knew her husband worked in one of the twin towers. I had spoken to him maybe about 6 months earlier. Of course I couldn't get through to anyone right away. I remember just being frantic, not making any sense over what was happening. I cried a lot. I finally got through to her about 3 days later. Her husband had been laid off thankfully!!! But she had news of a wonderful friend who we went to college with who was missing. We prayed and prayed but those prayers were never answered and he was declared dead.

The other thing I remember was that I started thinking about the time my Uncle took me to his office at the Pentagon. I was trying to picture where his office was in reference to where the plane crashed. I felt relief that he had retired years earlier. But an overwhelming sense of sadness as he may have lost some of his friends.

My thoughts were not directed at what was happening or why is was happening, but more of how are the families of these people who were killed going to cope with their losses??? How do you as a loved one accept loss of life in this horrific manner???

I am still pissed off my friend died and I have no forgiveness in my heart for the way he died. I don't think I ever will...

Karen

[Brent]

I remember:

I stopped by a colleague's office and said "What's up?". He said he had heard that a plane just hit the WTC. I stood there dumbfounded, then tried to get to cnn.com, unsuccessfully. All the major news Web sites were jammed. I finally got to one and couldn't believe what I was reading. My wife called with more news about a second, third, fourth plane. At that time, I had been travelling a LOT -- 80,000 miles the previous year. We both realized that it wouldn't have been all that unusual for me to have been on one of the hijacked planes. I watched the horrors on the hall televisions and felt sick to my stomach. I went home early, almost in a stupor, hugged the wife and kids, sat in front of the TV and watched things that seemed surreal and didn't fully register in my brain. Like others have noted here, I prayed and cried. In the midst of all the sickening images, I remember feeling pride and some comfort in seeing the U.S. Congress singing "God Bless America" (I think that's what it was?) on the steps of the Capitol. I can't remember if the US flag was already up at home or not, but I've been more diligent about flying it ever since then, to this day.

A few days later I realized I had to make a decision about whether or not my Cub Scout Pack should go camping that weekend. We had planned this campout for a long time. Would it be disrespectful to camp so soon after a national tragedy? Would people be in a mood to have fun that weekend? What if something else were to happen? Finally, the idea that "If we change our ways and can't enjoy our freedom, the terrorists have won" dominated, and I decided we should go camping. Thankfully, many parents told me that was the right decision. I remember lashing a small flag to the antenna of my van, and marveling at how many people were flying flags on their cars. I remember having a glorious weekend at camp, appreciating my blessings a lot more than usual, and choking up during our Pack meeting ceremony around the campfire and again at our informal Sunday worship service at camp.

I remember coming home from camp, looking out the window at the flag on my antenna, with my youngest son in the van, and hearing "Battle Hymn of the Republic", one of my favorite hymns, on the radio, and that overwhelmed the emotions once again -- I nearly had to pull off the road because my eyes were filled with tears.

I remember that I had to take a business trip 2 weeks after September 11, to the west coast. I remember a pretty somber group of passengers. I remember hearing new announcements ("Please don't congregate in the aisles"). I remember seeing two gentlemen who, it was pretty obvious, were sky marshals. I remember seeing flight attendants use the beverage cart to block access to the cockpit during parts of the flight. I remember being ultra-alert to everything that was going on on the plane, paying attention to every little thing that any passenger did and frankly, being just a little bit frightened. And I remember realizing that air travel was changed forever, and that I really would prefer not to fly anywhere.

I felt the same disbelief, grief and anger that others here have described. And like others, for me that's turned into a firm resolve: NEVER AGAIN. No matter what it takes, these evil people must be stopped.

[johnb]

I was laid off at the time after my former employer closed their Cary office. So I had taken a part time job loading trucks for UPS in North Raleigh. I was heading home listening to Warner Wolf who had called into the Imus show. By the time I got home the second plane had hit and the FAA had made an announcement to the effect that all planes were being ordered to land because they weren't sure how many more there were although at the time they suspected at least one more.

I figured Bush would go after these animals, but I didn't realize he meant he was going into the nest to kill all the vipers. I suppose 8 years of appeasement with the former regime in Washington had caused me to be cynical when a President claimed he would stand firm against terrorism.

Bush's stand is what compelled me to rejoin the military. It reminded me of the old British WWI poster where the little child asks the father "What did you do during the Great War daddy?". I couldn't sit this one out after 9/11, once my daughter went off to college I joined. She, by the way, recently joined the Florida National Guard and will be a medic in a field hospital. My younger son will be joining the Corps in just over a year.

john

[Wuptdo]

I was just pulling into the parking garage at NCSU and was early for class. I turned on the Radio to listen to what Imus (in the Morning) was up too. At first I was confused to what I was listening too; was this one of their "skits" or the real thing. Imus was saying "oh, my God" and "I can't believe this is happening;" more or less. He was on the phone with Warner Wolf, who was describing the fire in the first tower, a few moments later I found out a plane had hit the tower. My first thought was that someone who had lost everything on "Wall Street" was taking revenge against some brokerage firm in that Tower. Then Warner Wolf, began screaming that a second large jet had just crashed into the other tower. I realized that something was terribly wrong. One plane crashing was a "freak" event, two planes crashing into two different towers, this was an attack. I thought someone had taken a few pages out of a Tom Clancy novel and "made it so."

I walked into my classroom and turned on the TV. My instructor walked in, and I informed him as to what was happening. Most of the class didn't know what was going on as they came in. We all sat in silence and watch what was unfolding before our eyes. Most of us were in shock. The instructor told us that class was canceled, but most of stayed to watch the TV.. When the time came, I proceeded to my next class, unaware that the towers were collapsing. When I arrived, most of the class was watching TV as well. Most were either crying, or very upset, of just plain angry. My Professor in that class was also crying. We talked for a few moments and agreed that canceling class was the best thing to do. I told her I was going to get my kids out of school and she was going to do the same. The other students asked us what they should do. As I looked into those 20 or so young faces, it dawned on me, these kids had never had to deal with a national issue of this type before. Their innocence would forever be lost. I told them to check in with their parents, go home, listen to what's going on, and pray for those people who had died.

Somewhere in there we heard the Pentagon was also hit. With that, my gut really began wrenching. As a younger man, I had walked those halls at the Pentagon, and that is when it really hit home for me. I can't describe the feelings I had, but the last time I felt that way is the day the Challenger (L-51) blew up in 1986. Then again in 1983, when the Marine Barracks was blown up in Beirut. From that point on, I was on autopilot: get the kids, stock up on some supplies and get home. I called my wife and she was already getting some of the kids. The rest of day, we as a family watch in horror, as that days events unfolded. We all ran the gambit of feelings and some the younger kids kept asking "why." A few days later when President Bush made his speech to the Nation, I knew at that time, he was the right man, at the right time, for our Nation. I will never forget nor shall I ever forgive.

Mike

[Wuptdo]

A bit of a reminder of what today is:

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/05.09.09.FDNYWTC-X.gif

Wuptdo :(

[Anonymous]

I remember so many things about that awful day and the days that followed. I'll respond to just one thing I read here--the loss of innocence for the next generation. I will never forget the terror in my youngest (age 10 at the time) children's eyes when they came in the house screaming that there were planes flying over Shearon Harris, and the very brief, but gut-wrenching fear I felt before I realized that they were US military planes doing their fly-overs. My kids had heard on the news that all air traffic had been halted and that the plant was a security risk. I seem to recall that we had fly-overs every hour for awhile. It was comforting and frightening all at the same time.

Watching the TV coverage then and now is so fraught with emotion that it's hard to sort it all out.

[editor_andy]

I was in my second period class, Algebra I, in my freshman year of high school when the first plane hit. Another teacher walked in and whispered to our teacher. Since she was right by me I heard something to the effect of "Some nut just flew a plane into the World Trade Center."

Unlike most of the school, this didn't interupt the lesson at all, and I really didn't get my first view of a TV until the end of the class (between classes) and then at lunch.

At the time, no one really understood what had happened. It wasn't I got home when I really got to watch the news and well...it all came together.

[Wuptdo]

Just a little reminder of what today is.........

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/06.09.10.Refresher-X.gif

Wuptdo :evil:

[Wuptdo]

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/07.09.10.TuesdayMorning-X.gif

In our own words, a reminder of that dark day in American History.

Wuptdo

[JoeCiulla]

I was on a plane that morning, one of the last allowed to land in Chicago before they shut down the airport and diverted traffic. I had a long drive ahead of me and guess by then the wireless networks were overloaded. No radio, so oblivious to it all. My wife was finally able to get through to me, sobbing, and I found out what happened. I got to an office and watched the towers fall. I did not see footage of people jumping off the buildings and hope to God I never will. The eighteen hour drive home in a rental car was surreal. It was like the whole country was closed down. American flags all along the way. Crystal clear sky and not a single jet con-trail to be seen anywhere, like planes never existed.

I share Don's sentiments. I don't own any guns and am not a violent person, but if given the chance I would personally dispatch Osama Bin-Laden. I believe in the death penalty, and in normal circumstances it should be administered painlessly. Bin-Laden is a different case. He enjoys quoting scripture and promoting orthodox religious practices. As such, I believe the ancient practice of death by stoning is appropriate for him. Small stones so that it takes a long time, and anyone who lost a loved one would get their chance.

[MattD]

My wife and I were living in Norfolk, VA. This is the home of the world's largest Naval Station - with up to 75 aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and subs.

After the attacks, all ships were ordered to immediately leave port. We had an apartment on Chesapeake Bay and we watched one ship after another go into the open sea. It was at that moment that the surreal became reality and I realized we were at war.

[editor_andy]

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/royalpred/remember-1.jpg

[dhyatt]

Bumping this thread in case anybody wishes to add to it.

[Brent]

Thanks, Hyatt, it was sobering to re-read those posts. I won't add anything new, just reiterate what I and others said those years ago:

NEVER AGAIN.

And that requires that we all REMEMBER.

[dhyatt]

Did any of us dream that 8 years later we would still be fighting the terrorists and amongst ourselves while the site of Twin Towers remained more or less vacant??? We have woefully short memories :-(

[dhyatt]

Nine years on now and the fallout is still heavier than I think any of us could have imagined. Debates raging over whether or not to burn books sacred to someone's religion, inflated offers for tainted real estate just to make the problem go away, little progress in Afghanistan. Fear and mistrust as rampant as ever and the majority of it still driven by politics and ideology. And here I sit in my air conditioned living room, listening to music, far removed from the blood and dust. Life may go on but for those of age when it happened, life will never be the same.

[dhyatt]

Ten years later
slightly worse for wear
freedom tower finally marching skyward...

we are still at war

Most of the same problems remain
an ever larger federal government to blame

[dhyatt]

I want to be inspired but a decade later I'm not. I'm mostly just tired. Don't the thugs of the world have something better to do? I resent being the world's policeman. Kill or be killed, I'm dead inside either way.

[johnb]

Wow. Hard to believe I wrote that 7 years ago. Well, the daughter did her Guard time, did one deployment to Iraq as a medic. My son completed 4 years in the Marines with two deployments to Iraq and is now in the Army Reserve. The son in law, who was not in the picture back then, got off active duty with 2 to Iraq and 1 to Douchebagistan and is now in the Guard. I am in the Guard at this time as well. Over the past 7 years my wife has had a deployment flag (white with red border with a blue star for each family member deployed) with two stars on the door for several of those years.

What a time it has been.