Ok guys well tommorow will be the 7th anniversary of the WTC Attacks, attacks on the pentagon, and the destruction of flight 93. I figured that in this thread we can talk about where we were when it happened, how old we were, and see what will happen tommorow.

I was at work, skinnybones. It was a frightening day. When I heard they'd hit the Pentagon, my heart sank.

I was at school. Didn't even know what really happened until I came home and saw the TV.

I was first to class that morning. The teacher went to go get coffee in the lounge, so I sat reading a Redwall series book as I was anticipating her return. A substitute teacher for the district hustled in dropping her papers but not minding; the face on her was of pure distress. She flipped on the tv and on CNN, which was filming a large skyscraper in New York (I didn't know the name of it at the time), burning. When my teacher returned she turned off the TV to not scare the kids just arriving into class. It was time for band class after that, but rather than work on our scales the teacher brought in a TV and told us to watch what was going on. Live, we saw the other plane hit. I bent over in my chair, clasped my hands together, and began talking to God. No one in the class knew what to make of it since we were all children, but the most common question is "why are they doing this?" Throughout the day kids got pulled from school to go home with their mothers, and one kid had a father visiting the WTC on business that week--he was a wreck. The rest of the day was filled with people holding back tears.

Not long after I watched the President get on television and saber-rattle and say Terror a lot. My parents cheered the remarks, so I went along with that. Weeks later in school we talked about Afghan culture, and it sounded completely dreadful and backwards. On the news these impoverished people were shown being blown to bits and fleeing their homes. My father showed me an song he got in his email that derided the "camel loving Muslims", and I remember being angry that they attacked my country. But Osama Bin Laden was not found, and the innocent bloodied limbs of Afghan women continued to be shown on the news. Time passed and Saddam Hussein turned out to be an accomplice in that horrible day, we were told. I was a baby at the time of our country's first bout with him, so had no knowledge of him, much less how he was connected to Bin Laden. I cheered the invasion with my parents and watched that statue topple, watching news reports of Christians being subjugated by the local Muslim population (which naturally incensed our Catholic family). More innocent bodies were shown ravaged by bombs on the news. Collateral damage, I said to myself. Blame Saddam Hussein, I said.

More time passed and I began getting interested in politics so followed the primaries and started learning about the issues. The only thing I heard more of than soldiers dying in Iraq was the word "flip-flop." Pres. Bush was re-elected and I realized what a mistake that was the following day.

Among the other posters at the forum, the War On Terror dominated my road from childhood to adulthood. In retrospect, I can see how politicians used their words on us, and how peoples can be so easily vilified. I was forced to see how my lifestyle affects the world, and how my government intervenes in other country's affairs. But now it is 2008, and the question the kids in my band class asked has still not been answered. "Why are they doing this?" may have been answered to some Americans after we listened to Bin Laden's tapes or got the brief summaries of CIA involvement in the Middle East on 24 hour news networks. But that question is on the lips of Afghan children and Iraqi children now. The Americans falling from a burning tower, and the severely burned Arabs all are immortalized in pictures. Where is Bin Laden? He seems more like an idea now than a real person. An abstraction of terror that preys on the Free World. But 7 years later, this still has yet to be a matter of "terror." It has been a series of human suffering that underscores the necessity for humanity to do good on the part of their fellow man. I'll close with a poem by a girl in elementary school, Amy Maddox:

"Underneath We Are All the Same
by Amy Maddox

He prayed
it wasn’t my religion.
He ate
it wasn’t what I ate.
He spoke
it wasn’t my language.
He dressed
it wasn’t what I wore.
He took my hand
it wasn’t the color of mine.
But when he laughed
it was how I laughed,
and when he cried
it was how I cried."

Excellent post, Evak.

It was just another work day, my mom called me from Colorado and told me to turn onthe TV so I did and saw the first building come down. They were breaking away to the pentagon too, and there were reports of car bombs at the state department. I called my boss and he said I beter come in, we had a lot of work to do that day, so I listented to the radio all day as we built a cableway across a river in San Jose, CA. That night I watched the news in my hotel room as a pile driver across the street drove piles for a light rail overpass all night long.

I think that seven years later, New York having a hole in the ground in remembrance of the victims is disgraceful.

On the morning of 9/11 I arrived off a plane from Palma at around 7am, in Dublin. By the time I got home and unpacked, I drove to the school
to pick up my daughter who got out at 2pm. The 2 o'clock news reported a plane had crashed into one of the towers.

Wow, what an accident I thought, after getting my daughter and heading home the news was live from Manhattan, confusion seemed to be the norm.
Got home about 2:15 and put on CNN, wasnt in long before the second plane hit, a day I'll never forget.

I think that seven years later, New York having a hole in the ground in remembrance of the victims is disgraceful.


Why?

I was out of school sick that day, and I was asleep. My mom came and knocked on my door and told me to come and see the TV. So I went and watched, saw the second plane hit, and I honestly though for a while there that we were going to nuke someone for doing that to us. I was honestly scarred. It just kept getting worse when the towers fell and the plane hit the Pentagon, and then the plane crashed in Penn. I watched the news for like a week straight. A time I'll never forget.

I was working, which at the time meant I was on the computer in my spare bedroom listening to the radio (I worked from home at the time). I heard that a plane hit the WTC, so I went downstairs and flipped on the TV. I saw the second plane hit live. My completely moronic thought at the time was that some air traffic controller must have really screwed up (as if a pilot would fly into a building because ATC told him to). Obviously that passed quickly. I sent an e-mail to my colleagues about what was going on and oddly enough a lot of them tell me their memory of 9/11 involves getting an e-mail from me. I watched most of the coverage on BBC America. I don't know why - it seemed interesting to get an outside view of things.

19 days later my wife and I hopped on a plane to Hawaii for our honeymoon.

Early morning marching band practice was just wrapping up when our instructor announced that the planes had hit. 2nd period class was virtually nonexistent, as the teacher had a student who lived in downtown NYC that he was frantically trying to get a hold of. 3rd period class, a friend and I sat at home (thank you, open campus study hall) and watched it all until we had to go back to the school and watch it in nearly every single class. I was surprised that some teachers were so ill-concerned as to attempt to blow off the event and try to teach a lesson...when no one was paying attention anyway.

That night, my parents and I drove all of our cars to the gas station to get filled up. There were five gas stations in my hometown and each one of them had a line of cars at least two blocks long. I probly waited in line for nearly an hour. The rest of the night, I just sat at home and watched it all. It was kind of weird to see almost all major networks and cable networks halting their programming because of it.

Man that was one messed up day.

19 days later my wife and I hopped on a plane to Hawaii for our honeymoon.
Sexy times.

Why?

The one event that unified the western world for a short period of time, the largest mass murder in American
History, an event which changed the direction America was going, the end of the 'it will never happen to us mentality' in America.

Just a few thoughts.

I was in sixth grade at the time... I remember the teachers all turned on the TVs around 1st or 2nd period, but my mom came to pick me up shortly afterwards so I wasn't exactly sure what had happened until later.

I understand how many many Americans felt afraid that fateful day, I experienced it myself many many times.

The one event that unified the western world for a short period of time, the largest mass murder in American
History, an event which changed the direction America was going, the end of the 'it will never happen to us mentality' in America.

Just a few thoughts.
I see it as a stark reminder. As opposed to some memorial that people would have lost appreciation for already.

I see it as a stark reminder. As opposed to some memorial that people would have lost appreciation for already.

Yes I can see were that would be evident, and 'stark' being the opt word.
Tho somewhere were people can go and reflect would be more apt, in the middle of the
most expensive real estate on the planet that sadly isnt going to happen, so I suppose your right.

Happened while I was on the bus to school in 8th grade. I don't think I fully grasped the gravity of the situation at the time; I recall thinking primarily, "I wonder if they'll let us watch the news instead of doing actual work today".

I was on leave from ISU, and ironically enough, I turned on the TV manually (which is something I almost NEVER do), and when I saw the first tower smoking after recognizing it as the World Trade Center, I thought I was watching a replay of the '93 bombing. I fumbled around for the remote, and when I finally found it, I turned the volume up. When I figured out they were broadcasting live, I about shit myself. There was talk of a rogue "personal" aircraft that collided with the north tower, but I was skeptical. I figured it was an IFR problem, but dismissed that when I thought about how clear the skies were. Then, the south tower was hit, and I saw that it was a commercial airliner. I IMMEDIATELY knew we were dealing with the worst case of terrorism this country had ever seen.

I wanted vaporize the Middle East afterwards.

I wanted vaporize the Middle East afterwards.

I was on my compter and had a television on in another room. A news bulliten appeared stating that a plane had hit one of the towers, and that's all that was known at the time. I went to the tv room - by then the news was on all stations and I watched the 2d plane hit. I had no doubt it was terrorism and had suspicions (correct ones) of who pulled it off. What I remember most is the anger I felt toward those who did the deed and those who supported them.

Watching the memorials, no mention of terrorists or radical ilsamists. It were as if an earthquake knocked down the buildings.

Watching the memorials, no mention of terrorists or radical ilsamists.
Can't do that anymore....it's "insensitive" to Muslims... :rolleyes:

We should rebuild the towers as they were, and make Bin Laden dance for nickels by the main entrance until his execution day arrives.

Oddly enough that is my conclusion, the Twin Towers should be rebuilt, that in itself would be a fitting memorial to the dead.

I had just driven into the parking lot at work (in Louisiana) and was listening to NPR on the radio when they cut in that a plane had hit the twin towers. I sat in the car a while listening thinking it was an accident - then I walked into the office where everybody had it on the TV in the conf room. Then the 2nd plane hit.

No work was done that day. I was the boss at that place -I didn't care that no work was done - I mean how could anybody work after that happened - everybody just sat and watched CNN in disbelief the whole day in the conf room & then went home - some went home early.

I used to live in NJ for a while and I could see those towers from my house, I came across some photos just the other week of the towers from Jersey - I went up to the top of one of the towers only about a year or so earlier.

You should check out the Ryan Adams video for New York, New York - filmed on Sept 7th 2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IhDW18rxyY

Great song - but spooky seeing the towers with just a few hours left

i remember it being very quiet. after the towers went down and for 2 more days afterward.
i've never heard it that quiet, ever. showed me how noisy civilization really is.

i remember it being very quiet. after the towers went down and for 2 more days afterward.
i've never heard it that quiet, ever. showed me how noisy civilization really is.
That's what you remember?

Primitive man lives at the end of runway three.

Really?!? Oh, then I sincerely apologize, PM. :: open mouth, insert foot ::

everywhere. almost no one was driving anywhere, going anywhere, no planes and jets flying. i've never heard it that quiet before.
i didn't know it could be that quiet. i wonder, when you are in the middle of nowhere, just a jet flying overhead somewhere , one jet, can cause enough noise in the atmosphere. it is unnoticable until you hear what quiet sounds like.
and, i was playing with my son out in the yard. a state cop drives by REAL slow and gives me a funny look, i wondered at first, "what? my house on fire or something?" , i never knew what happened until a few hours afterward. had no tv, and didn't listen to the radio because all i can pick up here is shit kicker country music or oldies.
when i learned of it, i thought, holy fuck.

On certain days of the year, depending on the weather, I can hear airliners 5 miles up, either heading to, or from the NE seabord, it goes to show how quiet the planet was up to 100 years ago.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I was less than 1 mile from World Trade Center. I watched the buildings burn and fall in front of my eyes in horror with tens of thousands of people in the streets. I stayed in place until about 3 pm and watched all of downtown Manhattan completely covered in smoke.

Here are a few things that stand out in my mind. I first realized how many must have died when I saw on every street scores of people crying uncontrollably. Another thing that stands out is the steady stream of large caravans of black tinted window SUVs through the streets. Also, the fighter jets that flew over New York steadily for months was pretty nerve racking. They still fly over to this day. There were police agencies from as far away as Ohio lining city streets as early as 1pm. And one thing that stands out most in my mind besides watching the towers burn, was a naked woman I saw at about 1pm, she was covered in a blanket and blood and crying while she held onto her 2 dogs. This was at one of the numerous triage centers throughout the city. Just basically tents on the street.

Terrible day.