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"What were you doing on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news?"

I was at work... teaching 2 yr olds at preschool. I had gotten to work early that day, as the school year had just begun for us and I needed to set up for the morning so I had just missed the news on the radio. Parents started bringing the children in at 9:20 so it was from one of the moms that I first heard the news. My assistant was quite frantic, as her husband was supposed to be flying somewhere that morning. Luckily, he was safe but there were some tense moments as she waited to get in touch with him. Once the children went off to Music I turned on the radio for a few minutes but it was too horrible to have that on once they came back in. All of the teachers tried very hard that day to not let the children see that we were upset and scared.

Then when I got home and turned on the TV, about 1 pm or so, it really hit me. Then my phone rang and my dearest friend was in labor, probably brought on by all the stesss of that day so I ended up watching her 3 yr old the rest of the afternoon. Her daughter was born the next morning, thank God.

Anyhow, there is a really awesome kids book that I got at the Scholastic Book Fair last year about the attack on the WTC. It's entitled "September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right" and it's written and illustrated by the kids in a first grade class. It's very simple but it has such a wonderful message. I bought it for my daughter for when she's a little older and also got a copy for my friend's daughter since she was born at the same time as this horrible tragedy. Just an FYI.

Thanks for posting this...
-Beth

p.s. Side note, for those of you who are a little older... what were you doing when the Challenger exploded? I was in 3rd grade and my teacher was almost the one on that shuttle-how scary is that!

where was I...

...sleeping
a bit after I woke up, I was playing a video game on my computer online, and all these people were like screaming and going "AHH WE ARE GOING TO DIE111!!!" very, very confused
Then I watched tv and found out what was going on...

...then I had to go to school and that might have been one of the only days we said the pledge of allegiance

I thought it was a joke, too - my friend Sue always uploads The Onion onto her PDA, and she was the one who said something to me, so I assumed it was a headline. She said to check NYTimes.com but it was down (bandwidth I assume, given the circumstances), as was CNN.com and everywhere else I checked. From there it became quite obvious what was going on.
Also, my father works in Manhattan and commutes there weekly by plane. It took several hours for the news to filter down that the planes involved were transcontinental, so I was petrified that he'd been killed. As it turns out, they were beginning to land when the first plane hit - they started circling and he saw the wreckage, and eventually they flew back to the airport they'd left from and landed there since the planes were all grounded.

I'm not sure it's fair or accurate to say Manhattanites were more affected than anyone else - I think perhaps some of them were differently affected. There were people across the country and the world who lost relatives or friends; it was an international tragedy. The idea that we don't all live with it every day because we weren't there is a little offensive to me. Some of us are more or less affected than others, because some of us process things differently than others, or are more open, or more closed, or more controlled, or more empathetic, or whatever. People are different; sorrow is going to necessarily manifest itself differently, but that doesn't mean it's any more powerful in certain groups.

EDIT: Oh, and my father ran out as soon as his plane landed and bought Iodine pills, which are still in the house, in case there was a sudden nuclear war and we needed to prevent whatever type of radiation poisoning/cancer that prevents.

[span class="edited"][Edited by LittleMousling 2004-09-05 19:56][/span]

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

I woke up to hear on the radio that "two airplanes crashed in New York". I then turned on TV and watched when the buildings fell. I was pretty shaken up for a few days, but now I'm over it.


I live in what could possibly be the most redneck town in America, and people here still act like 9/11 was yesterday. They go around wearing 9/11 shirts and hang HUGE flags off the back of their trucks (blocking everyone else's sight), and that's what we make fun of.


[span class="edited"][Edited by Cory Addict 2004-09-03 18:25][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by Lindy 2004-09-04 05:45][/span]

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I thought it was a joke when I first heard of the attacks. Then, when I saw what was happening on t.v., I was shocked, to say the least. I can fully understand why it happened, and I can think about the event without fear of the terrorists, or fear of whether they will strike again. They failed in that respect. Instead of making our people break down, feel sorry for ourselves, and go into hysterics, we have been pulled together, standing tall and proud. Some may think too proud, but that discussion is not for here. As much as this event may seem like the past, I don't think any part of it should be made fun of. The folks who still wear the t-shirts, and wave the flags, they are showing their solidarity and patriotism. That does not make them rednecks.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Nice post Garten.
I remember weird things were going on all day during school, kids kept getting picked up, teachers were asked to check their email, and a lot of teachers looked like they were on the verge of tears, but nobody knew why. I got picked up from school by my parents before the announcement was made, b/c my parents wanted to tell me about it myself since nobody knew how the school would react. Everything fell together later. The teachers had gotten email notices about it, and others were crying because they saw it on TV in the teachers lounge. When I watched it at home it was just too unreal...it doesnt seem like something that big could be just "knocked down" within such a short period of time. I remember cuddling with pets while watching the news, in such a state of shock that I didn't know what to do with myself, the animals were my source of comfort...thank goodness for them. I was reassured after learing that my uncle who's a pilot working for the same airlines in 9-11 was off duty, but I was still scared. The fact that it was now impossible to stay in the hotel there that I had slept in the a weekend the year before was too unreal. It still seems like a weird nightmare, even though its a reality. School the next day was wacky, all day in classes we just talked about it, and kids kept leaving to see the counselors and social security workers. The fact that I only live an hour away from the city made it even more frightning for me. I hope when I have kids and grandchildren that they never have to see something like it.

[span class="edited"][Edited by ferretfanatic 2004-09-03 18:37][/span]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I had moved to Ontario just over a month before to live with my fiance. I rarely have the tv or radio on. He called from work to tell me what had happened and to put CNN on. I was obviously shocked and upset, had to cut the call short as his work was trying to keep phone lines open.

It was terrible being in a 'foreign' country, alone for the day, worried sick about my kids and family back in MI. Hard to believe it's been almost three years already

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

The folks who still wear the t-shirts, and wave the flags, they are showing their solidarity and patriotism. That does not make them rednecks.

That's not what makes them rednecks. I can name 50 other things about them that do make them rednecks that have nothing do with 9/11.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I live in lower manhattan. I was in school when I heard that the planes crashed into the towers. I thought it was a joke, and turned to my friend and we started laughing. The next period there was a loudspeaker announcment confirming it was true. One girl burst into tears because her father works there. (Her father was ok.) Everyone freaked out, and by the end of the school day, the principal just yelled that everyone should leave the building and either walk home or take the subways that were working. Luckly I didn't lose any family members.

Walking around the streets was very eerie. On sepetember 12th I walked down to see it, and I will never forget what I saw. My room smelled like burning building and fireworks untill decmeber.

My mother stood atop our roof and watched them fall.

I'm about to walk out the door, so I gotta end this post. I will post back later about it.

You all saw it on TV, I saw it and experienced it in real life. I know I still cannot comprehend what happened, even after three years. Almost all New Yorkers are very private about what happened...I don't think you can really understand exactly what happened without being here. It was more than just a singular event. It has shaped the person that I am, and shaped the city in which I live.

EDIT: Everytime I see a low plane or a firetruck roaring down the street, I freak out and have to watch it past. I think about it every day.

[span class="edited"][Edited by solublefish 2004-09-03 19:13][/span]

I was in my 6th grade English class doing a journal writing assignment when one of the teachers that I hated the most walked into the room and told my teacher to turn on the radio in a slightly shaken voice. I heard that planes had crashed into one of the world trade center towers in new york. I had seen pictures of new york, but never known that the two huge buildings that made up the height of the skyline were the world trade centers. At first, no one really knew what to think or do. Being 11 years old at the time, I didn't know what really had happened. About 15 minutes later, the classroom T.V. popped on like it did when we had the news in homeroom. I saw the most horrifying site of my life. I saw it burning... one of the towers was burning. I didn't realize what a boeing 747 was or that it could do that. None of the kids in the room realized the significance of what happened. Most of them were talking about what had happened that morning. I sit and watched the footage over and over. We reported to our third period class and immiediatly began watching it again. There I saw live as the second plane hit the other tower. That image has been seered into my mind ever since. I realized then what was happening. Within that same period, both towers callapsed. I watched replays of it for the remainder of the school day. When I returned home, I discovered that since my sister was in elementary school, that she had not been told. When she found out, she said nothing. She was unaffected. Ignorance is bliss. For days, I watched the footage. I even became annoyed that comedy central didn't play the normal programming. After the fact, I watched as President Bush stood on the piles of rubble and spoke with the men. He said "I hear you, and the nation hears you. Soon, the whole world will hear you." He has and is still keeping that promise. I still look back on that day and remember what happened. Looking at pictures, names, and faces, I still become angry enough to hurt something. Later, I was asked by one of my teachers if I could have done what the men and women who crashed in Pennsylvania did. I simply responded, "yes." I would still respond yes. They are all heroes.

I might be over the other side of the world to where this happened, but I assure you it affected alot of us here too. Possibly not in the same as as many of you but still.
I was in bed sleeping, my hubby came in to sleep aswell and was quite late. He had been watching the events unfold on tv. He told me in my half asleep slumber but it sounded too rediculous to be true. I checked the clock, 2:30am and I nodded off back to sleep. Next morning the radio alarm went off and they were talking about it on the news. I still wasnt very believing of it and jumped up and switched the morning news on the tv. There is was. It was true. I still couldnt believe it had happened. I watch the footage in horror of the planes crashing.
All the way to work I listened to people calling the radio station crying for loved ones that were there and not heard from, and others calling asking how they were sposed to tell their kids that everything was going to be okay. At this stage I dont believe anyone knew who was responsible for it which made it even scarier.
The day at work was very weird. I worked in a call centre, it was the quietest day we'd ever had, which was probably a good thing because we were all trying to make sense of what had happened. I answered 2 calls that day instead of the average 50+. One of the guys I worked with and was quite good friends with lost his cousin.
I still remember the very emotional and angry threads made here at FP about it. I was also very anxious to hear from members who I knew at the time were close to where the events took place.

Thats my bit...

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

*steals thread back*

I was afraid of this Under the description of the RR it says "please no politics". Just pointing it out before anyone gets in trouble

*please continue*

]<]Dani<]<

A sore subject to many I'm sure, but I'm wondering... What were you doing on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news? To anyone not from the US, what were your thoughts when you heard? I know I will never forget sitting in my senior government class in high school. Our principal came on the PA system and the teacher turned on the TV. We all sat in absolute silence and just watched. I don't think many of us dared breathe. I remember going through the rest of the school day and watching the same scenes over and over: the planes colliding into the towers, people tumbling from the windows many stories up, and the towers collapsing on top of them selves. I got home and kept watching, hoping along with everyone else for more news. I remember frantically thinking "What is going on?! Why would anyone do this?!" over and over again. To a 17 year old (at the time), it was a very scary thing. We had learned of war from our history classes, but it wasn't something we ever needed to worry about. Even if we did need to be concerned with it, our country is powerful enough to handle it without a problem, right? We couldn't have been more wrong. What an eye opener. Guess the US isn't as powerful as we thought. Guess being American doesn't make us any better or any less than any one else. With September 11th came a new way of thinking. Well, not really a new way of thinking, but rather crude awakening. All humans, no matter what their age, race, heritage, background, whatever, are mortal. Being such, none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow, and we are living on borrowed time. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: "The past is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present." Whimsical and light hearted as it sounds, it's so true. That reminds me of another bit of advice that I like: "Dream as if you'll never die but live as if you'll die tomorrow." Now, life does go on, and it has. Eventually the dust settles and life returns to normal, or as close to normal as it can be. The thing is, what is to come for the next generation? Will they grow up thinking the way we used to, that turmoil and hatred will never concern them? Or will we pass our experiences on to them so they're not quite as naive? The experience of September 11th was a painful one and a great number of us will remember WHERE we were, WHAT we were doing, the time, and what was running through our minds at the very moment we heard what was happening, then saw it for ourselves. It is a painful memory, but how else can we pass on our experiences and emotions to our childrem and grandchildren if they don't stick out so vividly in our own minds?

]<]Dani<]<

[span class="edited"][Edited by gartenzwerfe 2004-09-03 18:17][/span]

*Sees how things are going* Look everyone, I know how you will disagree with something someone has said, but please, let's keep this thread going how the author wanted. We don't want to have a relevant thread closed because of irrelevant posts.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

OK this is gonna be short and sweet, people it was a very scary and tryin time for all of america. Whether your from the north or the south or east or west. We came together. And thats what makes me happy to be part of this great country. So no matter what opinions you have about the way things went politicly after the fact, i think it is safe to say that it did more good than bad because it brought us all together. So GO AMERICA

Well, I promise to get to my story of what I was doing and how it affected me, but first, I wanted to ask that we try our hardest to make sure this thread doesn't get closed. I enjoy a rousing political argument as much as the next person, but let's keep this thread strictly what it is about. What were you doing when you heard and how did it affect you? Not as much how it has affected your country or political climate or feeling towards or against certain people. Just how it's affected you...

If any of you WOULD like to discuss the politics surrounding this, you're more than welcome to email me OFF the site so that we can keep such discussions outside of this arena. Just click the email link at the bottom and title your email Political Discussion and I am more than happy to discuss it. Also, if enough responses are given, I can set up some kind of off-site discussion if that is so desired. If you want to respond to a certain line or mention on this post, I'd be more than happy to talk to you about it, but respect the intention of this thread and its author and just don't apply the responses or mentionings on here. From here on out, I don't want to read anything more on the politics here...

On September 11, 2001, I was a freshman in college and living in my dorm room with my roommate, Jake. Jake was the WORST ever about going to class and was supposed to be in a class at 9am CST. Instead, he was still sleeping, as was I since I did not have class until noon. His dorm room phone rang and it was his mother calling to tell him to turn on the TV. While I don't sleep very LONG, I do sleep very SOUNDLY. I didn't wake to the phone or him turning on the TV, but he did wake me up so that I could watch. I watched the second plane strike the WTC and watched both towers collapse. I then watched that same footage get played over and over and over for weeks, months, and even now, years later.

While I live in Texas, my parents are both from New England (the Northeast States) and my mom's family all lives in New Jersey. My Aunt Cheryl was supposed to be at work that day, but she called in sick. Her subway travels beneath the WTC every day at 9:14am. Her train was not in the station at the moment the strike occurred, but it was the last train to pull away from that station. The people that live three doors down from my Aunt Loretta lost the husband of the family. He worked in the WTC. Their town lost approximately 25 people in the tragedy and it sticks with them today...

I still live in Texas, where even now, many American flags fly high all the time. It is a sad moment in history and I hope nothing like it ever occurs again...


PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

Billy that reminds me...I could go on and on about the scary coincidences that happend that day, about people calling in sick, meetings being cancelled, taking a random day off, etc. I'll just say one to keep it short. A friends aunt had an office on one of the floors the plane actually hit, but she spilled coffee on her blouse so she went down to the first floor to a lobby or something to clean it up, so she was able to make an escape. (she was in the 2nd tower) Very, very, scary.

[span class="edited"][Edited by ferretfanatic 2004-09-03 21:36][/span]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

One of my friend's mom was suppposed to be a stewardess on the first flight that crashed into the WTC. Luckily, she had called in sick that day.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

i don't remember what i did the night before, but i know that my mother in law woke up me and my wife (fiance at the time ) at about the time the 2nd plane was about to crash into the building. we turned on the tv just in time to see it hit and watch the events unfold live on tv. to me, i have a hard time with the way the media kept playing the video over and over and over again as if to drum it into our heads or something but then, i knew to switch off once the 2nd tower fell and there were no new developments coming in. i had to work that night (as a pizza guy) and i was in a state of shock for most of the day until i had to go to work.

sometime around 8pm CST a rumor got started that gas was going for $6/gallon in minnesota (or illinois, or iowa or somewhere) and this started a MAD rush for gasoline. every single station here in town had a line that stretched back and wasn't moving for HOURS at a time. luckily for me i had a half a tank so i didn't have to wait in line, but my wife did. a couple gas stations got in trouble because wisconsin law says they are only allowed to change their prices one time per 24 hours and several raised their prices 3+ times in one night. almost all of them sold out of at least one octane if not two, and when it turned out to be a hoax of some kind, a lot of people were very angry about it.

i spent the next week or so in a daze until i "discovered" the mark knopfler album "sailing to philadelphia". i spent the next month or so listening to that album and drinking in all the stories of all the songs, all of which deal with some aspect of american life and/or history. it was a very cathartic and soothing album for me and really helped me shape things in my mind. it also made me a little sad about how little actual americans know about their own country and how some guy from england can know more about our own history than probably 75% of us.

anyway, this brings me to this point:

The folks who still wear the t-shirts, and wave the flags, they are showing their solidarity and patriotism. That does not make them rednecks.

i have no problem with people who want to show their patriotism for this country. but most of the people who wave their flags are not showing true patriotism for this country as evidenced by the fact that they have no idea the proper display of a flag. people are so eager to put up a flag, but they have no idea what it means to respect the symbol it stands for. not only that, but to me the *true* patriots are the ones who buy their flags/t-shirts/stickers/etc AMERICAN MADE. it bothers me no end when people buy american flags "made in china" without even checking. also, i still don't see how flag underwear is showing respect for the flag considering the things that will come into contact with that flag, i don't see the connection to patriotism somehow

http://www.usflag.org/us.code36.html#USFC

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

I was sitting in Spanish 1. The teacher was hated amongst all students, but what she said about the event was just horrible. A school office worker came into the classroom and whispered something to her. A minute later she said, and I quote, "A plane just flew into one of the Twin Towers in New York, oh well, back to where we were."

The class after that was Engineering Drawing. We had TVs in that class which were turned on to CNN. There I saw, for the first time, flames bursting out of the tower. Smoke billowing out covering the other building.

Then I saw the second plane crash into the other tower, live. I was shocked and horrified. After that, I had lunch, just to go back to History from 1500 and more CNN. There I saw the tower fall.

It is all so fresh in my mind. I remember it like it was yesterday. I can tell you almost everything said that day, everything that I heard. From then on, being an American citizen was different.

One thing that sickened me was Arabian people being FORCED to show their American pride. People became so prejudice against them that they HAD to act like AMERICA was their life. Now i'm not saying that that is a bad thing, but because they had no other choice but to do so was appualing.

3 years after the fact, and it still feels like yesterday.

I was awoken by my radio alarm clock at 5am as usual. The announcer said "two hijacked airliners have flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York and both buildings have collapsed."

I remember sitting bolt upright in bed. I turned on the TV and watched footage of the second impact and the towers collapsing. I phoned my best friend and said "turn on your TV. There's something happening now that will change the course of world history."

I loaded my TV in the car and went to my 7am business meeting. I expected nobody to turn up but all 30 of the invited guests arrived and I told them, one by one, what was happening. Some didn't believe me. We watched the TV for a while and one by one they all left in a daze.

After everyone had left I went to my office. At that time I shared office space with two guys who had just moved to NZ from London and were both sharemarket traders, who worked on the trading floor. They personally knew many, many people who worked in the World Trade Center. One of them asked me to go out for a walk with him and we stopped in a park where we sat on a step while he cried and cried. Over the next few days we learned just how many friends he had lost and I cried too, for people I've never met.

A small note: This was September 12, 2001. September 11 was an ordinary day like any other day, due to the international date line.

I was in beginings of a very tough point in my life(cheating wife with divorce soon to follow) I woke up after a heavy night of drinking about 5 min. before the towers fell. As sick as it made me, yes it was the pictures on the TV not the vodka, it did lift some of the stress that I was feeling about my personal situation. I know it's hard to say that any positive came from this but I think watching everything on TV, knowing that it wasn't me or anyone I know in one of the towers or on one of the planes, thinking about what the families of those people were having to deal with, and all those thoughts in my head about how sick the people who did that had to be, all those things probabaly saved my life. I knew at that point no matter how tough things will get with my life, none of it will compare with the things that tousands, maybe millions of people had to deal with in just a couple of hours.
These days I have more problems with the personal side of this story than the global side (the divorce has only been final for about a year) but I know that when things get tough, it could always be worse.
I hope this didn't sound conceded, but that's the way it happend to me.