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Where were you?
Topic Started: Sep 11 2007, 10:40 PM (1,469 Views)
hypothesizer
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Don't you wish it was electric
As i was watching the Memorials for september 11th on tv i thought about how that day wasn't just an attack on Americans it was an attack on the world. So i thought we could share our experiences of that day. Like where you were when you heard the news and the emotions you felt.


I was a sophmore in highschool and was sitting in my Geometry class. Our principal came over the school's PA system and asked the teachers to turn their televisions onto the news channels. His exact words were " Our nation has fallen under attack". Shortly after we began watching the live feed of the World Trade Center buildings the second plane struck.

I remember feeling like i was alone although i was in a classroom with about 30 other people. Throughout the day we continued to watch the coverage and saw the buildings coming down. All day long their was complete silence in the school. I've never felt anything like i did that day.

I would appreciate it if anyone else wanted to share their feelings on that day.
Yes my name is Annie. My hair is not red, i'm not an orphan, and if you break into song i will be forced to hurt you!
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song_stress
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I had been reading a book (mystery fiction) about a similar attack on the USA using planes. I had fallen asleep early in the morning. At about mid-morning there was a knock on my door, and I answered it still very groggy. Before me stood a neighbor and friend in his reserve fatigues. He told me what had happened, and I was stymied, thinking I was still asleep and dreaming about the book.
At this point things were still hazy on all the news reports. We thought the 4th plane was still in the air and headed for the Electric Power Project in Niagara Falls, NY about 5 miles away, according to graphics on the news.
I spent the day in my neighbor's across the hall. It seemed to be a central "go-to" place for the complex. We all had friends in the NY area and were very worried, but it was nearly impossible to get in touch with any of them.
The only word I can think of to describe that day is surreal.
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HuskiesFan
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Great topic!!

I was at an all day training session for hospital administrators/leaders when we got word that the first plane had hit...then we were watching coverage live when the second one hit.

We were told to go back to our respective hospitals to be on alert. Seeing as my hospital is a major medical center with a helicopter program, we went on stand-by for victims, being only a short flight away. Unfortunately, there weren't many survivors to evacuate.

A sad day for America and an even sadder day for the Northeast. I have an acquaintance who lost his wife in one of the towers.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
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ekny
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My sister called me and without any preamble said, go to a TV (I don't have tv/cable), the World Trade Center just came down. I get on well with my sister but responded uncharacteristically, immediately very angry, and snapped, What, is this some kind of *(#king joke? thinking it was in appalling taste if so--and realised a split-second after the words were out of my mouth--of course it couldn't be, she wouldn't do that... oh man. So I apologized & we hung up & I walked into town to go to a bar. And it was so incredibly quiet, no cars on the street were moving, no people out, and nothing flying overhead, like someone had just switched off the sound. So I knew already it really was true, however unbelievable.

I got into town & watched 10 minutes of news in a bar where no one was drinking or moving, a bunch of businessmen you'd never see in a bar in the morning were standing around, sleeves shot up, watching, everything was oddly muted. I phoned my mother & sister briefly, went home. Saw a friend on active reserve in full uniform on the corner, waiting to be picked up by his unit, very disorienting sight--this is not a military town, it's academic, you never see stuff like that here... I didn't know what to do so I shook his hand, thanked him, wished him well & said take care of yourself. Spent 3 hours wrestling with trying to get some kind of software installed on my computer so I could watch live feed, and NBC had something running for 3 days, 24/7 just about, it's the only time I'm aware of a major news station made that kind of media available so simply, for free. So I watched most of the coverage on a screen about 2" wide, which didn't help but I suppose made the images a little easier to bear.

What I remember being most impressed by was just the sight of thousands of people walking home over the bridge, the Brooklyn bridge, must have been; no arguments, no screaming, not even much crying really, just this matter of fact sort of determination to take the next step. And again almost no sound, no talking, just thousands of feet shuffling forward. And I remember being surprised & moved & impressed as hell; this was New York City, & people badmouth the attitude and all that, but in the midst of this tremendous crisis, ordinary people were just behaving with great common sense, doing what was necessary without anyone needing to shout orders at them or corral them or direct them. And I remembered, although we don't often see it, that's what's best about places like NY too, in a funny way... all that humanity crammed together, but people still have brains & hearts--and survival skills, & in a crisis, actually do know what to do. And do it, small things and large.
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aussiebadgirl
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Well from someone who lives on the otherside of the world, I was just about to head to bed. When I thought I would catch the late news highlights before I turned in. Let's just say I never made it to bed that night.

To say I was stuned, even mortified is to say the least. My first emotion of course was WTF?, this couldn't be happening?, to OMG this is real. To How could this have happened?, to thoughts of all those people inside the planes and the buildings, back to OMG look at all those brave rescue workers entering that building.

To this day I still think about all the untold hero story's that will never come to light, of all the could have, would have stories and people that we will never know about.

This event will be the major tragic world event in my life time. As it effected everyone in the world in some way or another.

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Lisa289
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I was only 11 at the time, and had just started my first year of high school.
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richard
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I heard about it at work and I had the idea that it was a light plane that hit the towers. Even then, it sounded scary enough. It wasn't till I got home from work that I saw what happened on the news. I'd been on holiday to New York about 20 years back and had gone up to the top of the World Trade Centre and still have a picture taken from the top. That told me that whatever you see on TV, double or triple it and you have it right. The whole thing freaked me out, one for the sheer enormity of the horror and, dare I day it, the stone cold certainty that the likes of George Bush would be let out on the rampage and the world would be a very unsafe place. Mixed with that was my admiration at the rescue workers , etc who went into that hell that day and for God knows how long after.
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grumpybear
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I was in my car on my way to work when I heard about the first plane hitting the tower. I was working for an electronics store at the time and we basically just stayed in front of the tv's all day. I remember trying to get my cousin on the phone, hoping that she hadn't gone to work that day. It was impossible trying to get through to anyone.. the phone lines were all jammed. We didn't find out until later that night that she was okay, she had been on her way to a meeting on the other side of Manhattan when the towers came down. My mom's boyfriend at the time, was one of the volunteers to help in the rescue efforts. Being a master electrician and ex Marine he had to go in and take care of live wires as well as rescue efforts.
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abzug
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A day late, but six years ago I was on the subway under downtown Manhattan when it happened. I got out at my office in midtown about 20 minutes later, none the wiser, when someone in the elevator said a plane had hit the WTC. Like Richard, I assumed a little plane. Then from my office I could see the smoke billowing up from downtown, 3+ miles south of me. The smell was unbelievable--this burning, chemical-y smell. And we couldn't get ANY news. We didn't have tvs or radios at work, and the Internet was basically not working. Nor were phones, because a phone company central office and a major cell tower were destroyed.

They told us all to leave the office, and since the subways weren't running and there was no way I was walking all the way back to Brooklyn, I walked to my brother's building, which was about a mile downtown from my office. So I was walking against this flood of human beings who were all walking uptown to get as far away as possible from the WTC. By the time I got to my brother's, the two buildings had collapsed. Which, you have to understand, seemed completely inconceivable. I mean, even after both the planes hit, NO ONE imagined that the buildings just wouldn't be there an hour later. Spent the rest of the day alternately watching on the television, and watching out my brother's window, since he had a direct view of the WTC.

Finally took the subway home at about 7 pm when they started running again, and randomly ran into my best friend on the very same subway car (in a city of 8 million, this is a pretty spectacular coincidence). We had dinner together back in Brooklyn, where there was this fine powder all over all the cars, and that acrid burning smell pervaded the entire neighborhood. That smell didn't go away for a month.

To me, yesterday was the toughest anniversary yet, because it was the first time the anniversary fell on a Tuesday, and there are certain things about Tuesdays which are still the same for me as they were back 6 years ago. So there was an aching sameness to the day, in the way there wasn't on any of the previous anniversaries. Except it was pouring rain all day, rather than being gorgeous and sunny. And I'm not the type to usually think this way, but it felt to me like yesterday the city was crying.
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destiny_marie
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ill be honest .....i cant actually remember it but i think i was at school



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HuskiesFan
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abzug
Sep 12 2007, 04:43 PM
To me, yesterday was the toughest anniversary yet, because it was the first time the anniversary fell on a Tuesday, and there are certain things about Tuesdays which are still the same for me as they were back 6 years ago.  So there was an aching sameness to the day, in the way there wasn't on any of the previous anniversaries.  Except it was pouring rain all day, rather than being gorgeous and sunny.  And I'm not the type to usually think this way, but it felt to me like yesterday the city was crying.

What an incredible post, abzug. I love your analogy of the rain symbolizing the city crying. I vividly remember what a gorgeous day it was in the Northeast that day...of course before the terrorist acts were carried out.

It was really meant to be that you should run into your best friend like that.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
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4us
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Sorry to be a little late for this thread, but for me it was personally a day of fear and anguish for my daughter.............she was on her way to Ohio to meet her now husbands family.......we were expecting a call in the early hours of the morning letting us know of her safe arrival..........I had gone to bed early to try and catch some sleep when the phone woke me around midnight.......still groggy I made out the conversation with her hubby in small doses.......he was telling me that he hadn't heard from her and that all airports had been closed.........I thought he was just messing with me at first as he is a tease, but he told me to turn my tv on.......the news was replaying the plane crashing into the towers and in one instance I imagined my daughter in it..........I don't know how long I stood there frozen in time.........what I do remember is the feeling of life being drained from me.......by now in panic I tried to piece together her flight details....her hubby was frantic as he had no way of contacting her and had been told planes had been sent to Canada.....she had no mobile phone and we found out later she had no idea of what was happening......

Hours after this we finally got word that she was in Chigaco, but stranded as there was no public transport operating.........to cut a very long and worrying story short.....her plane had been the last to land before others were sent to Canada and none of the passengers had been told what was going on.........she thought there had been a bomb and the airport was crawling with security and police.....passengers had limited time on the phones and had to organise with family to be picked up......

She was the last to leave the airport that day and a kindly officer sat with her until her hubby arrived after a 7+ hour rushed drive from Cincinatti.......it had been over 11 hrs since the horrific events of that day before I got to hear her voice and know she was okay.......

I then had to wait until she arrived at his families home which was another 8 hrs or so before I finally got to talk to her at length and hear how terrified she had been as she had no idea of what had taken place and the shock of finding out had yet to hit.....

This was the first time she had ever flown and she was alone so even before she left here she was in a state.....knowing her I knew just how frightened she would have been........I cannot describe the anguish I went through having to wait for so long to hear from her and being so far away and not being able to do anything..........this only drove home to me just how devistating it must have been for all those who lost loved ones in that act of pure madness........

Each year that passes does little to distinguish the anger at such an act nor the heartache for the families and the fallen......I thank God that I was spared the pain that was thrust upon so many and hold my daughter even closer........

As nervous as we all were , we flew to the States in the late November of the same year to celebrate a uniting of two families......we were not going to allow what had happened to stop us from this........

They say time is a great healer of wounds.......I still wonder if there will ever be "enough" time to erase the pain and feeling of loss for all those caught up innocently in this tragic event..........I doubt it..........
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Porcupine Girl
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What a great thread Annie. You have managed to draw out some vivid and personal stories, especially from those who reside in the Northeast and from a worried mother downunder whose daughter unwittingly got stuck in the middle of the air travel mess.

I was getting ready for work that morning. I had the radio on but wasn't really paying attention. Something caught my ear though, an early report of the plane hitting the first tower. I took a quick shower and turned on the TV to get the live coverage while I was dressing. That morning, I had to drive across town to inspect a house, and was listening to the news reports on the radio all the way there. I had just gotten back into my car and drove off when the first building fell. All the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I had to pull over to clear my head. I raced to my office and shared the day with my office partner watching the news coverage. It was strange, I was so glad he was there because it was a day you didn't want to be alone. All I kept thinking was "has the world gone mad"?



ekny
Sep 11 2007, 07:53 PM

What I remember being most impressed by was just the sight of thousands of people walking home over the bridge, the Brooklyn bridge, must have been; no arguments, no screaming, not even much crying really, just this matter of fact sort of determination to take the next step. And again almost no sound, no talking, just thousands of feet shuffling forward. And I remember being surprised & moved & impressed as hell; this was New York City, & people badmouth the attitude and all that, but in the midst of this tremendous crisis, ordinary people were just behaving with great common sense, doing what was necessary without anyone needing to shout orders at them or corral them or direct them. And I remembered, although we don't often see it, that's what's best about places like NY too, in a funny way... all that humanity crammed together, but people still have brains & hearts--and survival skills, & in a crisis, actually do know what to do. And do it, small things and large.



Like ekny, this is also one of the amazing and lasting impressions I have.
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badgirlnuts
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G2 landing
Edited my post. Why? Because don't wish to stay in a thread where my post is wrongly misread and misinterpreted. It is so tiresome.

Sept, 27 2007.
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hypothesizer
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Don't you wish it was electric
Sorry i havn't responded to your question in a timely manner. This past week my cousin was shot during active duty in Iraq. So i've been a little preoccupied.


To answer your question badgirlnuts, I mean it was an attack on any man woman or child who has or dreams of having the freedom that everyone deserves. Because that's really what those terrorists were attacking that day. Our freedom.
Yes my name is Annie. My hair is not red, i'm not an orphan, and if you break into song i will be forced to hurt you!
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