Remembering 9/11

DolphinLover2002

I'm from the Midwest, so I didn't really know a lot about the world trade center until this tragic event. But I will never forget what happened and what I was doing. I was a senior in high school and didn't have class until 10:00. I was online chatting with a friend when I was told to turn the tv on. I sat and watched in awe. When I got to school, we just watched the news on the tv all day. Nobody wanted to learn. We wanted to know what was happening. In 2007 my mom, aunt and I went to NYC on vacation. We paid to get into the memorial museum and got a once in a lifetime tour of Ground Zero. Our guides were survivors who were in tower 1 and 2 when they were hit. They told their stories of that day, and there wasn't one dry eye on that room. I will truly never forget! Anyone else have any stories from that day or following?

KarasTwin

I was a junior in high school and I was in Spanish class. There were a couple of guys in my class who were always acting up and getting thrown out in the hall. Being that they were basketball players, they would sneak to the gym and hang out with the coach and watch film from games, but that day, he was watching the news. They came running back to the classroom and tried to get our teacher to turn on the tv and told her what happened. She didn't believe them and told them to go back out. We finished our quiz and she turned the TV on right as the 2nd tower was hit. At first we thought it was a replay, but then we realized it was a live event. It was horrifying and all the teachers were letting us watch, even when administration told them not to. It was my little cousin's first birthday and I remember when we all went to dinner that night, we were all sad. He turns 15 today and it's always made me sad for him that his birthday will forever be associated with that horrible event.

LaurenAnn0405

I was a sophomore in high school and I was in my government and issues class. We were watching a boring movie and one student had gone to the bathroom. When he came back in he said "quick turn on the TV all the teachers in the hall way are saying that something big is happening". The teacher actually listened and turned the TV on, not too long after the first tower was hit. We all saw the second tower be hit, live. After the second tower was hit, the principal came on over the loud speaker making an announcement saying that all the teachers could turn on the TVs if they wanted to and even if they didn't, to not try to teach anything today. He said something else about this being an act of terrorism and that America was under attack but we were safe where we were. Pretty much every teacher had the TV on and I just remember watching the terrible events unfold, live. It was something I will never forget.

janat1717

My mom was actually in the air on a flight when it happened. They got diverted to the nearest city and put up in a hotel til they could travel again.

upandbelow

I was in my grade 8 social studies class studying current affairs. Our teacher turned on the tv and we watched the news. I grew up in Vancouver and was only 13 so it all felts very far away. I knew what was happening was changing the world, but I didn't quite understand why.

KaLikeAWind

I got a long one...

9/11 was a stone that was thrown into the pond of my life. The ripples from that stone have carried me to now, talking with you fine ladies.

I was clueless.

We lived just north of Los Angeles. We were in our early 20's. DH was on a job with his dad, who owned a moving company, making some extra money (we were really living paycheck to paycheck, it was tight). They were driving somewhere, I don't remember, and not due back until the following day. My mom and stepdad were in Hawaii on a vacation.

My car stereo had been stolen the week before. At that time in my life my morning routine was to wake up with just enough time to brush my teeth and wash my face and get to work on time (still mostly my routine). So I didn't turn on the TV or radio. I got to work at 8am Pacific time and just started working. I was aware of a kind of low level hum, a kind of subliminal anxiety or disbelief in the people around me, but I wasn't close with anyone, so I just kept working. I overheard something about a plane and someone else mentioning that the owner should just let us all go home cause no work was going to be done that day. That piqued my curiosity and I was like 'what are you talking about? Why would we go home?' I thought maybe management had info on a planned brownout for that area today (in SoCal they used to do 'brownouts' in the summer - the power usage from so many ACs running is a huge drain on the grid, and the power company will selectively cut power to areas to alleviate the overall strain. These were called brownouts). Someone told me a plane had hit a building in New York, but they said it in the disjointed, disbelieving way people talk, when you can't find words and thus can't give details - so I didn't really find out more than that. I knew what had happened, but still had no idea what had actually happened, you know?

We weren't sent home for the day. I went home for lunch. I stopped at the gas station. By then I knew that the FAA had grounded all the planes and it was an act of terrorism, but that was the limit of my knowledge - a plane hit a building, it was an act of terrorism, the planes have been grounded. I knew what had happened, but I still didn't KNOW. I was getting gas and looking at the empty sky, and the guy in the car on the other side of the pump had his radio on and I could hear the people talking, and their voices, and all of a sudden I began to be afraid because I began to realize there was something under the surface here that I wasn't aware of. I didn't know it at the time, but it was the knowledge that my whole world was about to be rocked.

I got home for lunch and turned on the TV. And finally knew.

About an hour after I got back from lunch (which was spent weeping, staring at the TV, not a thought for food), my manager did end up sending us home. I think the owner finally sent home pretty much everybody. I don't remember.

And here are the ripples - DH had been trying to join the Coast Guard for a couple years by then. They were in a hiring freeze (the USCG is the hardest of the services to get into, with a nationwide personnel of less quantity than the NYPD). Well, as a result of 9/11 the CG was moved from the Department of Transportation to the newly created Department of Homeland Security, and they went on a hiring binge.

He went to boot camp and then we were stationed in Seattle, where we watched in horror as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. 2 years after Katrina we were stationed in New Orleans and saw the city still trying to recover, and he helped Galveston recover from Hurricane Ike. 9 years after 9/11 he was stationed in Bayonne, NJ - which is right across the river from lower Manhattan. And I went to work in lower Manhattan, a less than 10 minute walk from Ground Zero. If you watch documentaries of that day, you can watch the ash cloud rush down the street I exited the subway from on my way to work. The bar that I hung out at after work was apparently the nearest open bar to Ground Zero, and during the days after 9/11 would be filled with recovery workers covered in dust, silent with defeat that they didn't find anybody alive that day. My lunch spot had a clear view of the empty sky where the Twin Towers stood, and while I lived in NYC I watched the new World Trade center rise every day on my lunch breaks. We lived in Rockaway, Queens, which has a strong firefighter population, whose families could see the smoke cloud across J Bay and knew that their loved ones were rushing to aid those at the towers. We suffered thru Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath with that community.

Last summer we were stationed here, in Smalltownsville. We bought a house, I got pregnant, had a baby, started talking to you fine ladies. None of which we could have done without the security of DHs military career. The military career he wouldn't have if 9/11 hadn't happened. So many events in my life, all as a result of 9/11.

Sorry so long, but every year I find it so profound how an event I had no idea about shaped my life.

(Pic of New World Trade from my lunch spot in 2013)

DolphinLover2002

@mellymar All I can say is wow! That's an amazing story. Love the picture!

dancegurl1118

I was in 8th grade, in my town an hour from NYC. I was in gym class earlier that morning and I remembered looking up at the sky and thinking "it is such a beautiful clear day!" The sky couldn't have been any bluer. It was really just a perfect September day. We got word about it since many kid's parents worked in NYC, and students were dismissed if they were to go home and wait for word from their parents. Our teachers turned on radios in their room and one found a TV with fuzzy basic antenna cable channels and we watched. It wasn't until I got home that I really saw what happened. I was young, but old enough to be shattered and devastated by the destruction. When I first saw it I really didn't think anyone got hurt. I just assumed everyone got out. Seeing the front page of our paper with shots of people free falling after jumping through windows was horrible. Sometimes I still can't believe it actually happened.

janat1717

You guys are dating me. I was a sophomore in college studying politics so you can imagine the discussions that week in class.

carajeanp37

mellymar said:

I got a long one...

9/11 was a stone that was thrown into the pond of my life. The ripples from that stone have carried me to now, talking with you fine ladies.

3)

Very well said. Today hit me harder than it has the past few years, must be the thought of my baby in this crazy world.

9/11 was a defining moment in my life. In 2001 my family had only been living in downstate NY for two years, and nothing has made me feel more like a New Yorker than what happened in the weeks, months, years following the attacks. We always talk about what a beautiful day it was, the sky was so clear and quiet. I thankfully didn't lose any family members, but my best friends dad was killed as well as friends and neighbors, there wasn't a single aspect of any of our lives that didn't change. The moment I will never forget was a few days later when the airports finally opened, my mom and I were standing in our backyard, it was another beautiful day, and we heard and saw a plane overhead. It was both bizarre and terrifying, for years I've talked about how that moment sparked my crippling anxiety which is something I wish I could change about myself, but it also sparked my faith in humanity (it's being tested more than ever these past few years), so many people were selflessly helping each other, digging through rubble, sacrificing sleep and lung capacity, it makes me proud to be a New Yorker and an American.

ahall0358

I was in second grade. I remember my teacher walking out into the hallway to speak to another teacher and when she came back into the room she was bawling. She told us to stop what we were doing and to all go sit on the rug. She explained to us that something very tragic happened to our country and we all needed to just pray. So we all held hands and prayed to God for our countries safety. The principal came over the intercom and told the teachers to turn on there TVs. We were all in shock and scared. My mom pulled me and my brother out of school, on the way home she was hysterical because she knew what it meant for my father who was in the Air Force. I remember being very scared and sad for the people who had lost their lives. I didn't understand why someone would intentionally do such a thing. Thinking back on it now and knowing what happened just makes me even more sad. I will never forget that day.

lwhrmomma

I'll never forget where I was either. I was in my sophomore English class, and ten minutes before the end of second period, a student ran into our classroom telling our teacher to turn on the tv because a plane had crashed into the WTC. Our teacher turned white as a ghost and collapsed to the ground and began sobbing- her fiancé worked in the tower that had been hit.

The rest of the day was spent watching the tv. The entire student body went from one class to the next, moving from one TV to the next. A lot of kids left early to be with their family, as many of them lost aunts, uncles, or cousins. You could hear a pin drop in the cafeteria, nobody spoke-you could only hear the tv.

Fortunately, my teachers fiancé was on a lower floor and got out safely. He has since quit working in the corporate world and has become a history teacher in my district.

It still gives me the chills thinking about it. Such a sad day that we will never forget.

klkonwi

Thank you all for sharing your stories. powerful.

marlener25

I was 22 years old driving to work in Northern NJ, listening to Elvis Duran on Z100 when he announced a plane had hit the World Trade Center. My first thought was that it was just a Cessna and the pilot must have had a heart attack. As I was sitting down at my desk, my coworker walked into my department to tell us that a second plane just hit. That's when we realized we were under attack. My boss was on the runway at Newark airport waiting to take off for a business trip. Obviously her flight was canceled but I remember her coming back into the office crying because she saw the fireball and smoke in the air.
My DH and I just bought a house in May and my neighbor across the street lost her brother in the attack.

laurendutch

I was on my way to my Biology class at the local community college. There was a test that day. On the way to school I was listening to Rick Dees (remember him @mellymar ), and I couldn't really fathom what was going on. I just remember there were so many conflicting reports. I remember the day standing still.

My DH was in Argentina(for a church mission), and he says that they were cheering

KaLikeAWind

laurendutch said:

. On the way to school I was listening to Rick Dees (remember him @mellymar )

I remember Rick Dees! Had I had a car stereo, I probably would've been listening to Kevin and Bean. Ahhh... The city of angels.

DolphinLover2002

Thank you all for sharing! Such powerful stories. I didn't expect responses like this when I started this post. It's good to know that we all stand united! Just say a prayer for those who lost loved ones 14 years ago to this horrible tragedy. And remember the brave people who took down the plane that was taken down in that Pennsylvania field. Thank our heroes who lost their lives trying to save others. I'm so grateful for these people!

MaliKaela

Reading this a little late but I have chills down my arms and legs. Powerful stories. It is interesting to think that past generations had moments like this where everyone remembers exactly where they were, what they were doing, and their reaction. Times like Pearl Harbor, or the shooting of JFK or Dr. King. These moments in time that kind of slip into our collective unconscious. I don't have a point here, it is just interesting to me to think about. 

virginiaunicorn11

My uncle who recently passed away was working in Tower 7. He's quadriplegic and we were very scared for him, but he was late to work that day and thus fine. If it weren't for that fluke, he would never have made it. The phone lines were down for so long, it took several hours to determine he was alive.
I was a freshman in college, and several students from NYC just got into a car and started driving back, together. Some of their parents were killed. My assistant was in high school by the towers, and had to run when the towers fell. She has PTSD that affects her work.

I have very mixed feelings about what happened after that day, and the phrase "never forget." A lot of innocent lives in a lot of countries were taken, on that day and in the years that followed. I wish I felt that day united us and made us more compassionate... But I try to incorporate lessons learned about the anti-Muslim backlash and blind patriotism, when I reflect on 9/11. I feel like I grew up a lot in the days and months that followed. It certainly changed the world.

Ellenranderson

I was 11 and I stayed home sick that day. My mom came in and made me turn on the TV. the first plane had just hit and we both thought it was an accident. Then as they were interviewing someone, we saw the second plane hit live. My mom muttered "it's a terrorist attack" but I had no clue what it meant. I had nightmares for a long time of seeing that second plane hit

Watching the shows on TV last night while holding my daughter was surreal. It hit me so much harder because now (as we all know) I have something in this world I care about more than anything else. I started crying and promised her I will always do everything in my power to keep her safe. Very cheesy moment but very sweet!

KonaCoffeeBean

Like many of you, I was in school when I heard the news. My school wasn't really into having TV, so I didn't see any footage at the time. My uncle worked in downtown Manhattan, but I had no idea about the geography of the city, so I figured he was fine, and that was confirmed for me later that evening. A few years late, I visited my uncle and he gave me a tour of where he was/what he was doing that day. He worked in the closest building that wasn't condemned and ran for his life when the towers came down. It was such an unnerving story to hear.

I find it very sad how successful those terrorists were. They took several thousand lives that day, followed by hundreds of thousands of lives lost as a result of how the US responded out of its fear.

mishmardhiono

H

KonaCoffeeBean said:

Like many of you, I was in school when I heard the news. My school wasn't really into having TV, so I didn't see any footage at the time. My uncle worked in downtown Manhattan, but I had no idea about the geography of the city, so I figured he was fine, and that was confirmed for me later that evening. A few years late, I visited my uncle and he gave me a tour of where he was/what he was doing that day. He worked in the closest building that wasn't condemned and ran for his life when the towers came down. It was such an unnerving story to hear.

I find it very sad how successful those terrorists were. They took several thousand lives that day, followed by hundreds of thousands of lives lost as a result of how the US responded out of its fear.

The hatred they caused towards Muslims and Arabs is astounding 14 years later. On my Facebook in Australia its full of anti Islamic posts, not allowing Syrian refugees here because they'll bomb is, a campaign to stop donating blood because the cookie that's given out is halal certified. We've had so many roll on effects here in Aus. Riots targeting Arabs. We are and always have been multi cultural.

The day those evil men flew those planes into those towers they killed 1000's of men, women and children. They've killed the identity of so many people. They've warped so many peoples sense of reality. It's sad.

My husband is Muslim (not practising), we will raise our daughter to be aware of Islamic beliefs and practises and catholic beliefs and practises. I'm proud for her for whatever she chooses to believe but my heart will break and I'll become worried for her if she ever chooses to wear a veil just for fear of what people might say or do. Thats not fair, it's not fair that I will worry for my child's safety for an innocent and pure belief system she may chose to follow and would then suffer the consequences from the actions of evil men in 2001.

KaLikeAWind

^^^ indeed. Its so terrible the lasting legacy of 9/11 is anti-islam anti-muslim sentiment. On 9/11 I actually worked with a Muslim man from Egypt. Prior to 9/11 I spoke with him at length about his religion - I was curious and he was a nice man who didn't mind explaining. Something I actually say often, I learned from him - 'there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers'. Its probably been said by tons of other people and y'all have probably heard it before, but at that time in my life I had not heard it before (and honestly, I don't think I've heard it since). He had been working on trying to bring his family over from Egypt, but they have (or we had?) a lottery system and it was just tedious and a lot of work and hope for him, but he followed the rules and worked within all the red tape both governments put in his way. I remember the day he took off work to take his citizenship test, how nervous he was, and how excited. He had been studying for a long time. The citizenship test is HARD. I couldn't pass it. And when he took his oath, how he beamed with pride when I congratulated him. Truly a good man. And after 9/11, I don't think anybody treated him differently, but *something* changed. I thought at that time that he was afraid of people, afraid of the people in this country he had just risked all for, and studied hard to become a citizen of, and worked hard to achieve 'the american dream'. I know that after 9/11 it became much harder for him to bring family members over, and I didn't know what was happening exactly, but I got the sense that his family was in some kind of bad way in Egypt - it really was unfortunate that it became so much harder to bring his family. They all followed his steps once they got here, getting jobs, studying, taking the citizenship test. Its one thing I'm bummed about, that I didn't keep in touch with him. I admired him.

The gripe I had on 9/11 about someone spreading hate in my fb feed was someone saying that we (the US) shouldn't be helping the Syrian refugees, that we should 'just let all those terrorists die'. And all I could think about was that boy (you all know what I'm referring to, that picture went viral). This person in my feed may have cheered that boy's death. I was shocked. I honestly couldn't believe I knew someone who was so cruel, so hateful, so ignorant.

What PP said above is true - they (terrorists) hurt us in so many ways. The people lost that day, and the planted seeds of hate that ensure extremism on all sides will continue. Its such a shame.

aj1327

It also gave me chills to read everyone's memories. I was a freshman in college and I didn't have an early class that day nor did my roommate. My mom called, which woke us both up, to let us know what was going on. I remember classes being canceled and TVs being on everywhere. The campus was in a state of shock.

@mellymar someone posted something similar on my Facebook feed and I was shocked. Makes me so sad.

HoosOnFirst

amccoy129 said:

@mellymar someone posted something similar on my Facebook feed and I was shocked. Makes me so sad.

My STEPFATHER posted something similar. It's like honestly? So now I can't have you talk to LO about this stuff because I'll have to explain her grandpa is wrong? Sigh. (Sorry to go off topic).

virginiaunicorn11

Confession: I was afraid to read this thread at first. It is SO refreshing to see the direction of this discussion, coming from women responsible for my kid's peer generation. Thank you ladies.

KaLikeAWind

hoodoll82 said:

amccoy129 said:

@mellymar someone posted something similar on my Facebook feed and I was shocked. Makes me so sad.

My STEPFATHER posted something similar. It's like honestly? So now I can't have you talk to LO about this stuff because I'll have to explain her grandpa is wrong? Sigh. (Sorry to go off topic).

My stepfather isn't on fb, but if he were he would probably post something like that. Thankfully, unless both him and my mom move, and then DH and I are stationed near them, stepdad will almost never interact with LO. So I've dodged it, there

mishmardhiono

hoodoll82 said:

amccoy129 said:

@mellymar someone posted something similar on my Facebook feed and I was shocked. Makes me so sad.

My STEPFATHER posted something similar. It's like honestly? So now I can't have you talk to LO about this stuff because I'll have to explain her grandpa is wrong? Sigh. (Sorry to go off topic).

My brothers post the same crap. For a while I used to battle all of the posts with people close to us and there reply is always " oh this isn't aimed at you guys it's all the other ones." What my IL's, my friends? I guess we will just teach our daughter to love all and be proud of who she is.

No child is born to hate it's something we as a society teach and it's something that can stop with our children .

aj1327

mellymar said:

hoodoll82 said:

amccoy129 said:

@mellymar someone posted something similar on my Facebook feed and I was shocked. Makes me so sad.

My STEPFATHER posted something similar. It's like honestly? So now I can't have you talk to LO about this stuff because I'll have to explain her grandpa is wrong? Sigh. (Sorry to go off topic).

My stepfather isn't on fb, but if he were he would probably post something like that. Thankfully, unless both him and my mom move, and then DH and I are stationed near them, stepdad will almost never interact with LO. So I've dodged it, there

It was my step father too...but my mom passed away and he's remarried so I don't think I have to claim him anymore. My mom wouldn't share his opinion!

HoosOnFirst

The weirdest part is that my stepdad is like, a 50 year old dude who wears tie dyes, owns a million guitars and smokes pot (don't worry, not around us or LO!). He's been with my mom for 20 years and never cared about this stuff. But he lost his job a few months back, started watching those conspiracy shows on the "History Channel" and got really weird and xenophobic and talking like a Doomsday Prepper! Thank god he starts a new job this week! My mom is definitely hoping this phase passes... He's a good guy and would take a bullet for LO - he never had kids and is enamored with her!

HoosOnFirst

Ps we can now return to our previously scheduled topic