9/11 - Where Were You?

This is not intended to be a political discussion.

In two days, as you undoubtedly know, it will have been ten years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America. I thought it'd be apropos to share each other's memories of that day--where you were, what you felt, who you were with, etc. I'd also like to hear from people outside the US, a perspective we, as Americans, rarely get.

I remember the day well. Actually, I remember that day more vividly than any other day of my life. I got to school around 8:15, and my first hour English class was meeting in the library instead of the regular classroom since we were doing a research project. I remember two of the library workers standing in a corner of the library with a TV pointed towards them and thinking it strange. A student came in and told us he heard that a plane had hit a building in New York City. I, I think like a lot of people before actually seeing it, assumed it was a small one-or-two passenger plane.

When I got to my second hour class, civics, our teacher had the TV on, and all we did was watch it and talk about it. I just remember sitting there, amazed because it didn't seem real. I saw the towers collapse live, and the whole class just gasped. It was unbelievable.

The rest of the school day was pretty much devoted to watching it on TV and talking about it. It seemed every teacher became a councilor of sorts. I remember a couple teachers who tried having class as usual, but it didn't work. It was the only subject of conversation in the halls. When I got home from school that day, I turned on the TV and watched it some more.

It's something I'll never forget. Much like people who lived when Pearl Harbor was attacked, it will never leave me.

All I remember is my parents telling me a tower fell. Now I understand the significance, but I suppose I could be excused then, as I was only three ...

I was in Mr Trevett's history class. I can't believe it was a decade ago.

I only found out about it in the evening. I remember the school bus broke down, as it was wont to do, and dad had to come and pick me up from a lay-by on the motorway. It was he who told me.

Terrible business.

I was in grade eight. When we got to class, the first tower had just been hit but the second one hadn't yet. Our teacher asked us if we knew what happened and the only person who's parents put the radio on during their morning routine was a kid named Bill, so he was all informed which annoyed everyone because Bill was a douche.

Anyway, Mr. Hula told us that something very important had happened in the world and that we should try to cement everything that we see and hear that day into our memories because some day younger generations will ask us about it (he said "one day, people are going to ask what you did on the day that the world trade centers were hit," and what do you know!). Then we went to the library with the school's other grade eight class and they put on the tv maybe five minutes before the first tower collapsed. When it did, we were stunned but I was sure at the time that there weren't any people left in there (I obviously learned differently later). I remember the other class's teacher, Mrs. Fester, murmured "well, god damn." It was the first time that I had heard a teacher swear.

I spent the next few days trying to learn who organized it and the next few months watching everyone freak out on tv, but I was somewhat dissociated from what was happening because I was a kid. I just tried to pay very close attention to the sequence of events because the adults were acting so serious and because Mr. Hula told me to.

I didn't go to school that day. It was evening before I knew about it. I still haven't seen complete television coverage of it. For some reason, that I don't understand, this event doesn't impact me in the way that many other horrors do, such a depiction of an individual child being tortured.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Anyway, Mr. Hula told us that something very important had happened in the world and that we should try to cement everything that we see and hear that day into our memories because some day younger generations will ask us about it (he said "one day, people are going to ask what you did on the day that the world trade centers were hit," and what do you know!). Then we went to the library with the school's other grade eight class and they put on the tv maybe five minutes before the first tower collapsed. When it did, we were stunned but I was sure at the time that there weren't any people left in there (I obviously learned differently later). I remember the other class's teacher, Mrs. Fester, murmured "well, god damn." It was the first time that I had heard a teacher swear.

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It was actually revealed later that the teachers were all aware of it thanks to the radio in the staffroom, but they all decided not to say anything to the students so that the day's teaching would not be interrupted. I've still not come to a decision about whether that was justified or not.

In my parents' shop, they knew about it quite early because the wife of one of our employees phoned up to tell her husband about it. My dad took the TV from the staffroom and set it up on a table in the shop, so that the customers could see the rolling news. Apparently loads of people just forgot completely about their shopping, so entranced were they by the horror unfolding across the pond.

I had a doctor's appointment that day a few hours after it happened, and no one mentioned it to me. I still haven't read the details of it, of the individuals involved, and now when I'm in the hospital ER lobby and the anniversary of it is on TV, I turn away from it.

I was at work, in the other job I had before this one, and someone heard about it on the radio. However, they didn't bother to tell anybody about it, so eight hours later I saw it on the news when I got in. Nothing stops the work ritual.

it was around 9 in the morning here on the ice and I was skipping class and buying french fries to take home. I remember watching it on tv and thinking how it reminded me of alien invasion movies, it was unreal.

I was in Beijing, a home-week for a 3-month long project in Tokyo. The Beijing office head (my boss) called, and told me the World Trade Center fell ... I thought he was joking ... and he said "I never joked about people's life" and then I knew it was real ...

This discussion thread makes me realize the generation gap I have with my fellow forum-members ...

I didn't recall anything partly because I was only 9 years old during that time and 9/11 wasn't that of a big news in my country. Indonesia was more isolated back then and even if it was big on the news, many people didn't really concern themselves with the news because the country had their own plethora of problems and preferred watching soccer rather than news.

I think it was my Mom or Dad who told me about it, but as a primary school student my friends and I were very ignorant of these kinds of things. Dad never really allowed me to watch much TV; just the news; so I probably caught the news from watching the telly in his room around those days.

I had been teaching that day, and hadn't heard anything about it. I was in town on Trinity Street and popped into a bakers to buy a pasty. The woman behind the counter and another customer were talking about it and I asked them what had been going on. Thet told me about seeing the planes crashing into the towers.

I went home and my wife had sky news on. They were doing reports about what had happened and I watched it then. The bakery has since shut.

It will be one of those moments - as has been noted - when people ask you where you were such as when Nelson Mandela was released and JFK was shot.

Interesting stories, all.

I'd taken my son for a scan that morning on his hips, and had taken him back to nursery and was driving back home when they announced what had happened on the news. I went home and put the TV on and didn't move for hours after that. We watched the whole thing in total, abject horror. I think that's one of the worst things about it - the fact that you could watch it all unfolding live, as it happened. Most of the time with disasters and atrocities you find out about it afterwards, you see the aftermath or eyewitness footage and that's it and it has kind of a shielding quality to it when you see things after the event. But this was all right there, and no matter that I was hundreds of miles away across the ocean I was witnessing a terrible event as it happened. Unforgettable, and terrifying.

Thoughts are with the people of New York today.

I was 8 years old when it happened so unfortunately I don't remember :( I remember the aftermath though. All lessons in school were cancelled and we were given talks on it. Although I don't remember exactly where I was when it happened, it's still had a huge impact on my life in regards to how safe I feel and how I view the world.

My thoughts and best wishes go out to everyone involved and affected by that dark day.

Sixth grade math class.

At the time, I couldn't comprehend how much that morning would subtly change the trajectory of my life forever. I didn't lose anyone on 9/11 and have been lucky not to in the wars since, but I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without the events of that day.

I was in high school at the time, the teachers didn't mention it, but the news got around school through word of mouth. Anyway, after school I went to a friend's house and watched the news with him and his mother for a bit.

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Originally Posted by Lokasenna

I've still not come to a decision about whether that was justified or not.

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Hmm, I've been thinking about this for the last day or so and I think your teachers should have told you guys. 9/11 was a pretty signifigant part of our history (as humans, I mean). It was the largest mass-murder and the greatest attack ever organized and just think about the fallout. I often read about signifigant events in history textbooks and wonder what it would be like to observe the changes that take place completely raw and in their entirity. It's almost... dissapointing... that you weren't made aware of what was going on as early as possible (early enough to feel the shock, helplessness and confusion and on such a global scale, as strange and unpleasant as that might sound - I think that it must be a rare thing that we experienced).

I was workin' my first real job at a mid-size computer company in the East Coast of the US -- not too far from NYC, actually. I hated that job. I had to dress like a banker and write web-content for a computer/banking company.

I remember going to the break room for like my 6th or 7th cup of coffee (I needed frequent "tedium" breaks like this), and they had the TV on as usual. But instead of the normal stock-market report shows that were on, the news was on and people were all standing around the TV.

I noticed that one of 'em was a VP, so I kept watching too -- thinking that I wouldn't get in trouble if one of the big shots was there watching. I think the first plane had already hit the tower before I walked in, and the talk was about that. Everyone thought that it was an accident.

Then this I remember for sure: I was drinking my coffee and talking with someone and watching the live coverage of the first tower smouldering and such, when we saw the second plane crash into the second tower. . . . . that was a profound moment: no accident. The guy next to me said, "it's no accident. What the ****?"

Then pretty much the whole company crammed into the break room and watch TV for hours and hours. It was weird because we were, partly, waiting form something more to happen. The Pentagon and the crash in the field. . . .

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Hmm, I've been thinking about this for the last day or so and I think your teachers should have told you guys. 9/11 was a pretty signifigant part of our history (as humans, I mean). It was the largest mass-murder and the greatest attack ever organized and just think about the fallout. I often read about signifigant events in history textbooks and wonder what it would be like to observe the changes that take place completely raw and in their entirity. It's almost... dissapointing... that you weren't made aware of what was going on as early as possible (early enough to feel the shock, helplessness and confusion and on such a global scale, as strange and unpleasant as that might sound - I think that it must be a rare thing that we experienced).

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I agree. Teacher's always talk about, and hope for, teachable moments. That day was definitely one, even if it was just watching the TV. It was a horribly good experience as we fielded are questions off our teacher ("Who did this . . . why'd they do it . . . etc.) even if the teacher's answer was "I don't know" 90% of the time, as it was. I still remember my second hour teacher's name, a civics teacher, so it was definitely apropos for that class.

The most poignant part was seeing the towers fall. It was like I could feel my whole self fall with them.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

The most poignant part was seeing the towers fall.

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For me it was seeing the individual people jump out of the windows. It was hard not to think about how much desperation it must take to convince a person to jump out of a 90 story window. They must have been terrified.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Hmm, I've been thinking about this for the last day or so and I think your teachers should have told you guys. 9/11 was a pretty signifigant part of our history (as humans, I mean). It was the largest mass-murder and the greatest attack ever organized and just think about the fallout. I often read about signifigant events in history textbooks and wonder what it would be like to observe the changes that take place completely raw and in their entirity. It's almost... dissapointing... that you weren't made aware of what was going on as early as possible (early enough to feel the shock, helplessness and confusion and on such a global scale, as strange and unpleasant as that might sound - I think that it must be a rare thing that we experienced).

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True, but on the other hand I can see the counter-argument. They didn't want to interrupt a day of teaching with something unproductive. They didn't want anyone who might have American relatives going into a panic.

As I said, 10 years on I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Hmm, I've been thinking about this for the last day or so and I think your teachers should have told you guys. 9/11 was a pretty signifigant part of our history (as humans, I mean). It was the largest mass-murder and the greatest attack ever organized and just think about the fallout. I often read about signifigant events in history textbooks and wonder what it would be like to observe the changes that take place completely raw and in their entirity. It's almost... dissapointing... that you weren't made aware of what was going on as early as possible (early enough to feel the shock, helplessness and confusion and on such a global scale, as strange and unpleasant as that might sound - I think that it must be a rare thing that we experienced).

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I think it was irresponsible of teachers who forced classrooms of children to witness this. When you have a group of children, they vary according to their ability to process something like that. In any group of children, there are always some who go home each day to shock, helplessness and confusion, and they don't need more.

To tell children that they have to watch and remember every detail because they have a responsibility to future generations is wrong. The first responsiblity is to the children in front of you.

I think it depends on the age of the kids. Perhaps in elementary school it might have been appropriate for the teachers to tell them a terrible thing happened to some people who live far away and then what happened. Maybe wait until late in the day to tell them. It wouldn't be necessary to turn on the televison to make them aware.

I heard it on the radio while on my way to work. The DJ didn't know exactly what had happened, just that it appeared that a plane had flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I remember thinking "What?!" and feeling amazed, and doubtful. There was such a sense of unreality to it.

I got to work-I work at at high school-and did tardy duty in the cafeteria. The TV's were on and we knew something was happening, I guess at that point the second plane had flown into the second tower. I had first period off so I went to the library. At that time they had a huge TV there, and it was on, so I stood-and watched open-mouthed as the second tower fell. We talked about it all day long.

And then I went home and watched the news more than I have before or since, watched the pictures of the unbelievable massive destruction, the mountains, literally,of rubble, the stories that began to pour forth of how people lived or died or escaped or didn't, of thsoe who took hours to make it home, of the children whose parents never came for them, the mounting death toll, the pictures of the missing, the ravaged hope that the ones they loved were somehow still alive.

I remember having been at work. A colleague came and showed me a video on the Internet -- this particular colleague always made jokes and funny antics and such like -- and I thought it was some fake video clip. It was only a little afterwards when my boss came along and commented about it very seriously that I realized that it was real.

And then, nobody seemed able to do much work, everywhere people talked about it. I went home early that day, and we watched the news. It was first day of school for my kids, after summer holidays, too, and they brought shopping lists. But nobody went shopping that day ...

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Originally Posted by qimissung

I think it depends on the age of the kids. Perhaps in elementary school it might have been appropriate for the teachers to tell them a terrible thing happened to some people who live far away and then what happened. Maybe wait until late in the day to tell them. It wouldn't be necessary to turn on the televison to make them aware.

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Yes, it's not good to conceal, but some thought should be given to the way a message is delivered, when and how.

And I don't think that a captive audience of even adults should be forced or made to feel an obligation to watch something like that as it's unfolding. At the time people had no idea what would happen next, what they'd be witnessing. I think the teachers wanted to watch it themselves and that was why they automatically subjected the kids to it. I mean, it would've been difficult for them to just leave their classrooms to go watch it.

I watch many movies and documentaries that have a very difficult subject matter, but there's a difference when the subject is put into some kind of context and some perspective given on it. For instance, I watched Ken Burns Civil War series which describes the battles in explicit detail and shows the real pictures. It was disturbing but in a way a program like that is healing because it shows that unfairness and suffering is a part of life.

And I learned about the "Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911," which was shown in Ken Burns New York documentary which to me was perhaps worse than 9/11, although fewer lives were lost. It upset me but it told the story of one woman who survived and went on to become an accountant and lived to be more than 100. So in a way, it was a good thing to learn about.

The whole reason for the event, (whoever perpetrated it) was to terrorize, and the media never delivers the actual events, there is always a spin. It's the way it's shown and the the way anchors talk, their voices, that bothers me.

You can't, nor should you, shield kids from reality. I feel it's much more irresponsible to try and keep them isolated from actual, real-world events.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

You can't, nor should you, shield kids from reality. I feel it's much more irresponsible to try and keep them isolated from actual, real-world events.

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Certainly when something major goes on in the world, everyone should know about it. And I don't think that a teenager should have been prevented from seeing it. (Although years ago news traveled slowly and life went on.)

But if there's a car crash on the road in front of your house and bodies parts and guts are scattered about there's no reason to make sure to take the kids out to see it. If there's a lesson in it, such as the driver was drinking and you want to teach a teenager not to drink and drive, well maybe.

I personally don't think I'd be any better off today if I had watched all the coverage of 9/11.

I love history, myself. It's nice when you can see a few survivors, and that the world carried on in some way. The "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911" was an event that people learned from that brought positive changes in our country.

I'm troubled by the media. I heard that at the Olympics there was a luger killed, and they showed this guy flying into a pole and being killed, and they replayed it over and over and over. I think that's disrespectful and also makes viewers numb to a person losing his life. It bothered me more that the man was Russian, or something. Athletes from those countries are often desperately trying to escape their circumstances, and so they are different from our athletes who are seeking wealth and fame.

One thing I wish I could remove completely from my brain is all knowledge of Satanists and how they sacrifice infants and animals. Ignorance about that was bliss. I struggle some on Halloween now.

I was on the island teaching my third grade class. But I was way uptown in the 90s right across from Central Park. No one was killed in our school community. Amazing.

I lived in New York City... or rather, Jersey City... just across the Hudson... but a few short years before 9/11. The towers were an everyday reality for me. They were a sort of compass as you traveled through Jersey or Manhattan... towering above everything else as a great beacon. My wife and I were dating at the time and we took any number of pictures of each other with the towers in the background...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6082/...e878053e_z.jpg

We regularly walked through the World Trade Center after having taken the PATH train from Jersey under the Hudson into Manhattan. The scale of the buildings was immense and tens of not hundreds of thousands disembarked from the PATH into Lower Manhattan through WTC and up the stories high escalator every day. We often sat for lunch at Trinity Cathedral... one of the oldest churches in America (with tombstones dating to the 1600s)... in the shadow of the towers.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/...da35c94334.jpg

As the tragedy unfolded, we had friends in New York and New Jersey who we were unable to make contact with for days. Some in New Jersey had sat upon the roof of the building I had lived in not long before and watched as people jumped from the towers before they came crashing down covering the whole of the area in clouds of black smoke.

I had just begun teaching a few short years earlier in Cleveland, and was out of my school on a scheduled meeting with the whole of the arts faculty. As the meeting began, the news started to trickle in. Some teachers began to desperately attempt to call loved ones in NYC from their cell phones. Many were in tears. Flight 93 was still in the airspace over Northeast Ohio near Cleveland and the order went out to evacuate downtown and all office buildings. I was living in a studio-apartment downtown, but left the city for the suburbs until later in the afternoon. School was cancelled the next day, and I later found out that during the event students had been sent home under emergency evacuation conditions.

Just 2 short hours after the event gas stations were charging in excess of $5... $6... even $7 US per gallon at a time at which the going price was hovering around $2. The mayor sent out notice than any such price gouging would be treated as "war profiteering" and the proprietor would lose his or her licence to operate and be tried appropriately. Unfortunately, not all politicians were adverse to utilizing 9/11 for personal gain. I was absolutely sickened by the manner in which some wrapped themselves in the flag and used 9/11 as an excuse for all manner of things under the motto, "If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists".

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Originally Posted by Vonny

Certainly when something major goes on in the world, everyone should know about it. And I don't think that a teenager should have been prevented from seeing it. (Although years ago news traveled slowly and life went on.)

But if there's a car crash on the road in front of your house and bodies parts and guts are scattered about there's no reason to make sure to take the kids out to see it. If there's a lesson in it, such as the driver was drinking and you want to teach a teenager not to drink and drive, well maybe.

I personally don't think I'd be any better off today if I had watched all the coverage of 9/11.

I love history, myself. It's nice when you can see a few survivors, and that the world carried on in some way. The "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911" was an event that people learned from that brought positive changes in our country.

I'm troubled by the media. I heard that at the Olympics there was a luger killed, and they showed this guy flying into a pole and being killed, and they replayed it over and over and over. I think that's disrespectful and also makes viewers numb to a person losing his life. It bothered me more that the man was Russian, or something. Athletes from those countries are often desperately trying to escape their circumstances, and so they are different from our athletes who are seeking wealth and fame.

One thing I wish I could remove completely from my brain is all knowledge of Satanists and how they sacrifice infants and animals. Ignorance about that was bliss. I struggle some on Halloween now.

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Well, never watch certain foreign news stations, like Al Jazeera, who aren't shy at all about showing war in all its glory. Those images can be quite disturbing.

I don't know about the Satanists thing. Most "Satanists" only label themselves that as a sign of rebellion, which is what most Satanists are all about. Think for yourself, question authority, all that jazz. Think Milton. Anyone who sacrifices babies is insane, period.

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On a lighter and completely different note . . . is that you StLukes? I must say you don't fit my mental image at all. I always envisioned a hippy-ish type with a pony-tail. Don't take offense--when I hear artist, that's what I see. Artists should probably be offended.

On a lighter and completely different note . . . is that you StLukes? I must say you don't fit my mental image at all. I always envisioned a hippy-ish type with a pony-tail.

I'm too young for the hippy-era... although I went through my period of neatly coiffed long hair in the 80s...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6196/...f96229ce_b.jpg

and my hair was actually shoulder-length at the time of my high-school graduation. For much of my stay in art school I looked like Grizzly Adams with a hang-over. It finally dawned on me that this wasn't the greatest way to impress the girls (Alex has his points) and I began to "dress for success":lol:

Now I tend to fit in with the little ghetto urchins I teach:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6159/...e1c21c60_b.jpg:eek6:

Those pictures are absolutely epic. :nod:

When did you start getting into classical music? I only ask, because the top picture suggests more of an affinity for 70s rock (which is awesome).

I started to explore all the arts with an absolute passion about the time of that photo (high school). I knew I would go on to do something in the arts... but wasn't certain if it would be in visual art, music, or literature... and so I decided to explore all of them as deeply as possible. I quickly eliminated music as a possibility (although I maintained a passion for it) for the simple reason that I had absolutely no talent for it whatsoever... in spite of having invested a small fortune on a white Fender Stratocaster.:nopity:

I don't think people on forums ever look as one imagines them. What really can we tell about a person's appearance from the way they produce forum postings?

Edit: Except for me, I'm as ruggedly handsome as you all imagine.

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Originally Posted by Vonny

One thing I wish I could remove completely from my brain is all knowledge of Satanists and how they sacrifice infants and animals. Ignorance about that was bliss. I struggle some on Halloween now.

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Someone told you that witches sacrifice babies on halloween?

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild

Now I tend to fit in with the little ghetto urchins I teach:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6159/...e1c21c60_b.jpg:eek6:

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Is that one of the "ghetto urchins" you teach next to you in the photo?

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Someone told you that witches sacrifice babies on halloween?

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I thought it is a truth universally acknowledged that a witch seeks to sacrifice babies on Halloween...

:p

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

I thought it is a truth universally acknowledged that a witch seeks to sacrifice babies on Halloween...

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Not at all. Actually, witchcraft is a legally protected religion in most countries (including the US, the UK and Canada). It'd be hard to pull that one off if you sacrificed babies.

Although now that I read back I guess Vonny did say "satanists" and not "witches" (witches don't believe in the devil, as it is a Christian diety). Still, what are you referring to, Vonny? The only homicidal maniac calling himself a satanist that I can think of is Richard Ramirez, and I believe that he mostly targeted old ladies.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Although now that I read back I guess Vonny did say "satanists" and not "witches" (witches don't believe in the devil, as it is a Christian diety). Still, what are you referring to, Vonny? The only homicidal maniac calling himself a satanist that I can think of is Richard Ramirez, and I believe that he mostly targeted old ladies.

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Though, of course, according to Christian doctrine witches do worship the devil, and he is the source of their power. As the medieval theologians would say, there are only two sources for supernatural interference in the natural world: God and Old Nick. As only saints are enfused with some measure of the divine power of God, anyone else who manifests supernatural power must, by logical deduction, have it from the other fellow.

That said, I know several witches, and they're very nice indeed. I'm more inclined to trust them than the theologians. Also, they're rather fond of babies in the cooing and playing sense.