Where were you on 9/11/2001?

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Please, let’s not turn this thread into one of those! I don’t want it to be closed. People had emotions on that day 10 years ago and they still have emotions. We all went through this horrible terrorist act that took the lives of almost 3,000 of our brothers and sisters, and it’s understandable that we would be angry, hurt, and filled with grief. People say Muslims and mean Muslim terrorists. Maybe some mean all Muslims. We need to take care of ourselves and be wise, and we all feel that we got caught out that day, all naive and innocently assured of our safety.

If you see someone express something awkwardly, just let it go, OK? No one is attacking Islam, no one is taking the law into their own hands.

I just want people to tell their stories, what happened to them on that day and afterward.

Thanks, everyone. Yesterday was difficult, but I am very relieved there were no attacks.
 
jakasaki said:
As soon as I pull up in my parking spot, the 2nd jet hit the other tower.

Well so much went through my head because we had 2 high profile restaurants in the towers and a third one down below by Port Authority.

~ Let me mention that the restaurant down below by PA, was bombed in the 1993 bombing and was completely destroyed. God Blessed us then and we did not lose any employees. ~

Back to 9.11.2001

Listening to the radio, I had no idea where the plane(s) hit and it wasn’t until I walked into the building and there was chaos.

My field of expertise is Information Technology and my position with the company was Sr. Systems Managers for the nations hospitality restaurants - mainly all of their computers and point of sale devices which most of you would know as cash registers.

Speaking or typing about 9.11 makes me shake to this day. I’ll make my story short.

I had posted this in another 9.11 thread on here so I’ll just say the same thing.

I lost 37 friends and co-workers - all perished - They were the morning prep crew & management.

They were on one of the floors where the first jet hit.

If this jet would have hit the towers say around noon into the afternoon, our loss would have been in the 100’s.

I lost 6 neighbors.

My mom’s best friend lost her only 2 sons.

As soon as the second tower collapsed - our building shut down and they sent us all home.

Returning back to work the next day - you can see the smoke from Manhattan from Long Island, and the stench - let me tell you about the stench.

It was horrible - you actually smelled the fumes and what we called “death” for days and days. Apparently the winds were blowing towards east.

Never in my lifetime or my co-workers life time did we ever smell anything like that.

But my story does not end here.

My husband ( now ex ) was suppose to fly out Logan airport - Boston - and he was to be on the flight that hit the tower.

However, there were delays in meeting with his clients so he had to change his airline tickets and trip all togther.

My husband flew into Logan the same time Mohamad Atta (et al) were flying out.

I still have not gotten over any of this.

I see my mom’s best friend at Church and dear Lord, this poor woman who lost both of her sons on 9.11, walks around in a lost state of mind.
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I am so sorry jakasaki. It must be difficult for your husband, knowing he could have been on that plane. And for you. And for your mom’s best friend.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
Please, let’s not turn this thread into one of those! I don’t want it to be closed. People had emotions on that day 10 years ago and they still have emotions. We all went through this horrible terrorist act that took the lives of almost 3,000 of our brothers and sisters, and it’s understandable that we would be angry, hurt, and filled with grief. People say Muslims and mean Muslim terrorists. Maybe some mean all Muslims. We need to take care of ourselves and be wise, and we all feel that we got caught out that day, all naive and innocently assured of our safety.

If you see someone express something awkwardly, just let it go, OK? No one is attacking Islam, no one is taking the law into their own hands.

I just want people to tell their stories, what happened to them on that day and afterward.

Thanks, everyone. Yesterday was difficult, but I am very relieved there were no attacks.
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I do understand your point, Juliane. To a great extent, I agree.
Then a poster revealed that her relatives are Syrian and face “issues.”
So I decided to say something, having already “let it go.”

There’s a little boy in my life and he will turn 4 yrs old next month.
I’ve provided care for him for 3+ yrs. His last name was Arabic with
obvious Moslem associations. Last month his mother and father agreed
to give him his mother’s surname - one that is strictly, “cleanly” American.
I aproved - then and now. If anyone spoke of the IRA ten yrs ago and said
d— those Irish or d— those Catholics, I’d object. The enemy for all free
people is terrorism, not any one religion.

Yes, clearly, some speak and mean ALL Moslems -
and therefore yes, I object. So I have said so. No apologies.
 
Where was I on 9/11 when I heard the news?
In a very large local grocery store. The tv was on
and the story was out of New York. The announcer
explained that a plane had hit a WTC tower. In a few
seconds he said the second tower was just hit. I knew
then: terrorism. No doubt at all. Since I was then
working with teens from every background, it was clear
that the interactions at my work site would be affected. That
did happen. Yet none (not one) of the teens pointed fingers at
each other. The adults were far more likely to do so.
 
It was pointed out on another thread that the USCCB has 9/11 remembrance:

usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/september-11/
I was at work in DC and saw the Pentagon burning from the office window. This was after we’d been told by the office director that the towers had been hit. Nobody knew what would happen in DC and we were all let go that day, after determining that it was safe to go home. Public transportation was jammed. After that it became much harder to go into DC, emotionally, than it had been even though I’d been working in the city since 1991. I felt and still feel very bad for families, survivors, and other loved ones. Things were not the same after that; I had a lot more fear than I used to partly b/c it was not clear whether DC would be attacked again and increased security reflected that.
 
I was commuting to work after having dropped off a Blockbuster video rental (remember those?). What seems rarely mentioned today is that we generally had no idea of what was really happening until the SECOND plane hit. Reports until then seemed not to know what sort and size of plane it was, but most reports talked about a commuter aircraft, not a big Boeing until later.
 
manualman said:
I was commuting to work after having dropped off a Blockbuster video rental (remember those?). What seems rarely mentioned today is that we generally had no idea of what was really happening until the SECOND plane hit. Reports until then seemed not to know what sort and size of plane it was, but most reports talked about a commuter aircraft, not a big Boeing until later.
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:sad_yes:

Seeing the smoke billowing from the first tower hit on TV made it difficult to comprehend just how big the towers were. It didn’t look as if a jet caused the damage…but a smaller plane.

If you look at a photo of the New York Skyline pre 9/11 the Towers were almost twice the height of the other buildings.

google.com/imgres?q=twin+towers&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS363&tbm=isch&prmd=ivnsu&tbnid=IX1ADtdox4JwmM:&imgrefurl=http://www.lbdassociates.com/salphotos/SAL%2520Groups/NYC%2520Group/Twin%2520Towers.htm&docid=zKrg-gefwErqhM&w=288&h=360&ei=8HBuTvmLDsrdgQfHzr2dBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=460&vpy=126&dur=3664&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=89&ty=143&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=121&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1067&bih=506

The adjacent buildings are also sky scrapers.

10 years have past, and I still cannot believe it.
 
Originally Posted by jakasaki
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I lost 37 friends and co-workers - all perished - They were the morning prep crew & management.
They were on one of the floors where the first jet hit.
If this jet would have hit the towers say around noon into the afternoon, our loss would have been in the 100’s.
Click to expand...
I lost 6 neighbors.
Click to expand...
My mom’s best friend lost her only 2 sons.
Click to expand...
My husband flew into Logan the same time Mohamad Atta (et al) were flying out.
Click to expand...
I still have not gotten over any of this.
Click to expand...
I see my mom’s best friend at Church and dear Lord, this poor woman who lost both of her sons on 9.11, walks around in a lost state of mind.
Click to expand...
I am so very sorry, Jakaski. I can’t even begin to imagine how awful this must have been
for you. May God bring peace to your mom’s friend. To loose 2 sons like that…
What happened to you husband is a good reminder that we are not in control of our destiny no matter how much we want to be. It was not his time.
Once again, I am so sorry that you, and all others like you, had to go through all this.
Gearoidin
 
I was at school. 15 yrs old. Just started grade 10. I was in music class. Our teacher had stopped conducting because the phone rang. He excused himself to answer it and that’s when he started panicking and turned on the TV and we all saw it.
 
I was getting ready to go to work .Stunning .I worked in a retail store ,and talk of what had happened that day was all that was spoken of .
 
I got a call from my husband, who was at work, and he told me the news. My heart sank. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. At the time, we were renting the church rectory, which happened to be located just across the airport. That afternoon, there was a lot more traffic in the area, planes coming in, buses to take passengers to the Coliseum where they housed them temporarily.

A young couple knocked on the door, and I really didn’t want to deny them a place for the night, but I was home alone with my 11 month old and I wasn’t comfortable with strangers. They were able to hunt down someone who was in charge on the parish and he arranged to have them set up in the church basement. Looking back, I wish I had let them stay with us.

Oddly enough, DD1 was born exactly 9 months to the day after 9/11, around 9 am! She was actually several years old when I realized this.
 
I was around 9-11 years old. It was not long after I had got home from school, and I was watching “Noddy” with my mother, and my sister who was only a toddler at the time. And then all of a sudden the television channel changed to a view of the towers. All of them had changed. We had a phonecall from one of my mum’s friends at almost the same time, no idea what was going on. I think the TV channel my mum’s friend was watching changed before ours did.

My mum understood what was going on but I didn’t really. I can’t say I was upset, I was too young to take it in, but I was shocked and scared as at this point we had listened to some of the newsreader’s information of what we knew so far. And then we saw something fly past the screen and, at this point it’s hazy, but I remember thinking it looked like a plane.

It’s only within the last couple of years when I’ve watched the footage again that I’ve understood what went on. I have had to hold back tears even now. I’m fortunate in that I haven’t lost anyone myself, and everytime I watch any footage my thoughts and prayers go out to the families, and the victims. That they rest in peace with God now.
 
Here we are 11 years after 9/11… but at 10 + 1 years there is a comparative silence about it. We don’t have the superstitious 10 year thing going today. Because of a base 10 counting system. Should it matter?

For myself, my sister has bought me round trip air fare to be home, home meaning where we grew up, for her wedding. My return is 9/11/12 and I fear flying any time any year let alone 9/11 dates! Lord have mercy. I may drive. Does the pope fly?!? Is it immoral to fly? You cannot defensive fly, you just sit and give you life over to…a pilot and mechanics! I worry for two weeks now, it would be less stress to drive. I may drive and lose my air fare.

No I’m not superstitious about 9/11 or fear copy cat crimes, but the date sure rubs the fear of flying idea into your mind. Or rouses my appalling lack of faith. Call it what you will.

I was 39 years old 11 years ago on 9/11/2001, sitting at the allergist getting a 3 shots and waiting my 20 minutes for a possible reaction. The doctor had the TV on in the lobby. All his patients were watching it aghast. Very shocking. I had moved away from my home place of origin a year prior to the 9/11 event, where I still am, which is why I have a flight scheduled today to travel the 550 miles for our family’s first legit Catholic wedding since my parents wed before I was born. Nothing will stop me from attending but flying is insane. I fear high heights. I like peering over waterfalls, but relying on old metal grease buckets and pilots to travel thousands of feet up, is it moral? Ok I’m off topic now, probably need a new thread. Welcome to 9-11 2012.
 
We were home, and saw a lot of coverage on TV; our kids were under three. I kept the TV tuned to channels that didn’t have news for several years after that, so the kids wouldn’t accidentally see replays of the event and think it was happening in real time. At the time, I was very afraid that our country was headed to what they get in Israel all the time–bombings at markets and in pizza parlors and at weddings–but so far we have at least been spared that, thank Heaven, but it has been at the cost of more government surveillance, which makes me a bit uneasy, too.
Mike_tn said:
…For myself, my sister has bought me round trip air fare to be home, home meaning where we grew up, for her wedding. My return is 9/11/12 and I fear flying any time any year let alone 9/11 dates! Lord have mercy. I may drive. Does the pope fly?!? Is it immoral to fly? You cannot defensive fly, you just sit and give you life over to…a pilot and mechanics! I worry for two weeks now, it would be less stress to drive. I may drive and lose my air fare.

No I’m not superstitious about 9/11 or fear copy cat crimes, but the date sure rubs the fear of flying idea into your mind. Or rouses my appalling lack of faith. Call it what you will… I have a flight scheduled today to travel the 550 miles for our family’s first legit Catholic wedding since my parents wed before I was born. Nothing will stop me from attending but flying is insane. I fear high heights. I like peering over waterfalls, but relying on old metal grease buckets and pilots to travel thousands of feet up, is it moral?..
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Yes, the Pope uses airplanes to travel. It is also not more moral to drive yourself than to let a professional handle the vehicle you’re in. There could be arguments made that for many of us, it would be a great charity to the world if we never got behind the wheel again.

Statistically, driving is also more likely to kill you than flying. There is farther to fall if you are in the air in a modern airplane with a professional pilot, but there are a lot more bad drivers to dodge down on the freeways. As for terrorists, they have this tendency to look for places they are not expected. I wouldn’t try to beat them at that game; you just play into their goal, which is to have you living in fear of a future we can never entirely control.

Travel to the wedding in whatever way makes you the most comfortable, provided you fail no one else in charity by doing so. That’s moral, too.
 
EasterJoy said:
Yes, the Pope uses airplanes to travel. It is also not more moral to drive yourself than to let a professional handle the vehicle you’re in. There could be arguments made that for many of us, it would be a great charity to the world if we never got behind the wheel again.

Statistically, driving is also more likely to kill you than flying. There is farther to fall if you are in the air in a modern airplane with a professional pilot, but there are a lot more bad drivers to dodge down on the freeways. As for terrorists, they have this tendency to look for places they are not expected. I wouldn’t try to beat them at that game; you just play into their goal, which is to have you living in fear of a future we can never entirely control.

Travel to the wedding in whatever way makes you the most comfortable, provided you fail no one else in charity by doing so. That’s moral, too.
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Thank you for your insightful remarks Easter Joy.
Any other personal experiences on this from others are appreciated as well.
 
To MikeTN

Yeah, you are far more likely to get hurt driving to the airport than you would ever on the plane.

We have over 40,000 deaths a year in automobiles - by far - most of which we never hear about (That is about 800 per state per year) . and if you talk about accidents - there are over 6 million a year in the US - 3 million injuries. But when a plane has an incident it is instant news.

And when was the last incident you heard about? - think about how rare it actually is. Especially when you only consider North America.

I’m sure it is disconcerting to have this fear. And many fears are irrational - so you can’t will them away with logic. Is there anyway you can change your return flight by a day either way?
 
Well as long as i replied to this thread, I’ll answer the OP.

I was in Indianapolis - at a small professional conference (30 attendees or so). Indianapolis is about 280 miles away, so i drove instead of flying - because of all the hassles with planes, and because i could control my own schedule, i drove.

I arrived at the downtown hotel where the conference was to be held at 8:00 a.m. There was an odd story about how a plan had hit a building in New York. The way the story was presented, i thought it was a small prop plane - and the story was just a curiosity as i turned off the car off to park.

Being in a conference for a couple of hours, i was away from any source of news. We had a break at 10:00. The hosts of the conference informed us that there was something going on and it was affecting air travel - and maybe hotels. They knew enough that some would not be able to travel back home that day. As people rushed to their rooms to see what might have happened - and some of us saw some news casts in the hotel lobby or bar, the gravity of the situation started to dawn on us.

Some attendees were from New York and had serious concerns for loved ones. We all were stunned and called to action. Since I had a car, it would not have been an issue for me to drive home. I offered a ride to an attendee from Minneapolis. We realized that rental cars were going to be difficult to come by. People feared where they would stay since the hotel was booked that night. But soon, they realized if they could not leave Indianapolis, neither could anyone else arrive.

Driving home was so strange. Since i could not see any visuals - and since nothing new was known - we heard the same stories over and over in the car. I was new to cell phones - and i only had one because of the health of my dad - so we could check up on him and my mom - should they ever be stranded.

But on the way home, my passenger and i were both on the phone continuously with others. Going through Chicago was surreal. I think we were the only car on the road - at what would have been rush hour!

I offered to take my passenger to Minneapolis and then drive back to Milwaukee - but she didn’t want to put me out. I think she was able to get a rental in Milwaukee.

So by the time, i actually saw any footage of this, everyone else had seen it all day long. Still it is ingrained on my brain so clearly.
 
My alarm clock went off that morning w/ a buzzer and the radio. I heard the announcer mention “the plane” and I turned it off. I didn’t want to hear about another airplane crash. I had some really important personal errands to attend to that morning so I kept the radio & tv off. Eventually I found out what happened but by then it was all over. We were all united that day in shock and sadness and grief. I hope and pray we never experience a day like that again.
 
I woke up to go to work. I had the TV on for news of traffic. I got in the shower. I got out of the shower and the whole world had changed for me.

Today I have a nephew who has served two tours of combat in Afghanistan and is preparing now to enter into training for Special Forces. His younger brother, turning 17 in November, is entering the military in January.

I have never really been the same, and the date still makes me cry.
 
I was 17 and in my 3rd period economics class at the beginning of my senior year of high school.

Our Economics teacher had almost ended class when my ninth grade history teacher opened the door that connected the two classrooms and told him to turn on the tv. He said he couldn’t because it didn’t work…so he left the class to see what was going on.

He left and one of the boys was curious and listened in on their conversation and immediately told one of the other classmates to figure out the TV.

When we did…all we saw was pictures of Logan Airport in Boston, I lived about 40 mins south of Boston, and reports of a plane hitting the twin towers.

We all figured it was a small plane that lost control…until we watched, in stunned silence, the second plane hit…live.

The bell rang to signal the end of class…but nobody moved…at all.

Our economics teacher had to coax us to move to the next class and we did…my next class was, ironically, international relations.
Many of my girlfriends were in that class…we rushed to class and immediately turned the TV on and continued to watch.

Half that class was seriously upset watching the towers collapse…live on TV.

Classes kept going for the rest of the day…but no one did anything. We didn’t even change for gym…we just all sat on the bleachers and waited for class to end.

I was so depressed when school ended I called into work that afternoon (something I never did) and crawled into my parents bed and obsessively watched the news until my parents got home from work that night.
 
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