Where were you on 9/11/2001?

musicismylife78

where were you on 9/11/2001? i was in high school. i had checked the news before going to school, live on the west coast, and the initial report was that same pilot has made an error and crashed into the WTC. I dont think it was suggested at that point that this was an airliner. They didnt know. On the way to school, i think they went into more detail, as my mom and i listened in the car. I got to school, and i remember, over the PA, the principal, said both towers were hit and both had fallen. The rest of the day, in every single class, a tv was on, for the entire school day, we watched, and i thinked discussed it. not in some political way really but more what we saw, what was going on. I remember they said they recommended, the principal recommended we stay in school, and not head home. I remember seeing the images of the towers, getting hit, and then collapsing over and over again.

I had become an activist in the summer of 2000, so this was a year later, and of course, i looked at it, through the eyes of an activist. I had attended a Peltier birthday celebration not a week earlier, so i was just sort of a burgeoning and awakening radical. I remember clearly, participating in a vigil in my hometown, non political, a community gathering, singing songs, maybe a week after 9/11. we have a town celebration every year in early september, and there was talk about whether it should go on, whether we should even have a celebration and parade, whether the time was not right. I remember, watching the 9/11 telethon, and how it was literally on EVERY SINGLE Channel. I can remember participating in peace marches and debating in school saying i wanted the u.s. to not retaliate. And i remember being at my first Dylan show, outside, waiting for tickets, this was October 7th, and some man in a turban is in line. the man behind him says, "hey its Bin Laden". This was at a Dylan show! I remember seeing Dylan perform, masters of War, and Blowin in the Wind, and how surreal it all was. That night we started bombing afghanistan.

I do remember not feeling revenge or murderous rage at the terrorists or muslims. I remember the whole us versus them thing, they hate us because we are free crap, and not agreeing with it at all. I still feel that way. I dont think we honor those who died by lobbing bombs at other countries. it just doesnt compute.

I dont think i truely understood the horror of the attacks until the last couple years. as i said in 2001 i was in my activist haze. But i cant imagine being in the towers and living through that hell. Or being a firefighter going into the flames risking your life to help others. Or the absolute terror those people on the planes must have felt when it became clear they were heading straight into the buildings. The horror people must have felt on the upper floors when they realized they couldnt get out and were trapped and were going to burn alive or die, or jump or be in the buildings when it collapsed.

Its such a striking image, so powerful, seeing those planes crash into the buildings. Its like seeing people disappear and vanish, vaporize. Hundreds gone in that moment.

Godfather.

glude to the t.v. set freaking out...pissed to no freakin end :x but I would sure like to hear from some of the train members that were in NY.


Godfather.

SVRDhand13

Godfather. wrote:

glude to the t.v. set freaking out...pissed to no freakin end :x but I would sure like to hear from some of the train members that were in NY.

I was in high school and had my friend's parents pick us up from school. Everyone was evacuating. We headed home and watched countless hours of tv the rest of the night. The worst part was when several of my friends said that their parents either worked in WTC or was a firefighter in NYC. Unfortunately, some of them did pass away. I can't imagine having had to deal with that at any time, but especially a such a young age. It's hard for me to comprehend that it was 10 years ago.

FiveB247x

My dad worked in the WTC, luckily he hadn't gone into the buildings that day and was approaching the building after the first tower was already hit. Shortly the second plane hit and he got out of the area - very lucky to say the least. I watched it unfold on tv like most, but just remember seeing it and thinking it was so surreal, like watching a horror or disaster movie, except it was real. Just awful.

ONCE DEVIDED

here in australia it was late at night, Ironically I was watching a Washington political thriller.
my sister called and told me that a plane had hit the 1st tower and I turned over, within a minute the second tower was struck.
mostly I remember watching people jump. and crying for them. christ im feeling reslly sad just remembering that. when the towers came down I got on my knees and i prayed for them. and thats from a guy who has turned away from beleiving in god.
I just didnt know what else to do

musicismylife78

does that day feel almost surreal, even 10 years later to anyone else? i mean what a crazy and horrifying event! And the events following. the anthrax scare, and all that stuff. just so bizaare. I know its real and it happened, i just think it almost seems like some mythical event now, such a major event. And we've gone through so many things since. the wars, katrina, the tsunami, the financial crisis, obama elected, and on and on.

I plan on listening to Disintegration Loops as well as The Rising. Id say bruce was able to capture that event better than any other musician i can think of.

gimmesometruth27

i was in a company wide staff meeting on the morning of 9/11. it was my second year working for a sports medicine company as an athletic trainer. i would work as a clinician doing outpatient rehab in the mornings and go to a local high school in the afternoons, evenings, and weekends and provide sports medicine practice and game coverage for their athletes. every month we had a staff meeting where all 14 clinics' staff would get together and talk about business, marketing, promotions, any issues with doctor's offices or insurance or whatever, and there was 1-2 hours worth of continuing education units presented.

as we were filing into the meeting the news broke that a small plane had hit one of the towers, so naturally everyone was like "what a dumbass pilot, i hope everyone is ok"... and one of the speakers made reference to the dumbass pilot in the meeting and got a good laugh out of it, because for all we knew some piper cub flew into the building and bounced off or something. it was like "how do you fly a small plane into one of those buildings if you have engine trouble, wouldn't you fly AWAY from the city??" 3 hours later when the meeting was over we were all filing out of the banquet room at this really nice restaurant/bar and we filed by the tvs in the bar and everyone just stopped. the hallway bottlenecked, and everyone was like "what the fuck happened up there?" and word passed back through the hallway that both towers were down and the pentagon had been hit. everyone started to push and shove in order to find their way to the tvs in the bar. when we got to the tvs they were playing the collapse over and over and over as if on a loop. it was only then that we realized the scope of what had happened. i remember people crying, sobbing uncontrollably. i remember people being angry. i remember people being numb and unable to have any sort of reaction. we had missed all of this happening because of our meeting. our owners closed all of the clinics for the day. the athletic director from the school called me and said that they were letting school out immediately and that all sports practices and games are cancelled until further notice. that is when i finally realized the scope of what had happened. i did not ever get to that anger phase, just the terrible sadness and empathy for the families that lost some loved ones. i felt really guilty that that guy made a joke during his speech, and we all laughed not realizing that people would rather jump out of a 100th floor window than be burned alive. we did not know what had happened until we came out of the meeting. after the meeting all of us went our separate ways. i had no work to do for the next few days so i just went home and watched tv and hoped for any sort of good news, like survivors were found and rescued or something. i remember being numb, unable to really feel anything. it was as if time stopped. my friend called me and i went over to his house. we were going to try to play video games (dorks, i know lol) to avoid watching any more tv coverage, but i got over there and we could not turn off the news and turn on the dreamcast...so we just sat and watched until early evening.

i am not a religious person, but i made my way down to a church for a candle light prayer vigil that night. i was really inspired how people of all faiths and religions could come together and be united in grief and united in the face of the biggest tragedy of our lifetimes. i made my way inside to meditate and say whatever words i could muster to whatever god there was that was listening to bless the souls of the fallen, comfort those that had lost, and i prayed for my country to act rationally in the midst of this tragedy.

it was 2 days later that i found out that my best friend from grad school's father and 3 firefighters from his engine house had been killed in the collapse.

CH156378

I was sleeping in the upstairs of my parents house when i hear my Dad scream upstairs, "WAKE UP WE"RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!!!!!"

We live in Michigan.

Byrnzie

I watched it all unfold in a pub on my lunch break from work. My friend said he thought the first plane was a glider. I said he must be crazy, and that it was clearly a Boeing 757. I also said that planes don't hit buildings by mistake and that I expected another plane to hit the other tower, which it did about ten minutes later as we watched it on the t.v.

I then said that this would give the Bush administration the excuse they needed to go on the rampage and wreak havoc across the Middle East, which they did.

But I also wasn't surprised by it. I was more surprised at the spectacle of the thing more than anything else. If anything I was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier.

tremors

I heard about the attacks in my local shop in England, people talking about it and shocked. I went home and watched stuff unfold on the TV - it really shook me up. I drove out to a bar on my own to get some space - it was full of students, and they were all larking about, and making sick kinds of jokes. They had loaded up the Jukebox solely with the song 'New York, New York' which was playing on repeat throughout the whole place. It was really just me and them in the place. I sat there for a bit, and then I walked up to the jukebox and put in my own money - I selected 'If You Tolerate This' by the Manic Street Preachers, and went and sat back down. When my song came on I walked out of the bar.

chadwick

Byrnzie wrote:

I watched it all unfold in a pub on my lunch break from work. My friend said he thought the first plane was a glider. I said he must be crazy, and that it was clearly a Boeing 757. I also said that planes don't hit buildings by mistake and that I expected another plane to hit the other tower, which it did about ten minutes later as we watched it on the t.v.

I then said that this would give the Bush administration the excuse they needed to go on the rampage and wreak havoc across the Middle East, which they did.

But I also wasn't surprised by it. I was more surprised at the spectacle of the thing more than anything else. If anything I was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier.

just clearly you knew it was a boeing 757 and not a boeing 747 or other just that fast?

Byrnzie

chadwick wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

I watched it all unfold in a pub on my lunch break from work. My friend said he thought the first plane was a glider. I said he must be crazy, and that it was clearly a Boeing 757. I also said that planes don't hit buildings by mistake and that I expected another plane to hit the other tower, which it did about ten minutes later as we watched it on the t.v.

I then said that this would give the Bush administration the excuse they needed to go on the rampage and wreak havoc across the Middle East, which they did.

But I also wasn't surprised by it. I was more surprised at the spectacle of the thing more than anything else. If anything I was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier.

just clearly you knew it was a boeing 757 and not a boeing 747 or other just that fast?

It wasn't big enough to be a 747.

chadwick

Byrnzie wrote:

chadwick wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

I watched it all unfold in a pub on my lunch break from work. My friend said he thought the first plane was a glider. I said he must be crazy, and that it was clearly a Boeing 757. I also said that planes don't hit buildings by mistake and that I expected another plane to hit the other tower, which it did about ten minutes later as we watched it on the t.v.

I then said that this would give the Bush administration the excuse they needed to go on the rampage and wreak havoc across the Middle East, which they did.

But I also wasn't surprised by it. I was more surprised at the spectacle of the thing more than anything else. If anything I was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier.

just clearly you knew it was a boeing 757 and not a boeing 747 or other just that fast?

It wasn't big enough to be a 747.

you, sir, are badass even if out of your mind

Byrnzie

chadwick wrote:

you, sir, are badass even if out of your mind

Thankyou my friend.

Wilds

It was night time in South Korea in a small town called Gimcheon. Teaching English as a second language.

I got an email from a friend that said something about fantasy football and then at the bottom it said.

"Did you see that a plane hit the World Trade Center."

I turned on CNN international and watched it all unfold.

guitar59

I was a stay at home mom at the time. I had a three year old and a baby. I was really quite isolated from the outside world most mornings, just doing Mom stuff. We went downstairs to watch television at around 11:00 (MST). By this time both towers had fallen, the planes had all crashed. They knew it was terrorists and the skies were closed. There was nothing on TV except that looped tape of the planes crashing and towers going down. Very hard to explain to a three year old. The implications and the loss of life struck me immediately. I allowed myself to watch for about 10 minutes and then put a movie on for my son. A three year old did not need to watch. I put the baby to bed for a nap and then listened to the radio for coverage.

brianlux

At home on my day off. A friend called and woke me up and said, "Turn on your TV- the world has changed." She was right.

catefrances

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

brianlux

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

Unless you were there, probably little if anything. I think we does these "where were you" things as a reality check. "Yeah, when JFK was shot I was doing such and such- wow, bummer, it really happened".

catefrances

brianlux wrote:

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

Unless you were there, probably little if anything. I think we does these "where were you" things as a reality check. "Yeah, when JFK was shot I was doing such and such- wow, bummer, it really happened".

jesus.. when JFK was shot i wasnt even born.


it just makes me feel uneasy. i wonder if the saudis are sitting around asking each other where they were when they heard the mission they backrolled was successful.

BinauralJam

@work on in midtown Manhatten, when the strangest thing happened, my freind's wife called and said a second plane just crashed into the second tower, she is very pretty, but not that smart and i suggested that she was confused and was just watching a new replay of the first accident, but Orlando said No she was sure, so i said Hold on and called my boss, who chuckeled and said hold on , i'm turning on my t.v., after 20 seconds of silence or so, he said "Keith, a second plane just hit the second tower, i gotta go, i gotta call my wife, i said ya, so do i."

CJMST3K

That morning I had a 9:30am appointment in midtown NYC. ...was running late. Parents called to tell me "careful going into this city, looks like a small plane crashed into the WTC. Avoid downtown and take the midtown tunnel". "Ok mom". Showered... getting ready to head out things got worse very quickly.

Later that night, after an amazingly awful day, the skies were perfectly clear and you could see the stars... and without the rush of constant planes... except for the AWACS plane with it's giant disk, flying it's protection mission overhead. The next morning a battleship was right off the coast of Jones Beach.

It was our generation's park harbor. Still so recent to me.

I canceled a going away party that a friend had scheduled for me that night.

musicismylife78

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

and yet you posted. never quite understood those people who dislike a thread, or topic, yet post in said thread. Its like those people who post about a band they like, and then people respond to the thread by saying, "im not into that band". wow, deep stuff. whatever.

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world. biggest terrorist attack in u.s. history. I guess i can see the idea of maybe feeling insignificant compared to those who were trapped in the buildings, or firefighters risking their lives to save others, but this obviously was a life changing event.

I think its an event we will always remember. our parents had jfk, mlk, rfk. we have kurt cobains suicide, and this.

musicismylife78

for those who lived in NYC, what was it like after both towers were hit? i got the sense NYC just stopped. Cars stopped. Work stopped, people just stood looking up at the towers and cried and were freaking out. but im not sure, all i remember was seeing the images of the towers. I picture that scene in vanilla sky, Tom Cruise in a deserted NYC, only i picture during 9/11 it was filled with people, an no cars, no traffic, no work going on, everyone out on the streets. Ive also wondered, i obviously know the people in the towers died, many did as it came crashing down, but were there bystanders, general public, looking up at the towers, near it, around it, that were killed as it came down?

musicismylife78

brianlux wrote:

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

Unless you were there, probably little if anything. I think we does these "where were you" things as a reality check. "Yeah, when JFK was shot I was doing such and such- wow, bummer, it really happened".

sort of disagree. i think we use the "where were you when... x happened" because they were and are major life altering events. I think we all know it was real, but i agree it does even 10 years on feel surreal. but i think we use it, those things as a way to deal in a human way with things we cant comprehend or understand. To understand, or comprehend the whole of it all, the highjackings, the crashing into buildings, the collapses. what has happened since, the wars etc... I think humans need connection. And this is a way to feel connected. I live on the opposite coast, doesnt mean 9/11 didnt effect me, just effected me in a different manner, than those in NYC.

BinauralJam

musicismylife78 wrote:

for those who lived in NYC, what was it like after both towers were hit? i got the sense NYC just stopped. Cars stopped. Work stopped, people just stood looking up at the towers and cried and were freaking out. but im not sure, all i remember was seeing the images of the towers. I picture that scene in vanilla sky, Tom Cruise in a deserted NYC, only i picture during 9/11 it was filled with people, an no cars, no traffic, no work going on, everyone out on the streets. Ive also wondered, i obviously know the people in the towers died, many did as it came crashing down, but were there bystanders, general public, looking up at the towers, near it, around it, that were killed as it came down?

One of the things i remember that day was going out to 5th avenue with a few co-workers and there was a news reporter guy with the big arm camera and he was just holding it at his side, staring towards down town like the rest of us, Here was prime footage and he could care less, there was no oppertunity, no breaking news to exploit, he just stood there in shock with the rest of us.

Byrnzie

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

catefrances

musicismylife78 wrote:

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

and yet you posted. never quite understood those people who dislike a thread, or topic, yet post in said thread. Its like those people who post about a band they like, and then people respond to the thread by saying, "im not into that band". wow, deep stuff. whatever.

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world. biggest terrorist attack in u.s. history. I guess i can see the idea of maybe feeling insignificant compared to those who were trapped in the buildings, or firefighters risking their lives to save others, but this obviously was a life changing event.

I think its an event we will always remember. our parents had jfk, mlk, rfk. we have kurt cobains suicide, and this.

calm down there 78. i was just expressing my thoughts. there is no dislike of the thread. i couldve shared where i was that day but to me it feels irrelevant.

musicismylife78

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

indeed. american foreign policy certainly changed as a result, thus impacting the rest of the world. the wars in afghanistan and iraq probably wouldnt be going on had 9/11 never happened. And i didnt say "the single most defining" i said "ONE of the".

While i agree, most of the world deals with death like that often, and it was a rare instance, of the US dealing with it, i do think to debate the impact of 9/11 on culture, politics, the world, foreign policy, art etc... is silly. the question isnt did it impact it, but rather how much did it impact all that stuff.

the fact that 9/11 was and still is a big issue, is all you need to know. it's big news now for obvious reasons, but it figured prominently is the 2 elections since then, and is still a huge topic of conversation.

Tenzing N.

I was in the right seat of a cargo Lear jet headed to Dallas. The radios were crazy at first then as crews got to work figuring out where to land it settled down. We were near Dallas so we kept coming. They wouldn't tell us much except that we HAD to get down. The lines to land were fairly long and then the ramp was wierd because all the planes would land, shut down and the pilots were all rushing in to see the TV. I just remember it being really spooky not really knowing what was going on.

Later on we were one of the first planes allowed to fly because we were carrying blood to NY. Empty sky- went straight there.

SVRDhand13

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

"One of the defining moments". I am sure the 9/11 attacks are known worldwide more than any other event that occurred within the past 25 years. Not every Panamanian and Chilean, or any for that matter, have to feel it was the one defining moment. This day changed America, Afghanistan, and Iraq forever, and left many other nations wondering if attacks would come to their soil as well (which they did). It was one of the defining moments in the entire world and for you to say otherwise is ludicrous.