9/11-Five Years On

[king mob]

Its the fifth anniversary of 9/11 next week. The inevitable articles and TV shows are now beginning to litter our media, some are banal (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1862353,00.html), some make interesting reading. ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/5305868.stm)

But this aside, how has the last five years changed your lifes, how do you rembember the day itself?

For me, it's made me question peoples motivations and beliefs, its also made me dispair of democracy as executed in the UK and US.

As for my memory of the day. I was off work sick and spent the morning watching shite telly (Kilroy i think) when the first reports kicked in around lunchtime. All i can really remember is watching in awe and horror until the early hours of the next morning. I realised this was one of those once in a generation moments where the course of history was changing as i watched and couldn't tear my eyes from it.

Since then we've had wars and terrorist attacks. We've had the world become a more insane place and seen the rise of facism and intolerance. Simply put the world did change that day and sadly i can't see a road back or out of our current mess.

[Zombienorthstar]

Being in the middle of my school canteen. We always used to have mtv on a big screen...and suddenly it changed and everyone looked up...right as they were showing one of the planes go into the building. Its a really weird thing to have about 1000 teenagers go silent without anyone telling them to....i just remember no one moving for a good minute or two.

[Jeff Brady]

My 9-11 story. (http://itsalwaystheshyquietones.blogspot.com/2005/09/rant-bomb-part-3.html)

[Ontir]

It seems impossible, that it's been 5 years, but it seems impossible it should still be able to make me tear up, as well. I turned the TV on that morning, and heard Dan Rather's voice, in a billowing gray image. Then, after a few moments, the gray parted, and twisted steel emerged. As he described what had happened to the towers, I had to tell myself, "If it's Dan Rather talking, it isn't a movie. This isn't an ad for some fear mongering movie of the week, it's actually happened!" That's when I panicked. My parents had been traveling through New York, and I didn't know their exact itinerary - when they were due home. Nor did I know if my brother was still in the city. His label is right near the WTC Complex, and I was panicked. 3,000 miles south-west, and unable to get ahold of anyone on the east coast, just busy signals and circuit busy recordings.

Having resigned myself to having to get ready for work, I went and showered. I'd barely stepped out of the shower, when my best-friend called from Rochester. "Have you heard..." he started to say, but I cut him off. "My parents and my brother are traveling. I don't know where they are, and I can't get through. Call them, and call me back!" I hung up, realizing I'd hung up, on the only east-coast person who could get through to me. I got dressed, and made my way to the car, heading off to the theatre. My phone rang, Shawn was calling back.

"How are you even getting through?" I asked. "I plugged my phone into the computer. I'm calling you over roadrunner," he said. "I got a hold of your mom, she and your dad got home day before yesterday, and they're fine. She spoke to your brother, and they were supposed to stay in a hotel (the one that burned all day, and collapsed that night) last night, but decided to catch the last train out of town, and sleep in their own beds." A big sigh of relief, I headed out of the parking lot.

The energy all around was really weird. LA was silent, and everyone was looking at everyone else. I was on Beverly, heading toward Century City. The two towers seen in Battle for the Planet of the Apes rose above me, and it just seemed so strange to see them, like they shouldn't have had the nerve to show their faces that day. My phone rang. A friend, Jeff, was calling. He was talking about going to see a film, and I screamed at him,

"HOW can you be talking about some STUPID F@#%ING MOVIE AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!?!?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Haven't you seen the TV today?"

"No, I don't generally watch in the morning."

"Do you remember the World Trade Centre?"

"I lived in New York, of course I remember it!"

"That's all that's left. It's gone." I said.

He insisted that I'd mis-interpreted an ad for a movie, and I was beginning to lose it. In the background, I heard his TV go on, and then, "...my God..."

We talked for a few minutes more, but I've no recollection of that part. I was crying, and driving, and trying desperately to keep it together and not get into an accident. I know I promised I'd call him in a few hours, and hung up, then continued on to the theatre.

When I got to the Westside Pavilion, the entrances to the parking structure were barricaded by large secruity vehicles, and they didn't even want me to stop long enough to ask them about what was going on. "It's a target!" one yelled, waiving me on. A fresh horror. That's when I thought of my co-worker Elonda, a little Muslim lady, who uses public transportation. I drove all around the mall, looking for her, but couldn't find her, and hoped she'd gotten home alright. As I drove east on Venice Boulevard, I saw a black man in white Muslim dress with prayer beads, walking in the median. Cars on both sides slowed down and just stared at him. I couldn't get close enough to safely offer him a ride, and continued on to Jennifer's. She was leaving for a year's Master's Program in London, and to fly out that afternoon. I had a tape to give her that afternoon at the theatre. Instead, I drove to her apartment, pushed it through the slot, unable to get ahold of her, then called and asked her to call me. Thirsty, I went to a nearby convenience store.

I'm a big guy, and I was obviously out of sorts. The woman behind the counter, from India, was nervous when I walked in. She had a TV on, with continuing footage. I stopped and looked up at it, and shook my head.

"I cannot f@#%ing believe it!" she said, in a slight accent.

We stood for several minutes, and suddenly there were 10 other people standing around me, all staring at the same screen. Realizing this, jarred me out of... the thrall? I got a bottle of Aquafina, a liter of Diet Coke, a 3 pack of Hostess Cupcakes, and a tube of Pizza Pringles. I was bloody well going to have some comfort food. As she rung up my purchase, I asked her, "Do you have family in New York?"

"Yes," she said, "My cousin's a doctor," and sighed. I told her that my family was all out of harm's way and we smiled. Later, I learned this wasn't true, but at that moment, it occurred to me, that I needed to contact my friends who were from Manhattan and New Jersey. I began the calls, and was relieved to find that they'd all heard from their families, and all was well. I got back into my car, not knowing what I was going to do next. My phone rang. My friend Ava was asking me if my family was OK? I told her yes, and she said, I've started a pot of soup, bread's in the oven, and I'm about to open a bottle of wine, come on up."

By the time I got to Valley Village, the comfort food was gone, except for a little bit of Aquafina, which I swigged after I'd parked. Ava's a good cook, and homemade soup and warm bread, along with good wine (Her ex-husband's a wine merchant, and she knows wine!), while watching footage, mixed reports of wrong news, discussion of history and playing "Where's Dubya?" all made the day passable. Around 6:30, Ava sent me out to get the special evening edition of the LA Times. I got to a gas station, which didn't have it, and my phone rang. It was my mother. She'd been trying to get ahold of me all day, and this was the first time she'd gotten through. I stood in the gas station parking lot, on the phone with my Mom, the two of us crying into the phone. After a few minutes, I pulled myself back together.

"I called Mary-Kaye," she said.

I'd forgotten about Mary-Kaye, my Mom's cousin's daughter who lives outside of NYC, and whose husband is a New York City firefighter.

"What did you say to her?" I asked. What DO you say on such a day?"

"How... [i]are[./i] you..." she said, and before she could say anything else, Mary-Kaye sighed and said, "We're fine. Fortunately, he was lacerated in a fire a week ago, and was off-duty, but by 3:00, they needed him, so he's down there now."

It turns out that while he wasn't in condition to do rescue work, he was able to hand out sandwiches and water, which I was later told, he did pretty much non-stop for like 3 days.

I went to a number of stores, but none of them had gotten the evening edition yet. I returned to Ava's, and we opened another bottle, and continued to talk, and watch. A few hours later, the store on the block, corner had a copy, and we began to look that over. That's when the newscaster announced that voter turn-out was terribly low. Ava and I realized that neither of us had voted, and that it was too late to do so now. (It still irks me that they didn't extend the vote to the next day!) Around 11:30, I went home.

The next day, I spoke to Jennifer. We were all nervous, but she was re-ticketed for one of the first flights out, when LAX re-opened, and she went to England.

There was a run on gas masks, and instructions on the news about how to tape your windows shut, incase of a dirty bomb.

My friend Jeff dropped out of contact.

My brother's album, released on 9/11, got lost in the mayhem, and didn't get the push that had been promised.

A co-worker at the theatre, a high-school student told us that at school that day, the principal came in, and called a boy out of class. His mother was on one of the jets that hit the towers.

Jennifer finished her degree in England, and returned to LA. She's busy pursuing her writing and theatre career, while going back and forth between LA and Canada to take care of her dad after a "Coach Class Syndrome" induced stroke, and still manages to be the most politically active person I've ever met, going to protests around the country, and working with Code Pink and Not in Our Name among others.

I got a phone call from Toyota. I'd been listed as a personal reference for a loan, when Jeff bought his car. He was meticulous about money, and paying everything in full, on time. When they told me they needed to get in touch with him (something I'd been trying to do myself), about his payments, I knew something was wrong. I spent the next 3 days tracking down everyone I could think of a way to get ahold of, and then found that he'd been killed in a freak accident. His sister had promised a memorial service in LA (he was buried in Ohio), but it never happened.

I went to work for TSA, hoping to do my part to make air-travel safer. 3 months later, I was on disability from an injury I received while working. More than 31/2 years later, I'm finally looking for work.

My cousin, who was in the Army before 9/11, re-upped shortly after the event. He did his tour of Iraq, and was told he was done. Then they sent him back. Then they extended his tour. Then they "Stop-Loss"ed him, while insisting there's no back-door draft. In theory, he comes home before Christmas, but they've told him that before. When he gets here, he'll find his father is a shell of the man he was, and his own marriage has fallen apart, and he's going to be an instant single father to two children he hardly knows as his soon-to-be ex intends to join the Army.

[Cam63]

Since then we've had wars and terrorist attacks. We've had the world become a more insane place and seen the rise of facism and intolerance. Simply put the world did change that day and sadly i can't see a road back or out of our current mess.

I feel the same way.

[moebius]

I remember waking up that morning on the West Coast, the first in my new apartment, and meeting my new roommate when he told me "someone destroyed the Twin Towers."

"What?"

I watched the news for the first half-hour, and I went through a few thoughts:

1. Man it looks like a movie.
2. I initially couldn't fathom how a plane could destroy both towers. Then I realized it was two planes, but couldn't figure out how two planes could accidentally hit both towers. Then I realized that it wasn't an accident.
3. Then I realized "hey, there were people in those planes, and people in those towers. How many?"
4. I realized that we were going to bomb the shit out of somebody, and I had just witnessed Pearl Harbor.
5. I thought back on visiting the towers when I was 10 or 11 with my father, and thinking "wow, this is really high up."

I went to work (my second week there), called my father in Jersey (works in the City, but I knew he worked nights) and went about my day. Then that night I called the girlfriend and watched TV out on the porch with my roommate.

I honestly can't say 9/11 has effected me personally in any meaningful way, besides the basic economic effects of the WoT. I understand that it will be one of the most important political events in my life. But mostly I shake my head on how it's turned reasonable people into complete assholes, made us engage in idiotic policies doomed to failure, and completely turned our priorities upside-down as a country.

[Iangould]

It was aroudn midnight here I was wacthing soem forgettable sitcom and getting ready for bed when a news-crawler came across the bottom of the screen saying a plane had hit the WTC.

So we flicked over to the news channels - and watched the whoel thign virtually from the start.

When I tuned in they weren't even sure what type of plane had collided with the WTC.

I remember the near-physical impact when the second plane hit and you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was no accident.

I watched it all live for the next several hours including when the towers collapsed.

[king mob]

It was also the time when I realised just how important the internet was. I can remember most news sites crashing apart from the BBC who managed to keep a fairly basic service going for most of the day.

[howyadoin]

I didn't find out till I got to work that morning. Everybody there was in shock, and nobody was working. I spent the morning logged in here, trying to find out if our New York posters were okay. In the early afternoon, the boss let everybody go home. Spent most of that night at CBR, too.

[lalalei2001]

I was in 4th grade music class at my new school. My old school was at their weekly church service. They closed all the schools and I went to my grandma's house. I was scared and I didn't want to go to school the next day. Mom made me go. The next day we saw a plane in the sky and got freaked out. But it was just a normal plane.

[Cam63]

Some things you never forget.

[thehod]

Its interesting as this year is also the 65 anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Not being American and not having been around when Pearl Harbor took place I can't comment on how that particular attack on America impacted on the American psyche, but I wonder how the two events will be looked at in another 60 years time. Will 9/11 be as big a turning point in world history as Pearl Harbor, or will it be bigger.

[king mob]

In terms of lasting effect upon the entire planet, 9/11 will be a bigger turning point than Pearl Harbour. To what degree we can only guess.

[king mob]

For all UK based boarders, the BBC has 9/11: The Twin Towers (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20060907/20060907_2100_4223_57517_60) on tonight.

[Clint Barton]

I was not a member here until this year.

Woulld it be possible to revive the thread(s) from that fateful day for us newbies to read through?

I can't seem to find it using the search function.

I don't want to "rubberneck", per se....I'd just like to get a perspective from everyone involved in posting that day....particularly those in NYC and Washington, DC area....

Any help would be appreciated.

[JeffreyWKramer]

I was not a member here until this year.

Woulld it be possible to revive the thread(s) from that fateful day for us newbies to read through?

I can't seem to find it using the search function.

I don't want to "rubberneck", per se....I'd just like to get a perspective from everyone involved in posting that day....particularly those in NYC and Washington, DC area....

Any help would be appreciated.

Unfortunately, not possible. CBR doesn't have archives of the old stuff. Everything has been lost/rebooted a couple different times since then.

[phoenixrising]

I remember it as one of the most proud days of my profession - and a day I had to hold myself together to make that happen. We all did. Not a single personal really had their emotions under control, but we all had a job to do.

I was still in grad school and I found out about the first plane when my boss called me from the radio station and told me he needed me in early to pull wire reports, we we'd broken NPR format to go live.

I got to work just as the plane hit the Pentagon - where my mom was that day. Needless to say, I freaked out and spent about an hour in between pulling wire scripts trying to reach someone, anyone, back home to see if she was OK. (She was, though one of the rooms that was hit was where she'd had a meeting about an hour before).
At about noon, I went on duty at our student newspaper, helping younger writers make sense of everything, doing research and making calls to anyone we had in DC or NYC. Our little staff put out one of the best student papers in the nation on Sept. 12 - enough to be included in a few books compiling the day's news. I was proud of how well it all went down under pressure.

[king mob]

This BBC documentary is rather good, it's also been excellent in recreating some scarily realistic footage of the planes hitting the towers from the POV inside the towers.

Its also been interesting to see how badly the authorties fucked up and could have stopped it. Its a programme worth searching out.

[darkkeeperjr]

IIRC

I was working, loading the back of a truck. trying to explain to some guy how our way of life is going to change right now,Cause the towers felled and the Pentagon was attacked. Also arguing how we need to hear the news not some dumb ass tape of him rapping.

[king mob]

Martin Amis witters on and actually makes some good points among his usual bollocks. (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1868732,00.html)

[Perry Holley]

On a less personal level, the Onion bares its teeth (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52325).

Days before the fifth anniversary of the destruction of New York's World Trade Center by terrorists, city officials gathered on the site where the Twin Towers once stood to dedicate the newly completed 9/11 Memorial Hole.

"From the wreckage and ashes of the World Trade Center, we have created a recess in the ground befitting the American spirit," said New York Governor George Pataki from a cinderblock-and-plastic-bucket-supported plywood platform near the Hole's precipice. "This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."

Pataki then cut a ceremonial ribbon to release a giant blue plastic tarpaulin, reportedly the largest of its kind, which fluttered and snapped while slowly settling into the detritus and mud at the bottom of the 70-foot Hole, drawing a long, tired sigh of resignation from the estimated crowd of 50,000 who had assembled to watch and shake their heads.

[Jeff Brady]

On a less personal level, the Onion bares its teeth (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52325).

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

[J. Robb]

I remember doing some writing that day. It was such an unbelievable horror, I just wanted to remember my thoughts, but of course it was an unforgettable event, the writing wasn't really necessary.

I thought, "This is it, the US and the west is no longer immune. We may have to see horror and violence like so much of the world does every day. Will we smarten up? Will this make us think more about how we treat the world, like the west's personal sweat shop? Will we clean up our act and make the world a better place, or have all those thousands of people just died for no reason at all?"

Sadly, they died for no reason. No lessons were learned. The world is now a worse place.

[king mob]

I'm watching the Path to 911 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_to_911). I was just about keeping my bile down til the line "are there men in Washington or are they all cowards" in relation to Clinton's attempt to get Bin Laden.

It's "how Clinton is responsible for 911" angle crossed with 24. Its also featuring a comatose performance by Harvey Keitel. It's also a bit distasteful in its "oooo, we're at WAR" line which its repeated every 10 minutes.

Its going to be interesting to see the American response to this docudrama/propaganda.

[Clint Barton]

I'm going to watch it also. It begins at 8:00 EST if I'm not mistaken. Let's compare "notes".

[blackdragon6]

was still asleep because i was on the phone real late that night talking to friends,but that morning my mom woke me up and said we were under attack.so i'm like what the ****? i thought my mom was being literal as in our HOUSE,but then she was talking about WTC building,so anywayz i go to the living room where the rest of my folks at and turned on the tv and i saw the second plane crash into the building.it wasn't live but it was so sureal i was in shock and awe(no pun).my mom said its definatly a attack now.me my friends,associates,and family was glued to the set,for a whole week,my friends was scared to fly the whole aftermath and repracutions was sad and scary.

[clayholio]

I was living in LA at the time, working at a crappy job, not drawing at all, and was hundreds of miles away from my family. I decided that wasn't really how I wanted to continue to do things. I live closer to my family, spend as much time as I can on art, and got the hell away from both Los Angeles and the crappy job. Things aren't perfect now, but at least I took the time to figure out what was really important to me, and I'm headed in that direction.

[Dennis K]

It should be raining today (Sept. 11). It should rain every September 11th. God, I hate September 11th.

[king mob]

I'm going to watch it also. It begins at 8:00 EST if I'm not mistaken. Let's compare "notes".


I'm holding out full opinion of it til i see the last part tonight, but it's a rewriting of history that is, at best, cheap. At worst propoganda for the ongoing War On Terror bollocks.

Martin Rowson is one of the Guardian's cartoonists, this is his cartoon for today.


http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/martin_rowson/2006/09/11/rowson1.jpg

[atoningunifex]

I was at work. I don't listen to the news on the radio or watch the television before work, so I had no idea anything had happened. I was talking to my freind Melissa when a co-worker came over and said to us "They hit the other one". We had no idea what she was talking about.

We pulled the television out into the library and it was on all day long. Two of my co-workers had family members in New York City that day. They both ended up being okay, but it was a long, tense day waiting for word. I'll go to my grave remembering their faces when they got phone calls that their family were okay.

That lunch break I logged onto yahoo chat (where i was spending most of my online time) to find out about people I knew. One guy there- who really didn't like me and apparently didn't understand that there is more to New York State than NYC- said "Oh, too bad. Chad lived." And the goofy thing is...that was really comforting. Something really huge and scary and traumatic happened and this guy was still capable of being the same kind of asshole. It reminded me that people were still going to be people.

[Winslow]

I was at work.

I heard a plane had hit one of the towers, and I immediately thought a small private plane. I turned on the T.V. in our conference room and was horrifed to see the other plane hit.

It was surreal.

One of my best friends was working at the Pentagon at the time, so I was worried sick about him all day. I was able to find a Pentagon floor plan online, and knew the location of his office, so I was fairly certain he was O.K.. I was relieved when I found out the next day that he was fine. Tragically, his daughter found out the Pentagon was hit while at school, and she freaked.

Another thing I remember well was the eery silence in the days following. I live under a flight path of commercial jets flying into Philadelphia. I've become accustomed to their noise, but when it wasn't there, it was freaky, and a constant reminder that things "weren't right." The only noise I could hear at night was the distinct and occasional rumble of jet fighters flying overhead.

[Typo Lad]

I got out of the N train as the second plane hit. Went upstairs, got some things, and walked from 23rd St on the East Side to 81st on the West Side to get Suzannah. Walking that was an amazing experinace, surounded by my fellow shell-shocked New Yorkers. Those without radios stoped those with. I bought one and tuned it to 1010WINS, where I got to listen as reporter John Montone stopped reporting to help people.

I almost cried in the middle of Central park at that.

[Clint Barton]

I was at work, managing our customer service call center in our marketing/sales department.

The phones went wild when the second plane hit, with customers from all over the country calling in to tell us what was going on.

It still seems surreal to me.

I'll never completely "get over it".

[king mob]

Oh dear, Radio Five Live was doing a really good anniversary show until they started this bit on conspiracy theories.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

i live in LA and at the time i was in the studio for a demo my band was gonna make.my home girl was late she was gonna fly in from the uk.but when i was in the studio we turned on the tv,to watch cartoons,but they was showing the wtc story going on.so i definately knew my friend wasn't flying in because she had to arrive at new york first,....we were joking about what might have gone wrong.but when we saw the second plane hit there was this eerie silence thru the whole damn studio,you could hear a pin drop.afterwards we all began to freak cause we thought our friend was on one of those planes.but she called us and said she wasn't coming that day.it didn't mater considering people had stopped flying intirely those few days i belive.she didn't arrive here in the us till late january.she was scared to fly anytime sooner than that.and till this day i'm suprised at how devestating the attacks were.theres was deffinatly a huge collapse in national security.

[Michael P]

I don't have a story; I have this.

Try To Remember The Kind Of September

I work in 22 Cortlandt Street. That address will mean nothing to those of you not from New York, but it’s between Cortlandt, Dey, Church, and Broadway, in the Financial District. In other words, it’s across Church from the site of the World Trade Center. So you can imagine I had an interesting commute this morning.

As I came up out of the subway (with the Cortlandt Street station closed indefinitely, I take the 2/3 from 96th Street to Park Place, and exit the station at Church and Fulton), the streets were packed. I saw five policemen standing in a row, silently commiserating. I looked across the street, at the Path Station, and saw the crowd milling about, oddly stationary for a Monday morning. And, as I crossed John Street, I saw a man holding a sign reading “Down With Al Qaeda Terrorism.”

Talk about missing the point. As if anyone, at this place, in this city, on this day, feels any different. Or as if that’s what they’re thinking about. Of all the things to remember on this day, I can’t think of anything more superfluous.

For me, I remember finishing my breakfast in Lil’s, the student cafeteria at Emory University’s Oxford campus, at around 9:50, and glancing at the cafeteria workers gathered around the television in the little adjunct opposite the exit door, wondering what they were watching. I remember not quite understanding when someone said a plane had flown into one of the towers (like many, I assumed it had been a light plane, like the man who had flown onto the White House lawn during the Clinton years). I remember my art history professor, Diana Robbins, struggling through a lesson on Early Islamic Art for twenty minutes before giving up and saying, “None of us is here right now.” I remember finally hooking up the television in my room to cable. I remember calling my mother. I remember a somber dinner, with no words, and the faces of my friends Atiya and Statia, whose relatives and friends in New York were still out of contact and unaccounted for.

And I remember the next day, when classes continued, and didn’t. My morning classes on Geology and Shakespeare were impromptu seminars on terrorism, ethnic strife, and religious war. I could have handled lectures about rocks and the “Doorkeeper” scene in the Scottish play, but the circular discussion, the chorus of “I don’t know,” was too much. I took off for my Wednesday refuge, Comic Company in Decatur, GA, not far from Emory’s main campus, and a half-hour ride. I needed it that day.

And I remember Thursday, tennis class, and a plane flying overhead.

It’s 10:05 right now; six minutes ago, a voice came on the PA system to call a moment of silence in commemoration of the fall of the South Tower. I kept writing. We get CNN in the office, and right now it’s on in the background, the list of names, on and on. I think they’re somewhere in the K’s; I’m trying to tune it out.

I cried that day; I don’t know anyone who didn’t. The private pain of thousands of families was made public, broadcast to the world, and beyond. If there is life orbiting our nearest celestial neighbor, Proxima Centauri, they received those broadcasts roughly nine months ago. Sixty years prior, they received their first impression of our planet, in the form of a short, balding house painter, who was quite mad. One would be tempted to say that the events of September 11, 2001 would not have improved upon that impression.

One would be wrong.

Striking as the imagery may be to our hearts, long as the list may stretch, the 3,000 deaths are a sliver of the day, and not even a large one. Evil is evil, and evil happens every day; the numbers are but statistics. But good happens every day, too, and if the evil was of a greater magnitude, then the good was orders greater still. And I remember, so clearly that it swells my heart until it breaks my chest, the good.

We stood in lines to give our blood. We opened our homes and hearts to the displaced and the distressed, the heroes and the hopeless, the living and the dying. We held hands together, cried together, made love together, gave love together. We gave all we had. All my life, I have seen the million little evils man visits upon man, stood in silent dismay, and wondered why, for just an instant, we couldn’t imagine a world full of peace and goodwill, and make it so. On that terrible, wonderful day, my wish came true. I felt in the air of the world, in the sights and sounds of millions reaching out in sympathy, in the purity of their kindness, what I’d sung of in Sunday School as a child, but never until that moment known: the peace that passes understanding. I felt it, and I gave thanks that I lived in a world where such things were possible. On the darkest day in my life’s history, I gave thanks. And I have every day since.

September 11, 2001, was a day of horror, but also a day of hope. It was a day of great agonies, but also of great joys. It was a day when we were reminded of everything that makes us human, and when we chose to embrace, for however short a time, the better angels of our nature. One can barely hope to hold onto such a moment for a lifetime, but having once experienced it, we can remember. We can remember The Kind Of September, if we try, and live our lives in its spirit, and be a better, loving world for it. The future of mankind is the memorial of September 11, and it will be what we make of it. For their memories, for our souls, and for the peace and livelihood of those yet to come, let us make it a good one.

[curefreak]

the whole 9/11 thing was and is still very surreal for me
i still remember waking up mid morning and seeing the information on msn messengers news thingie and being half awake i just brushed it off as them recalling the anniversary of the first twin towers attack even tho the picture clearly showed that this was a different situation since the original attack was on the ground floor and the 9/11 happened at the top.
it took a friend of mine to tell me what was going on and then i had to turn on the news of course.
and the one thing thats always stuck in my mind was watching that poor couple deciding to jump to there deaths :(
the sadly ironic thing is not more than a year ago i was planning on moving to new york but my parents talked me out of it cause they thought it was too dangerous to live there and ironically enough i didnt believe them.

[Clint Barton]

That's a great story, Michael. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks!

[Lone Ranger]

I was on my honeymoon.

We were in Belize and at least a half hour from the nearest TV.

The owner of the small resort at which we were staying had received an email from a family member in the States and she told all of the guests (there were probably only 8 of us).

A couple of days later, Kat and I went to the local village and watched some CNN at a bar. It made me glad to be so far away from all of the madness.

By the time out honeymoon wrapped up, air travel schedules were pretty much back to normal, although security was pretty tight at both Miami and Toronto.

It was a bit tough to get my head around what was going on without seeing all of the images, but in the end I was happy to be trapped in paradise rather than glued to my TV at home.

I recally that we both balled our eyes out when we got home at watched the fundraising concert for the families of the firefighters, police etc... I'll never forget Kevin Smith's 'New Jersey' short nor how freakin' excited and happy the crowd (all emergency personnel and family) to rock out to The Who.

[Clint Barton]

I was wondering if any NYorkers on here actually witnessed the buildings burn/fall (not on TV, but were actually eyewitness accounts)???

If so, I'd love to hear your stories....

[Shem the Penman]

In my office, just off Times Square. My wife (then fiancee) was working at 7 World Trade Center, and we talked about what was happening by IM until she said "The building is shaking, I have to get out."

I stayed in my office until about 1:00 hoping to hear from her again, but eventually decided to go home and see if she was there. Home was Queens, so I was planning to walk up to the 59th Street Bridge and go across, but I saw the subways were running, so I took one home instead (maybe not the wisest decision, but...)

Back home, I just stayed on the computer and monitored the news trying to find out what was happening. My apartment had a view of Manhattan, but all I could see was the huge column of dust and smoke.

My wife came home a few hours later, deeply shaken but unhurt.

[curefreak]

am i the only one who gets paranoid when they hear planes flying by since 9/11?

[Typo Lad]

Not the only one, but you should see someone about that.

[curefreak]

Not the only one, but you should see someone about that.
i dont know its not really that bad,
its not like i have a breakdown or nothing its just a slight paranoia but thank for you for being concerned.:)

[Typo Lad]

I'm not saying you're having a breakdown, but is is a form of anxiety that's easily treated. Why let it bother you?

That said, I once made the mistake of commenting "Gee,t hat planes flying kind of low," post 9/11.

I now know you Just Can't Say That.

[curefreak]

I'm not saying you're having a breakdown, but is is a form of anxiety that's easily treated. Why let it bother you?

That said, I once made the mistake of commenting "Gee,t hat planes flying kind of low," post 9/11.

I now know you Just Can't Say That.
ill be sure to mention it if i ever see my therapist again.

[frankiedetroit]

The night before, I had been covering Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden. I was pretty happy--I had gotten to interview all of his brothers [the Jackson Five, a group I adored as a little boy] and my sister had a huge crush on Jackie Jackson when she was little. I told him that, and he said 'Tell your sister I said hi.' When I relayed the message, she was as giddy as could be.

The next morning, as I was about to hop in the shower, the woman staying with me said 'A plane flew into the World Trade Center.' I didn't think much of it--certain it was a tiny commuter plane that had lost control--and said 'Aww, that's too bad.' Moments after I got out of the shower, she came to the door and, much more frantically, said, 'Another one just hit it.' I came out and we watched. The newscasters were pretty frantic. I knew had to hurry, imagining the subways would be really jammed up.

As I walked from my apartment, the sky was so beautifully blue. That's one thing people still comment on, how blue the sky was. But there was a trail of black smoke crossing through.

My train was held underground for two hours. By the time I got into Manhattan, the towers were gone and the two other planes had crashed. Manhattan felt like a small town that day--no traffic except police cars, everyone standing outside listening to radios. I had my press pass, so ventured as close to the towers as I could get, then stationed myself at St. Vincent's Hospital, waiting for injured survivors--but in that case, you either made it out alive relatively unscathed, or you died.

A colleague of mine, who lived downtown and ran to cover it immediately, hasn't recovered mentally from seeing people jump. She finally quit working as a reporter two months ago.

[Ontir]

The next day we saw a plane in the sky and got freaked out. But it was just a normal plane.

First, I have to say it's nice to see a 9th grader who reads comics!

This quote struck a chord with me. All the commercial air-traffic was grounded, but when the sound of a police chopper split the air, people, myself included, just froze. Among my fondest childhood memories, are my parents taking me, and later, my brother as well, over to Abbot's by the airport. We'd all get an custard, and then watch the jets take off and land. At that time, there were actual parking areas beside the airport's chain-link fence, where you could do that. To have something so beloved turned to a fear... well, I guess that's what terrorism is all about. The loss of safety and comfort in the familiar.

I flew this weekend, to and from Las Vegas, as well as taking a bus tour to the Hoover Dam. At the airport, I saw a woman leave her face, in a multitude of bottles and tubes, on a security table, and people nervously chugging the last of their beverages, before a TSA person barked at them, that it couldn't be brought in. Being looked over by security people, going across the dam. None of it is fun anymore. They've made our world a chore, and I despise them, al Quaeda, for that, as well.

[Kid Bushido]

I remember I was in 6th grade when I saw it in my school. All my teachers were nervous and horrified. I was calm but scared at the same time, while my classmates were all screaming and saying the world was gonna end and all that stuff, just for the sake of it. But the most traumatic thing was the second hit. I, as a child, had never seen those kind of things outside movies or books. It was very scary. At that moment I knew it wasnt an accident. I remember noticing that the explosion was too huge to have been provoked just by a plane. Well, we were given the rest of the day free, because some paranoid people actually thought the terrorists could target the Panama Canal. When I got home, I put the news immediately. I called my friends and we still couldnt believe it. Now I can. What I can't believe is how fast 5 years pass. Some time later a friend lent me the 9/11 Amazing Spider-Man issue, where Doom shed a tear and they acknowledged the firefighters and police officers as being the true heroes, and Spidey's fear and impotence...I was touched. That is one of the reasons I began reading comic books

[curefreak]

according to the "pathway to the 9/11" movie and from what ive seen on wikipedia john pretty much had his eye on the al qaida ball and if it wasnt the government higher -ups we probably would not even have had 9-11 or osama problem.

but my question is why didnt anyone listen to the man? from the movie it seems noone really had the balls to make the order to take him or execute him,
but according to wikipedia he was very abrasive
and that was his problem with getting things done.
im not sure wich is the truth but it just seems like we never really took osama's threats seriously enough even tho he had already proved what he was capable of many times before.
i can somewhat understand if he hadnt already been behind the first world trade center attack i could understand people thinking he was full of it but jeez its like we were almost asking for it in some ways it seems by constantly not taking his threats seriously enough to warrant doing anything to him.


anyways thats my rant after seeing the movie discuss at will just please keep pleasant.:)

[curefreak]

grrr where is everyone?:mad:

[Typo Lad]

grrr where is everyone?:mad:
We've all moved on. THe healthy thing to do after a tragedy.

No offence.

[king mob]

Also the Path to 9/11 was several hours of my life i will never, ever get back.

[curefreak]

We've all moved on. THe healthy thing to do after a tragedy.

No offence.
im talking about the show not the actual 9-11 incident. and its hard to move on when its all over the tv .

[Typo Lad]

and its hard to move on when its all over the tv .

Yep. That's why I kept my radio off and was glad the Cable guy flaked on doing the install.

[curefreak]

Yep. That's why I kept my radio off and was glad the Cable guy flaked on doing the install.
i tried to ignore it i really did but i got weak.

[Typo Lad]

i tried to ignore it i really did but i got weak.
I feel for you.

[curefreak]

I feel for you.
thank you.

[Cyke]

I remember waking up to my alarm clock that morning. The alarm was set to radio, so I heard two DJs talking about how a plane hit one of the towers. My mind immediately went back to when a small biplane hitting the White House lawn a few years prior, so I immediately assumed that it was the same thing. And since it was a small biplane, I just thought no one else would be hurt but the deranged pilot, and rightfully so.

On my way to school that morning, my mom offered to pick me up and give me a ride to campus. I thought, oh, why not... but in the car, that's when she told me about what really happened, how they were giant passenger jets, and how one of the towers collapsed.

My school, the University of Illinois at Chicago, is located close to the downtown area; if you look at the northeast sky from the school, you can see the magnificent Chicago skyline. I tried, for the life of me, to superimpose images of a skyscraper collapsing in my mind, against the backdrop of that legendary skyline. I couldn't picture it in my head, though. The scale was just too much for me to handle.

Later on that day, at the Wizardworld boards (back when they were still up), one of the posters later joked that the Sears Tower was also hit. She was immediately shouted down by the other posters, but I couldn't help but wonder if she made that joke if only to lighten the mood. Regardless, I quoted her simply to reassure everyone that, no, the Sears Tower wasn't hit. Typing that post made me wonder, though, how much humor does it take to mask this much pain?

For a few days, I was sort of numb. The whole scale of the attacks and the damage and the giant dust clouds were almost cosmic in scale, so much so that I didn't know how to handle any reaction to it, so I suppose that I was hit with non-reaction. Of course, I was feeling uber-patriotic, and like others, I really wanted to do whatever I could to help, like donate blood (something that I kept putting off, possibly due to my non-reaction).

However, one night, the news media started replaying the scenes when the jets hit the towers... complete with audio from bystanders and witnesses on the ground. A woman, whose face wasn't seen but her voice clearly audible, shouted out, "OH MY GOD!!!" with a kind of sincere, frantic, and tearful panic that only the best of actors can ever hope to achieve. It was that voice, a voice that immediately made me picture a woman sobbing hysterically one second after the crash, that made me realize the full scope of the attacks. Right there, in my living room, I burst into tears, crying as hysterically as I thought that annonymous woman would if she were in front of me.

It was a good kind of crying. I needed that sort of release. It taught me that, contrary to popular belief, it's okay to cry. It's okay to cope like that; any way to get through the day. Immediately, I phoned a few friends, venting my frustrations and trying to seek any kind of comfort that they could offer, because that's when I felt lonely and concerned. I spoke of my uncle, who worked in downtown NYC, and I was gravely concerned for his safety. I learned that my aunt, his wife, could drive down the normally-horrifically-congested expressways, reaching Manhattan from Queens in mere minutes, because she was a nurse and only rescue workers were allowed to drive them; it must've been a nice perk, I thought, to see the expressways in a new light, to be able to drive faster than the speed limit since there'd be no congestion at 9 am for a change. I thought about their children, wondering how this event would shape their otherwise carefree lives. But through it all, I kept thinking and thinking, my mind speaking to itself, if only to try and calm myself down.

My NYC family were all okay. In 2002, my own family and the NYC family went to Ground Zero, and I saw my uncle's eyes tear up; I'd never seen that happen before to such a jovial, stoic, yet popular man as my uncle. Life went on for everyone, as was expected, but seeing him cry gave me yet another perspective, a way to frame the whole attack. Even the strongest of us cry, and with Ground Zero right in front of me, with my uncle silently weeping and praying, my mind started to get a true, firm grasp of the whole situation, one year later after that fateful day.