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Never Forget. 09/11/2001

tr1age

tr1age

Administrator
Staff member
It's like my mind knows.. every year it knows. Getting the call from my mother to turn on the TV, ignoring the fire engines because it was normal for where I lived, looking out the window to confirm what I saw on the television when I turned it on, waiting for the pot head fuck ups to get baked before leaving the apartment/dorm toward to promenade, seeing droves and droves of "white people" racing the other way over the bridge, unable to see infront of us anymore, hearing, "It fell" all around us, moving to a new place, alone without the dipshits I lived with to get a better view, the sounds of metal cracking, the visual of beams flying upward as they fell down, not sure how to respond, not sure what to think, cried, didn't cry, walked back, watched it on the TV for 3 days... The whole city got a case of ptsd that day, we just didn't know it. I refuse to turn on the TV today, I refuse to listen to the news. I have relived it many times since that day, and now I just look at the freedom tower from my window, thankful and understanding. But why I need to see the damn replay over and over for the shock value is beyond me. SO I won't. I will just remember. In my own way.
 
I was at college, getting ready for my first class when I saw my roommate watching the news. Smoke just pouring out of the tower. Then the second plane hit. I thought it was a movie. It's fortunate that classes were cancelled because I don't think I moved for an hour or more.

The tragedy was horrific, but we recover and rise above it. Here's the proof:

freedom_tower.jpg
 
Freshman in highschool. Sitting in the back corner of science class with Mr. Testa. I barely even remember the other classes I took in all of HS, but I will always remember his name and the look of that classroom when we heard it on the PA system and turned on the television. That initial confusion that eventually lead to fear and panic, with a hint of depression and helplessness, only to eventually be turned to pride, respect, and admiration for those working hard to protect the innocence that once existed.
 
The creepy part is school for us wasn't canceled. We thought they could put the fires out. My mother told me not to go.
 
I was young the time it happened but I do remember the teachers making a huge fuss about the whole thing, with all of us students rooted in to our desk without a clue of what was going on.
 
I was home from school, youngish, at the time i didn't care about news or politics or anything. I was in my own little bubble. I never really understood the significance of what really happened until slowly one by one my friends enlisted in the army. I look back now and it doesn't seem like 12 years, it feels like 12 months.
 
I was in 4th grade waiting for school to start, (I lived in Southern California at the time) I heard some others talking about something on the news but I was clueless about it until my teacher told us all. When I went home my parents were watching the news and that's when I saw the footage. I'll never forget.
 
I had just gotten laid off in the dot com crash, so I was home playing Asheron's Call with my EU buddies... suddenly one of them said, Lis.. you better go turn on your TV. I was completely immobile for hours.. then realized I needed to be around people. Apparently, I was not alone, as a big crowd of folks ended up at a local bar in the middle of the afternoon, huddled around the TVs together crying. I can't believe it has been that long. I never really understood what NYers were going though, until the bombing here in Boston, with my husband downtown — not knowing what was happening.

First responders are absolutely the most amazing people... and I celebrate them today, while looking back with sadness.
 
I was in high school. My teachers had picked that morning to go on strike. Of all days? It was an interesting day, different classes in the morning because of a lack of lay teachers. When it began, we were called to the auditorium and addressed together by the principal. At this point no one knew how bad it would be or would get, but there was a line of people outside the administration offices trying to get in touch with parents in the city. My uncle had been working right next door to the WTC at the time, but was out of the city. The teachers had cancelled their strike because of it by lunch time. I didn't realize the scope of the tragedy until we were sent home early. I got home as my father was racing out the door because all emergency service agencies called everyone in on alert. Im not sure people understand how crazy it was. I found out later that we had people from MY agency guarding a bridge in DELAWARE.

Ill never forget that night though. My father left and I was home alone. There was no homework to be done and no one was in any mood to do anything but talk to each other. I spent the whole night with the TV on in the background, while I just talked through it with my friends from school and mainly my cousin Katie(yes same one from here). I don't think I stopped until the wee hours and was too tired for anything. The one piercing detail I will never forget is the silence. It was dead quiet that night. Half the TV channels were dead. There was no regular train to be heard in the distance, no cars on the road, not even ambient sounds outside. it was like the Earth in NY just knew.

Later in life, once I ended up in the job I do, I was treated to the stories of my co-workers who helped down at the site. Those first-hand accounts, like that night are something I will never forget....
 
I was riding the bus to school my sophomore year when it happened. I had on huge over ear headphones, I was blaring system of a downs first album. I could hear nothing but the music. I saw the bus driver and all the students freaking out around me, so I decided to lift the headphones. All I heard on the radio was something about the oklahoma bombing, apparently making a comparison however at the time I just didn't care and wondered why they were replaying something so old. My mistake. When we finally got to school I went to my class as per normal and finally, there, the teacher had on the tv and news and I got the first look at what happened. The second tower had just been hit and there was smoke and horror everywhere. The class just sat in silence as the broadcast came. The whole day at achool was nothing but the news, sitting there watching and looking for some kind of hope. Even as far away as we were from it, it still heavily affected everyone.
 
Malisent said:
I never really understood what NYers were going though, until the bombing here in Boston, with my husband downtown — not knowing what was happening.
Click to expand...
As a guy who was at the Sox Game that day, heading to the finishing line only 2 stops away when it happened (heading towards the scene), it's another thing I will just never forget... The feeling of literal shock. Calling loved ones to make sure they knew I wasn't there yet when it happened. Not understanding what's really happening....

Gyah... Makes me feel weird just thinking about it...
 
Pretty sure I was in grade 8 French class maybe when we heard the news on the announcement system from the principal.
 
I was in 2nd grade, which means I don't remember anything except that I got to go home for the day.
My mom works in the school system and apparently they're still showing the same exact memorial video they've been showing for the past I dunno at least 8 years. 'cept the kids she works with (5th and 6th graders) are 10 and 11 now - they weren't even alive. Hammers home the fact that for some people there's no such thing as pre-9/11.
 
Today at orientation we actually had the nurse in charge of disaster relief speak to us and she was working in the E.D. on 9/11/01.. wonder if they did that on purpose. She walked us through what it was like that day (for those that don't know I am working at the largest hospital campus in NYC which received many of the victims). It was definitely a sobering experience on the anniversary of the attacks. I lived just upstate when it happened and I knew a lot of people that lost loved ones to the attack. Really awful day, no doubt. I agree with Tristan, I avoid watching the media whore the event on every station in favor of doing my own reflection.
 
I was in high school and our "homeroom" teacher had the TV turned on when it was all happening. Cell phones were typically discouraged at my school, but our teacher let us call our parents if we wanted to. Since I was in Texas, we were far from the events, but it was a nice gesture for those who had friends/loved ones in the NYC area.

Thinking about today reminds me of Hurricane Katrina, since that was the closest experience I have to a disaster. I remember being a volunteer in the Astrodome when all of the evacuees came to Houston for shelter and refuge. I was helping people get their prescriptions filled at the Walgreens that set up shop... it was definitely something I will never forget.
 
I was on my way to work doing construction hanging drywall. As I did every day I was listening to Howard Stern on the car radio when he broke in to his own broadcast (I am on a 3 hr time delay from the live show being in AZ) to report live to all the stations he covers. When I got to the job site everyone had their radios tuned to news stations while we worked. I put in a full 8 hrs in 100 degree weather listening to the tragedy while hanging drywall. When I got home I finally got to see replays of everything on tv. It was a shitty day all around and there was nothing I could do.
 
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