What were you doing when 911 happened

[mussa]

God bless those who lost lives 4 years ago, it seems like only yesterday.  I remember i was playing hide the salami with my ex that morning while i was in college.  i got up out of bed and my roomate was like dude you gotta see this.  i saw the tv and the first tower fell.  i couldn't believe my eyes.  then the other fell.  then the pentagon.  living in a philly at the time was alittle un-nerving, knowing we are smack in the middle of everything and the place where our country was born.  i just remember feelings of confusion, frustration, and anger.  i remember calling my mom and she was crying.  i called my dad and he was out working and didn't know at the time.  i didn't know anyone who lived or worked in NYC or the pentagon at the time so am fortunate not of lost anybody.  the days that followed were very anxious.  i remember looking up at the sky and not seeing the planes that come in and out of philly.  i remember only hearing fighter jets.  i remember friends who were really scared that something else might happen, the entire city seemed to be waiting for the something to happen.  it was definetly a reality check for americans.  lets just hope our leaders are still focused on protecting us and not protecting others.   rest in peace to all that lost lives that day. 

[SD_Eagle5]

I was listening to Stern that morning, he's on a tape delay out here and didn't have any commercial breaks, so I had no idea what was happening. I walk into work and one of my co-workers says "Man, that's some farged up shtein". Didn't know what he was talking about until he explained it to me.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I was at work in Frazer/West Chester, PA.  At the time, I worked in a team room with a good friend and fellow co-worker.  He was surfing the net, and said something to the effect of "Dude, some drunken idiot crashed into one of the twin towers."  We laughed it off, but decided to see if we could get the TV in there to work.  It was a little fuzzy, but we got some sort of news channel.  Our emotions changed swiftly as we watched the 2nd plane crash into the 2nd tower on live TV.  Then, we watched them fall.  We didn't get to lunch until 2 PM or so, and we just sat there with glazed eyes in disbelief.

[Geowhizzer]

The first I heard about it was a student in my 4th period class (probably around 10:30 am) who apparently had been allowed to watch some of the coverage) walked into my classroom and said "Did you hear that a plane flew into the World Trade Center?"  I told the student to sit down, as he came in and said something stupid EVERY day.  But my mind was trying to turn over what he said, as he probably had never heard of the WTC before that day.  I, much like FF, chalked it up to some drunk idiot flying some small plane into the building.

That was my lunch class, so we went down to the cafeteria shortly thereafter.  A few of the teachers were already there talking about it.  It was there that I found out that there was a second plane hitting the other tower.  I said "Oh shtein," because I knew at that point that this had been no accident.

My principal had sent out an e-mail telling teachers to NOT let the students watch any of the coverage, and to tell them as little as possible about what happened.  Of course, by that time the cat was out of the bag, and the students were asking questions about it.  They were understandably freightened, and were worried about their parents, siblings, and whether we would be attacked as well. 

I didn't see any TV coverage until my planning period (which was the 6th of 7 classes in our schedule).  By then, both towers had already collapsed, and there was a lot of re-showing of the planes hitting the buildings and or the collapse of the two buildings.  But, this was the first I had seen it for myself, and I suppose that my reaction was the same as most Americans:  shock, disbelief, all the normal emotions one would expect.

After about 10 minutes of that, I went down to the office to see what I could do to help.  I work at a middle school of roughly 1,000 students, and probably a full third of the students were picked up from school early by parents who wanted their children with them, knowing they were safe.  There were a few students at the office, completely in tears, asking if we were going to be attacked next.  I tried to explain how New York is over a thousand miles away, and that Ft. Myers was not a target that would be high on anyone's list to attack (not daring to mention that we're only a few hours from DisneyWorld, Tampa and Miami).  The cars were lined up over a mile from the school, which had gone into "lock-down" mode:  our gates were locked, and parents had to provide an ID, the name of their child, and the reason they were picking up the student before being allowed on campus- our School Resource Officer (in Florida, the SRO is supplied by the Sheriff's department and is a full-fledged officer, not just a rent-a-cop like I had in high school at Downingtown) was checking everyone before being allowed in.  Fortunately, most of the parents, though a bit frustrated by the time, were understanding and grateful that we were being so careful and security-conscious.

Back in class for the last period, we had a school-wide announcement over the short-circuit television where our Assistant Principal talked a bit about what had happened.  The district also sent home a letter detailing what we had done to make certain that our schools and students were secure.  Of course, the students asked all sorts of questions, the foremost of which was "Who did this?"  I had been following the story enough to know that Al Qaeda was claiming responsibility, and told the kids to be looking for Osama Bin Laden as a name that would be coming up.  On a personal note, when I turned out to be right, it made me look that much smarter in my students' eyes.  They believed pretty much anything I said the rest of that year (which is a scary proposition!).

Once I got home from school (obviously all after-school programs were cancelled) around 4pm, my wife and I turned on the TV and watched a bunch of the coverage.  We both prayed for those that had died, for their families, and for George Bush and the national and local leaders that would have to decide how to react to the attack.  My wife cried, and I can remember alternating between wanting to cry (which I never could) and nearly shaking in anger.  It was one of those seminal moments in one's life, one that we will never forget (my mother still knows where she was when she heard of Kennedy's death, and my grandparents often spoke of hearing about Pearl Harbor), no matter how much we actually may WANT to forget it.  In the weeks that followed, I can remember discussing with my class about those moments, about how their children will see 9-11 as a historical event- something that happened sometime, but with no emtional attachment- while for us, this event even 30 years down the road will still have raw emotions for many that were there to witness it.

I wonder how my outlook would have been different now that I am a father (I was not when 9-11 occurred).  My wife and I were actually talking about starting our family soon (since we were both 30 at that point), and for a while after 9-11 I told her I did not want to bring a child into this world.  Of course, now that my son is there, there is nothing else.  I just wonder how my reactions would have been different with my new perspective on life.

Sorry about the book- my free association got a bit carried away.

[Diomedes]

I was working in a building at 33rd and Park Ave.  What a lousy day that was.

All the coverage makes me sick.  What about all the innocent Iraqis we've killed, easily ten fold 9/11?  Are we going to read each of their names every goddamned year?  It's a round world, people.  Our dead are no more important than theirs.

[PhillyGirl]

I was not working that day and was home and turned on the TV to watch SportsCenter. The TV had been left on ABC the night before so when I turned it on, the first thing I saw was the first tower on fire. I sat there, completely unable to blink or move for I think an hour? I'm not sure if I called MURP, but I know he left work early, at some point in the day, and came back and we spent all day watching it unfold.

It wasn't until a few hours after I turned on the TV that I remembered that my sister lived/worked (at the time) close to the WTC, and I flipped out. I called my sister and couldn't get through (all circuits busy) for hours and then finally called my mom and she said that they were still waiting to hear from her. I have never been so terrified in my life. My mom finally called and said that my sister had been evacuated from her building and was fine.

I, too, remember the fighter jets that flew over Philly. Scary as shtein. I think it took over a year before I didnt' look up for a low flying airplane and get scared.

RIP to those who perished on 9/11/01 in the WTC, Pentagon and Flight 93.

[General_Failure]

[JTrotter Fan]

I was working in a building at 33rd and Park Ave.  What a lousy day that was.

All the coverage makes me sick.  What about all the innocent Iraqis we've killed, easily ten fold 9/11?  Are we going to read each of their names every goddamned year?  It's a round world, people.  Our dead are no more important than theirs.

I know you aren't serious because if you are...that is just plain fargin stupid for you to say. 

[mussa]

no hes serious, come on now waco u've been around here long enough to know that.  dios with the terrorists.   

[Butchers Bill]

I was working in a building at 33rd and Park Ave.  What a lousy day that was.

All the coverage makes me sick.  What about all the innocent Iraqis we've killed, easily ten fold 9/11?  Are we going to read each of their names every goddamned year?  It's a round world, people.  Our dead are no more important than theirs.

I know you aren't serious because if you are...that is just plain fargin stupid for you to say. 

Yeah, unfortunately he is serious and I agree with you.

I was working on a trade desk that day, and it had been a normal morning.  Our phones basically rang non-stop from 8:30 to 5, and when the first plane hit, the phones just stopped.  We didn't know about the attacks for another minute or so, we just thought our phones went out.  We did a lot of our trading through Cantor and one of the guys was actually on the phone with one of their brokers when it happened...line just went dead. 

What I remember the most was this guy next to me...his wife worked in the WTC.  Watching him desperately try to reach her for the next 45 minutes has heart-wrenching, as he had just told us a couple weeks before they were expecting their first child.  She was not in the first tower that got hit and was able to get out fine, but watching a friend go through that was tough.

[JTrotter Fan]

no hes serious, come on now waco u've been around here long enough to know that.  dios with the terrorists.   

I was basically just trying to fool myself into thinking he wasn't serious.  You're right...i should've known.

[Zanshin]

I was at work, at Prudential at the time, in Newark, NJ-- the buliding that turned out to be an original target.  Didn't know that at the time obviously.  Someone stopped by my office when it seemed to be a freak thing...until the second plane hit.  My brother was a commodoties trader on the Merc, and I was trying to get ahold of him.  Took me hours and hours to get ahold of him.  Some of his friends didn't make it....luckily, he did.

[LBIggle]

I was working in a building at 33rd and Park Ave.  What a lousy day that was.

All the coverage makes me sick.  What about all the innocent Iraqis we've killed, easily ten fold 9/11?  Are we going to read each of their names every goddamned year?  It's a round world, people.  Our dead are no more important than theirs.

two of the biggest office buildings getting taken down by hi-jackers. thousands of clueless employees, tourists etc.. die because some farging rag-head has a bone to pick.

iraqis accidently die on the road to their freedom.  probably had a good chance of getting kidnapped, tourtured, or killed for whatever reason.


almost a shame no one u knew died in the attacks.  you might change your tune a little bit.

one persons life isn't worth more then another obviously, but having a little sympathy in the way or reason somebody dies wouldn't kill you. your not in iraq after all. you have some freedoms.

[General_Failure]

Which means he's free to feel however he wants about news coverage.

[JTrotter Fan]

He didn't have to post it.