It has been three years now since the attacks on our country. This anniversary has been quite noticeably less covered. Perhaps it was the fact that it fell on Saturday, or maybe another year makes it fade a little more. However, there is very little coverage compared to last year, and a bigger indication is people that I came across today. I don't think anyone was even mentioning it all morning long. Even radio talk show host (usally the B-list on this off day) weren't even all touching on the subject.
True we must all move on, but surely we should never forget what happened on it. Maybe are all 9/11 ed out since it's a hot issue this election year. It would be nice if you my readers could use their comments section to post where they were and what they were doing the morning of 9/11/01.
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On 9/11 I was at home watching Tv and surfing the web. I had gotten back from work and was still in my work clothes. When I had flipped through the channels, I saw a special news break. Smoke was pouring out of the first tower, and I heard the reports of possibly a plane crashed into it. My first reaction was, "Wow, that sucks, the place is on fire." Very low key, not too much "sky is falling" mentality. Remembering a fire from Phily that was serious, it caused alot of damage and was put out after a couple hours, I put it out of my mind. However, there was alot of smoke and everybody was covering it, so I went upstairs to tell my Grandmom about it. I told her that one of the Twin Towers was on fire, it was on the news now. After a min or two on the couch watching as lots of smoke billowed out over a calm, clear, New York. I saw live the impact of the second plane, into the second tower. This set off every "oh shit" switch my brain had. Then as replay after replay, from every angle any news agency had I watched and rewatched airplane goes in, flame and smoke go out. Sitting on a couch, I watched. Watched as a third plane gouged a side of the pentagon out. (this year i did a "oh yeah they crashed into the pentagon too", I forgot untill I wrote this) Sitting on a couch, I heard about reports of a FOURTH plane crashing into a field outside of Pittsburg. And finally, sitting on a couch, I watched as the Twin Towers collapsed, one after another. I watched as a titanic wave of dust and smoke swept down the street, paniced people ran from browish gray wall of debris. People rushed into shops and watched as blew down the street. I watched from a couch as dust covered everything.
Time heals all wounds, memories fade, details blur. I had forgotten about 9/11 untill I saw the paper, I had forgotten the Pentagon, untill I wrote this, but more importantly I had forgotten the emotions I had on that day. Disbelief, shock, horror, amazement, and awe were some of the gamut I ran through, all on my couch. "Never forget", is more than a mantra to remember the day and what happened, it also applies to the emotions we felt. Keith, you have done me a big favor, thank you very much.
Tom T
By Ed Greene
That morning I had been at home in my room studying for about an hour when I went downstairs to make some tea. I turned on CNN and saw smoke comming frome one of the towers. I don't know weather the second attack had happened or not but I thought that it had been a small private craft. It took me at least ten minutes to discover the magnitude of the attack. I remember feeling nautious while watching the first tower collapse. I prayed silently hopping that the other one would survive. I remember being horribly shaken, watching the second tower go down. For the rest of the day I watched the tv in awe, trying to grasp the magnitude of what had happened.
I think I told my story of the day on here once but I will briefly explain where I was. It was a time when I worked at Sears 930-2pm then went to class. I was getting reader for work when it happened. At first I thought it was just a fire. They were rumors of a plane hitting the building but I thought people were just being paranoid.
Then I saw an explosion my eyes were focused on the tower I didn't even see the 2nd plane (heck the channel may not even had that angle live), but it was replayed in mere seconds. I was like in shock..should I still go to work? What was happening?
I had Howard Stern on the radio on the short trip and my heart sunk when I heard him say this is war. When I made into the Sears building I was going to demand a TV be hooked up to a live feed, but someone beat me to the punch. I watched it on a big screen TV.
After the first tower fell, for some reason I thought to myself that there isn't anyway BOTH towers would fall, and that it was bad enough that one fell. Then the 2nd one fell the whole time I was shouting up to the co-workers at the front of the store.
Sears OUtlet didn't close that day, and I almost got told to get to work and stop watching TV. That really made me start to hate that place.
Well, I just don't want this date on the calendar to lose meaning. Its bad enough our generation looks at the date of Pearl Harbor and at best goes..hmmm...that was today,huh? This is something we lived through and its our duty to pass on what it was like to the next generation.
I have the 9/11 video that the two french filmmakers made (who were just trying to make a doucmentary about firman and got in the smack in the middle of the hell) and that as close to reliving the day as you can get. One day when he is old enough I will have my nephew watch it.
Speaking for myself, I don't need news coverage to remind me of what happened on September 11, 2001. No one said anything to me about 9/11 all day. When I was channel flipping earlier in the day, I came across some documentary about it which I didn't watch, and that's about it.
I don't think anyone who was aware of 9/11 is ever going to forget it. I remember with vivid detail the morning of 9/11, and what I did and how I felt the rest of that day. I'm not ever going to forget it, whether or not there's an annual orgy of news coverage. To be frank, I was bothered by the intense level of coverage in 2002, relieved by the lessened coverage in 2003, and grateful for the still lessened coverage this year.
Well most people dont even recall us being attacked in 1993. Its kinda of strange how obvious it was we were going to be hit again since they tried to destroy the towers once.
I was at work, on the phone with a prospect from CT, reassuring her that it was an accident and nothing would come of it when the second plan hit. It was a live feed from our financial network. I walk outside my office, up on a hill, I could see the buildings burning, and the smoke. I know/knew a lot of people that worked in and around those building. Friends and business contact. Then our phones went dead. Our telephone exchanges were in the towers. The worst part of the day was trying to get in touch with the people I know in the city. Cell phone lines jammed, no land lines. Walking outside an seeing fighter planes roar overhead. And then the dead silence in the air following the attacks. I will never forget that day, even though I want to.
-Brant
I was at work while I was away at school and a radio bulletin broke through the music and we all weren't paying attention to it until we realized heard the guy yelling that the second plane had just hit. It was really quiet that day at work seeing as everyone else was home glued to their TV sets. I'll never forget the one customer I had that said, "It sounds like something bad is happening on the radio." This is when reality set in for me because I told her that she needed to go home and turn on her TV because there was no more World Trade Center and that it was a lot worse then something bad happening on the radio, and I realized I hadn't even seen what was happening. I had only heard about it. I didn't see what actually happened until about 4:00 that day because my boss wanted me to stay at work. When I did see it, like the rest of the country I cried.
I think I had tears in my eyes when the 2nd tower fell. Kamika an ex-coworker thought I was being "stupid".
She said something to this effect.
"Ain't nobody care about dat, Aint like bombs are falling on burnt mill road. Why are you so upset? " followed by laughter.
I wanted to punch her in the face. Its amazing how dumb people can actually be.
Thanks so far for everyone commenting on here. Will be nice to have a written record of this to be on here for years.
I went out to Michigan shortly after 9/11. It was an ordeal. To residents of Michigan, it was just a news broadcast, they didn't seem to understand that it was real life to me. They asked a lot of questions that I thought were a little inappropriate. I finally snapped on a poor sales girl. She asked for my zip code after I bought something. I told her and she asked where that was, and I told her. She then preceeded to ask me if I knew anyone that died. I went on a tirade about how this is my life, I live it while she watched it on TV, and how dare she ask such a question. I mean, I didn't ask her if it was fun working a minimum wage job while trying to support her hick family. Maybe I over reacted but that was the whole trip.
-Brant
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