9/11 - has it really been 10 years?

edited September 2011 in General Discussion Posts: 2,782
i know exactly what I was doing when the first news and images came through. I was creating some god awful campaign for a train company. We went down to reception and watched events unfold. I don't believe the creative dept blinked for hours watching the horror.

The loss of innocent life was truly shocking and the subversion of one of the world's greatest religions was sickening.

What are your memories and feelings ten years on*?

My heart really truly goes out to the victims and their families.

My concern is for the loss of liberties and the fear in the world brought on by both sides. We will never be the same.


















*J7Wild. Take it easy.


Comments

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited September 2011 Posts: 15,686
    I remember very well. I was in 5th grade at École Élementaire Joseph-Dugas in Clare, Nova Scotia. Went to school that morning, and at about 9:50AM (1 hour later in Nova Scotia than in New York) the principal, entered the classroom and alerted my teacher. I couldn't hear what he told her, but I remember exactly the hand gesture he made, showing a plane hiting a building. It wasn't until 2:50PM when I got home that I saw the telly and understood what had happened. I didn't blink one moment or move a muscle for the rest of the day. We all talked about it in school the following morning.
  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823
    I hear the first responders who were there on 9/11 are not invited to the 10th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero because there is not enough room for both them and the fat politicians and Obama!!

    Well, if God Forbid, there is an attack again on Ground Zero this Sunday, I suggest those same first responders who were asked to stay away should stay away and not run to the scene!!

    Let them die!!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694

    Let them die!!
    Don't be vulgar and sadistic. Have some care for what those people went through.
  • edited September 2011 Posts: 7,653
    In ten years time Osama and his band of religious nuts achieved more with one single coordinated attack on the US than the US and their allies have done in their retaliations. That stupid war on Terrorism is almost bankrupting the Western world.

    The rescuers on that day almost 10 years ago did a splendid job. There cannot be enough praise heaped upon their shoulders. IMHO of course.

    If Obama would stay away tommorrow as President of the US people would be angry with him, if he comes they are angry. Whatever he does the Republicans seem to oppose the man which seems to be really bad and stupid for the decision making in the US. A shame really because the current economic climate does need a united stand to be solved.
  • WillardWhyteWillardWhyte Midnight Society #ProjectMoon
    Posts: 784
    I remember it well. I was sitting in English class when the loud speaker came on explaining what had happened. For the rest of the school day we were all glued to the TV, in complete shock. What a horrible day for this country. I live in New York state but about 4 hours from the city. I can remember seeing some of the dust cloud floating by in the days following. It was truly disgusting to think what had happened. I pray for all those men and women who lost their lives that day, and I hope that those first responders are doing ok.

    Republicans and Democrats are just as stupid as the other. I wish politics could be used for the better of the country, but lets be honest..it will never happen. If only the founding fathers could see this mess.

  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823

    Let them die!!
    Don't be vulgar and sadistic. Have some care for what those people went through.
    I meant the politicians who are going to be at the 9/11 ceremony.

    They won't let the first responders who were on the scene at 9/11, many of them died and many of them now have permanent health problems, be at the 9/11 10th year ceremony because there is no room for them!

    That is just not right!!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    That's the country is which we live @j7wild. A bunch of walking jokes in high echelon government seats. 15% pedophilic, sexually disturbed ingrates, the rest of the 85% a mix of puppeteering string pullers, yay or nayers', some who actually do their job(most die), ex-military ruffians, and those who are only there for the money and the chance to move-up in rank and continue the @#$ kissing if they're good boys and girls. Sickening but true.
  • nick_007nick_007 Ville Marie
    Posts: 443
    Grade 6.

    The staff told us nothing about the attacks. They did not want to alarm us. However, as lunch time came, some kids went home to eat while others ate in the cafeteria. Those who returned from lunch at home knew the truth.

    The thing is rumours were flying and there was no way to tell what really happened.

    I was playing Dodgeball (I think) when one of the kids I knew ran up to me and screamed "DID YOU HEAR? THERE ARE ATTACKS EVERYWHERE!"

    Then I heard another say "World War III just started"

    Took a while before I got the story straight but I won't ever forget what I saw on the TV when I got home.

    My late Grandfather was the one to tell everyone in my family that morning.

    Sometime later I remember him taking me aside and talking to me about the events. It was the first time I'd really seen his true feelings on war. September 11th must have sparked something in him. I suppose it was the first time he'd felt some things since Mussolini sent him out to an almost certain death all those decades ago. He looked so concerned. Seemed like September 11th hit him harder than anyone else in my family.
    I remember very well. I was in 5th grade at École Élementaire Joseph-Dugas in Clare, Nova Scotia.
    Are you Acadien, DC007?

  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823
    so what I was saying is since they are not inviting the first responders to attend, if God Forbids there is another attack this September 11th, then I think the first responders should stay away and not respond

    "what comes around goes around"

    "do undo others..."

    etc etc
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    I remember very well. I was in 5th grade at École Élementaire Joseph-Dugas in Clare, Nova Scotia.
    Are you Acadien, DC007?
    Yep.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,567
    I remember it because it was my birthday. I was driving my wife to the shops and I actually said to her that nothing ever happens on my birthday. Coming home we stopped off at my mum's for a cup of tea and she told us. Something most definitely had happened on my birthday.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I remember it because it was my birthday. I was driving my wife to the shops and I actually said to her that nothing ever happens on my birthday. Coming home we stopped off at my mum's for a cup of tea and she told us. Something most definitely had happened on my birthday.
    Wow. Chilling.

  • Posts: 5,774
    I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news. I was coming home from an appointment at the dentist, who had just capped one of my teeth (and it hurt like hell). I decided that before I got home, I would buy some last minute groceries at the nearby store. The radio was on in the store, but curiously, instead of a music channel, it was on a news channel, and there was much discussion about something. I heard the words "terrorist attack", "World Trade Center", "Pentagon". And I thought to myself: "What the duck is going on?" (except that I didn't use the word duck, as you probably guessed). I paid for my groceries, went home, and put the TV on CNN, and I swear I didn't move from my couch for two to three straight hours, watching the towers being hit and falling time and time again. Still today, no words can convey the feelings I got watching al that horrifying footage.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited September 2011 Posts: 13,350
    I remember it because it was my birthday. I was driving my wife to the shops and I actually said to her that nothing ever happens on my birthday. Coming home we stopped off at my mum's for a cup of tea and she told us. Something most definitely had happened on my birthday.
    Wow. Chilling.

    The 11th is my Dad's birthday as well. How strange is that? Indeed it was rather odd for me, handing out presents watching the events being replayed on TV...
  • Posts: 136
    Sept 11th is my birthday too. 2001 was my 23rd, I met my friends in the pub that night and we watched the news. I grew up listening to my dad's generation say they remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. I remember driving through Sheffield listening to the news break and then get steadily worse. I didn't get the full picture till I got home from work.
  • I was 18- just getting up to go to work (back then it was Best Buy)- my sister had instant messaged me something about 'did you hear about the terrorists attacking the WTC??'
    Well I GROSSLY underestimated / misunderstood and thought she meant they had physically 'walked in' like with guns or something. I distinctly remember thinking to myself 'well I'm sure they will get their asses kicked' and went on to work, all the while not knowing what had really gone down!
    In fact I made it ALL the way to work and the store was totally closed down and the manager was just locking up and about to head home himself. I said 'what's going on?' and he was like 'dude do you not have a TV???'
    Sure enough, as I drove home, the roads were PACKED with 1000's of people doing the same thing.
    The rest of the day I was glued to the TV

    I also remember being pretty scared too- what with the WTC and the Pentagon, and the final plane that was ultimately taken down by its own heroic passengers, all day long I was on edge- like what if there's MORE coming??
  • edited September 2011 Posts: 5,634
    Where I was or where I'll be is largely irrelevant I do feel.

    Nothing can change the events of what happened that fateful morning or bring back the loved ones of the families involved, it was an attack of epic proportions that caught not only this country but the world as a whole unaware, the event left a sizeable void in peoples everyday lives and even back now or at the time you sometimes imagine it was a dream or nothing took place but sadly it was very much a flesh and blood reality, and as hard as it may be, people have to carry on

    To state the obvious it was a horrific episode and a heinous crime by those who orchestrated the events and all kinds of (bullshit) conspiracy theories have been put forward from the US Goverment was behind it in an excuse to attack the Middle East to that no planes at all were used and were digitally added and it was a controlled demolition using explosives.

    I'm not a theorist in such or any areas in general so I want to keep it short, except to say I'm firmly behind the realization that passenger planes were hijacked by an outside element and forced into their targets with devastating consequences.

    Subsequently, an attack was launched on the middle east that has been ongoing for the best part of a decade, Bin Laden, guilty or otherwise had finally been taken out but has it really solved anything apart from more cost of lives?

    I'll be in my own place at time of anniversary and will remember, as hard as it may be for some, the moment that many peoples lived were changed forever.

    My thoughts to all the families involved and relevant personnel this weekend











  • I was at work and a co-worker came in and said, with a smile on his face(!) "Did you hear? Some idiot crashed a plane into the World Trade Centre!". He had just caught the first report on the radio as he pulled in to work and assumed that it was a small plane like a Cessna (there were no details at the time). I told him about the plane that crashed into the Empire State Building in the 40's and we assumed that a small plane got lost in heavy fog, killing the pilot but no one else.

    Once the details came in we all took turns watching events unfolding on the TV in our staff room. It was surreal but because we had jobs to do we soldiered on. It was when I got home and watched CNN that the numbness set in - it was just too enormous for my brain to accept.

    Something that I felt a bit guilty about was the first reaction I had when I watched TV at home, when I could see information for more than a minute at a time. One of my co-workers had his radio tuned to the NewsTalk radio station which is always a bit reactionary and sensationalistic. They were reporting *every* wild rumour such as the White House was burning to the ground, a bomb had gone off in D.C. killing many people on the street, 12 planes were still missing, several planes had crashed into the downtowns of other major American cities, etc. When I got home and found out what had really happened my first reaction was "Oh - that's all? Wow, that's not so bad." That's not to minimize what happened but to show how much worse it was reported as being (they also reported that there were 40,000 in the WTC when it collapsed).

    My ex worked 5 blocks from the WTC so it hit her particularly hard. She couldn't even bear to watch the news for a long time afterwards.
  • edited September 2011 Posts: 1,856
    I can't remember it that well. (well i was five!!!) I remember breakfast TV going on forever and crossing to the news desk and the NY correspondent every 10 seconds, So i must have been sick that day.. Huh deduction
  • "Has it really been 10 years?"

    NO! It's a government conspiracy, they control time and it has only been 3 years!

    I'm sure you could find someone who would think that. 8-|

    For me, the conspiracy theorists and the fools who plaster the internet with them are as much a bad thing as the event itself. They should be made to put up or shut up, because it's getting boring now. The worst one I saw was someone who actually believed the planes were holographic projections by the FOX News company.
    :O
  • I have utmost sympathy and reverence for those who lost their lives in this catastrophe. I still think it was an inside job, however.

  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    edited September 2011 Posts: 2,629
    I was between jobs and took a month off before going to my new job. I decided to have a dream vacation and spend a week in New York and two weeks in London before starting my new job. I wasn't in a relationship at the time and decided to go out on my own for a couple of weeks. I was in New York during Labor Day weekend where I pretty much visited the sites. Didn't make it to the towers, but I had several shots of them from the Empire State Building. The shots were on an instamatic camera. Flew out of JFK at 8:30 AM on September 4, 2001, almost a week to the minute of the first plane hitting the WTC.

    I was walking through Regent's Park on the afternoon of the 11th. I just left Regent's Park when heard people talking about the first crash on the street. Went into a pub where they had the TV on BBC right when the second plane hit. I ordered a pint and it took me about three hours to get it down. I think the bartender knew I was American. He told me to come back in a couple of days. I was just numb. The BBC did not edit the people jumping out of the building. Went back to the flat I was staying at on York Street (off of Baker Street) and spent the rest of the day like a zombie in front of the TV of the flat I was renting.

    I was supposed to fly back Saturday, but wasn't able to fly back until that Tuesday. The had a memorial service at Grovesner's Square, which is across from the US Embassy and from what I understand, next to a US military HQ building in London. For those of you not familiar with Grovesner Square there are statues of Eisenhower and FDR for America's help to England during WWII. Just amazing how many people where there that left flowers and other items in memorial.

    After leaving that memorial, I ended up going back to that pub where I watched the initial events take place. The bartender recognized me. Long story short, I had free beer all night. I forgot how many pints I had, but I know I left a few on the table. Again, the bartender figured out I was American (must have been the lack of accent). Many of the British folks and even couple of Canadians also visiting bought me a beer and just shot the breeze all night. I was just overwhelmed by the hospitality there. Amazingly, I didn't have much of a hangover the next day.

    I also decided to develop that film and went to a local where I gave the camera to a Muslim lady, which I believe was ran by her husband. I went back to pick up the film. She asked me when I was in New York. She then told me not to hate Muslims for what happened. She even told me she developed extra pictures for themselves, which I didn't mind. I then told her that it was a few people who were using her religion to promote evil purposes. She thanked me and I left. That was my first interaction with a Muslim after 9/11, although I will admit that after I left, I felt awkward about her making extra photos of the WTC for herself, but decided she did so with good intentions.

    Forgive my bouncing all over the place, but I wanted to share this. For being away from the country during the worst event of most American lifetimes (except for maybe Pearl Harbor) it was a very lonely experience. I can't thank the people of London that I talked to after 9/11 enough for their hospitality and kindness in helping me get through this. I ended up flying into Chicago and I had to stop myself from kissing the ground.

    I'll end by saying that I do not for a second believe there was any sort of conspiracy and only have hatred for the people directly responsible for 9/11 and not the religious or ethical group they represent. It really annoys me of those that believe otherwise.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    So much was to bound to happen - and has happened - in the ten years since 9/11, sadly it feels like much of it for the worst, so far at least.

    Anyway, on a more positive note, to mark the anniversary, my latest blog post is a no-holds-barred, unapologetic paean to The Big Apple... :)

    http://georgesjournal.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/91111-a-tribute-to-the-big-apple/
  • MartinBondMartinBond Trying not to muck it up again
    edited September 2011 Posts: 858
    As I was just 7 when it happened, my memories are somewhat different...

    My dad used to listen to the radio in the car to a certain station where they would broadcast jokes around the time he came home, so when he came in with a cold look on his face and said that there was a plane into a building, at first I was like "What kind of joke is that?" Then, we turned on the television and the horrible truth came in. the plane, swerving and plowing itself into tower 2 hurt as mutch as it could to a 10 year old, at that time thinking about all those children whose mom and/or dad wouldn't come home like mine could. the sick, cold, poisoned heart someone has to have to do something this un-human couldn't be understood by my childish mind. My mom apparently still has a drawing of me stating "f*ck you bin laden"...

    May all those hurt, directly or indirectly, find peace.

    God bless all the victims and heroes of the dakest hour of the century...
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