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Copperbell
Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956


0 posted 2006-01-30 11:51 PM



I don't mean this question to sound light - but it is so clear to me still and it's something that changed the world.

I just remember being numb - and feeling sure a war would start - and this was before the story came out. It was still morning. The whole morning I was volunteering at the school and all I could think about was getting home to watch the news.

What were you doing when 9/11 happened?

© Copyright 2006 Copperbell - All Rights Reserved
littlewing
Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655
New York
1 posted 2006-01-31 09:31 AM


dying inside holding my newborn baby wondering why I have been given life when so many were taken staring at the tv screen crying in utter disbelief.

I think everyone was like this.

That's like asking about the day Kennedy was killed or Martin Luther, Malcolm X, the Hurricanes, take your pick of disasters and deaths.



Cloud 9
Senior Member
since 2004-11-05
Posts 980
Ca
2 posted 2006-01-31 03:08 PM


Sue- I was going to say the exact samething. Except I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter and on my way to work.
Alicat
Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094
Coastal Texas
3 posted 2006-01-31 03:56 PM


Looking over job lists and sipping coffee between laundry cycles, then decided to flip on the TV and check the three English channels (pre-cable days) since I don't speak enough Spanish to have understood the other 5 channels.  Breaking News.  My coffee grew cold as I stared in shock, watching live coverage of the second plane's impact.  Took 4 days for any tear to fall, that's how stunned I was at the magnitude of what had happened, which quickly grew to heated rage when I heard about Ward Churchhill's speech and saw the celebrations in the Muslim East knowing the first to suffer would be the American Muslims in the initial aftermath.

Even now I feel rage when I think of those so-called martyrs who would gladly commit suicide (forbidden by the Koran) and mass murder in a daycare just to have virgins in the afterlife.  Since 13 is the magic age for adulthood in the Arab world, I can only assume any virgins would be under that age.  Something to think about regarding those who murder innocents (forbidden by the Koran) for sexual gratification in Paradise.

hush
Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653
Ohio, USA
4 posted 2006-02-03 12:57 PM


Entering my high school Contemporary Literature class. I saw the TV in the room and I thought "Hey, maybe we're watching a movie."

I was mistaken. We watched the towers fall.

Christioned
Member
since 2004-01-15
Posts 93
Huddling in the dark
5 posted 2006-02-03 04:03 PM


I was just walking outside for gym class. Another boring class it was not. All day we stayed in class and watched the tv. And I was amazed at how many kids thought it was a joke and were laughung at what was happening.

"It's my curse to constantly be in battle with Him."- Me

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

6 posted 2006-02-03 05:58 PM


Actually, I was right here, in Pip. And yes, I stayed logged in, 'cause I was worried about a former member who lives near D.C. She was "here" too, and I watched the news in horror, (the tv was located to the left of my monitor) as I prayed she would keep typing comments, (somewhere there is her frantic post of 'oh my god they hit the pentagon') so I was praying she, and all of us were going to be okay. Of course, we had no idea at the time, the extent of the attacks, so I was just sort of frozen here. (She was okay, but more than a little distraught....hugs, doreen)

Weird, that.

I just sat here, and I think I was just mechanically clicking "refresh".

Then the towers fell and I got sick.

But yep, I was right here.

iliana
Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434
USA
7 posted 2006-02-04 02:41 AM


It was a moment when time stood still...just a moment and then, well, you know.  I was sitting behind a monitor at work searching news stories.  I worked at a place in Houston that was connected with a national publication so all of us assistant editors were constanting reading headlines, etc.  Within just a couple of seconds and before the second plane hit, we were all glued to the story with our jaws dropped.  

My daughter was in Manhattan at the time and that was my first thought after the initial shock.  I pulled my purse from out of my desk drawer, got up and left.  For the first time in my life, I did not ask permission and I did not care if I got fired.  Then I picked up my son from school and went straight home.  I never, in my life, felt such a need to gather my family around.  It took two days for us to get through to my daughter on the phone.  Somehow, she was able to get an email through the night of the attack saying that they had evalcuated the dorms (as there were rumors that Juilliard might have been on the target list. I had been so worried because the only source of money she had was an ATM card and without a doubt, all the ATM's would be down; and she didn't know anyone in NY except those at school.  She ended up staying with her voice teacher that night.  The firefighters in the station beneath the school...many of them the student all knew, many were lost.  I cannot begin to imagine the trauma of those people who were affected directly or who witnessed the horror.  

I truly believe the entire nation still suffers from the trauma.  It changed my life.  I knew I would leave the job I had the first chance I got -- my priorities had to change. (That's the long-term effect of that day for me.)  

Shortly after that, I got an email at work that had to be forward to the legal department in NY to be turned over to the FBI.  It threatened the entire publication in no uncertain terms.  That was around the time amtrax was discovered in Florida, DC, and NJ.    

I'd like to see more discussion about how that day has changed things for us both personally and well, however you think things have changed.  

desert-spike
Member
since 2006-02-01
Posts 194
TX/USA
8 posted 2006-02-04 08:43 PM


I was in bed sleeping when it happened. I was told later that day. At first I was unphased, as though someone had told me an old building was demolished as it were scheduled to be.
I won't say I was in shock, I just had no feeling or opinion about it one way or the other. I wasn't surprised. I knew America was due for an unnatural catastrophe.

I took some time to decide how I felt about it.
What I decided was that the dead need to be. avenged

Copperbell
Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956

9 posted 2006-02-05 12:21 PM


I replied once already - I didn't realize it hadn't come up.


Little wing - you're right - the reason for my question is that it is something that has connected us all and in some way has changed all of our lives and I am wondering how it has for people here.

Alicat - the virgin thing is really disturbing - does that mean people will take their lives and others happily 'knowing' that is their reward?

Oh Hush...

Christioned - that's so sad

Serenity - thanks for your reply - I remember how things felt surreal that day to me - so much disbelief and confusion

Iliana - "I'd like to see more discussion about how that day has changed things for us both personally and well, however you think things have changed."

Me as well - I'm not American, but it has changed my life in many ways - which I'll share in a later post because I have to go right now.  

Desert spike - It took me awhile to feel - it bothered me that I felt numb...

littlewing
Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655
New York
10 posted 2006-02-05 04:48 PM


Well, being from NY at first it was that shock Ali described.  Disbelief, thinking the U.S., especially NY is not invincible was beyond frightening.

I have many friends who have lived through WWII and man, I don't know how, having troops march through their homes, keeping them hostage, things much worse.  

Things like that crept into my mind.

America?  You have got to be kidding me?

But it happened and with OUR assistance.

Here in NY, people banded together, it was a beautiful thing.  You couldn't buy an American Flag (they were sold out) and had to stand in line for hours to give blood. (and I couldnt, new ink)

I know many medical personnel that went to the site and came back all torn up. (I couldnt go , a new mother, but maybe thats a blessing)

I wish I could have done more, I wanted to do everything.  I felt helpless.

I guess the way it changed where I live is people started to see the government and the U.S. as not being so invincible anymore.  Woke a lot of people up but for a couple of years after you saw beautiful acts of kindness.  

You also saw a lot of false prophets who never hung a flag in the first place but suddenly jumped on the bandwagon just because.  Makes one wonder why the flag and the Red Cross lines weren't in such demand before this.

I am American, I am a patriot but I am far from political.

I love my country and I despise it but at the same time am grateful to be here, even though it has its flaws, it is still my country.

Do I believe in my political leaders?

I don't think I need to answer that.

For what followed that horrible act of tyranny was again, done by our hands and that of our leaders.

So what has been learned?

I really do not have an answer for that.

I am grateful for life, for my son, that nobody I know was killed in that personally and that we were protected by our soldiers.

It just should never have happened.


Paul Wilson
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Elite
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711
United States
11 posted 2006-02-11 12:26 PM


I was off from work and just laying around being lazy when the news came on T.V. about the attack, then I watched in horror as the second plane slammed into the WTC building.

I felt scared, empty and wondered what had the United States done to deserve such an un prevoked attack on our homeland.

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

iliana
Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434
USA
12 posted 2006-02-12 02:27 AM


On that day later at home, I began to think about the horrendous act on a very deep level.  The thought popped into my head that the war (the unseen war) that we would be fighting and had really been fighting since who knows when was the battle of creativity versus destruction.  I think that is really the first time in my life I realized how important it is for a person to actively seek those things in their everyday life where that kind of energy could be exercised rather than the destructive type of energy.  
Copperbell
Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956

13 posted 2006-03-02 07:39 PM


Thank you all for sharing your stories and thoughts - I'm not American and what you are saying takes away the denial barrier that is easier to live with.

The attack on America has changed my life -

realizing our vulnerability - naively, I didn't know anyone hated the western world so much

I've got to know my muslim neighbors -

I was afraid of them at first - what if they were extremists?  but nope - my neighbors are hospitable, generous people who I enjoy spending time with - who love sharing their home with our family - and their recipes

I'm more aware of my surroundings - I hate to admit it, it crosses my mind - what if certain places I go are a target for terrorists but they have made me think about stuff like that

I think it sort of shook me awake - life isn't about just trying to get rich - that attack has caused me to dig deeper into my personal faith and the things I value in life.  It has made me more aware of world events, and the problems of others in the world - I know that can't be a bad thing.

Ultimately, I think the only way to stop this war is to change the minds of those who think terrorism is the answer

how to do that - i have no idea.

But caring for the families, women and children in the middle east can't be a bad thing.

He is so fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose - Jim Elliot

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