Children of 9/11

[sooner n houston]

I would think many of you on this board were children on this fateful day in 2001. You would have been a teen back then. If you want to, please, share your experience with us. What are your thoughts on it now? What impact did it have on your life. Any ramifications today?

I just read an article about children of 9/11 and thought it would be intersting to hear from you folks on this board today.


You can read that article here if intersted.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574405092337409478.html#m od=djemEditorialPage

[Osce0la]

I was a Senior in high school, and I was trying to go to sleep in my first period class...Heard the TV come on, looked up to see what movie we were watching and was like "WTF movie is this?" (just saw one of the buildings burning)...About the time I realized it was a live report on Fox the second plane hit the other building. Everytime I see the footage it is like watching it live on 9/11/01...

[GottaHavePride]

My first senior year of undergrad. (It took me 5 years...)

I woke up, got myself some frosted flakes, and flipped on CNN because really - there's nothing else on in the mornings. I missed the planes crashing into the towers, but they were still standing, smoke pouring out of the side of one of the towers.

Then it collapsed. And then the second tower went. Gone. And all I could think about was how unreal it was to me that those buildings were gone. It wasn't even a case of thinking of the people inside the building (that's something my brain still can't even wrap itself around...)

I thought of being 8 years old, standing on the sidewalk in between the towers (1988, before the wacko bombed the parking garage underneath in 93...) and looking straight up, to the tops of the towers. And they were so tall, and I could see them swaying in the wind, and I got a little dizzy watching it.

And 8 years ago I had to think that that place doesn't exist anymore.

It's kind of a weird feeling.

[SoonerStud615]

Sixth grade for me. I should have been in class, however I had a dentist appointment that morning and would not go to school until later that day. While I waited for my mom to get ready to take me to the dentist, I sat watching tv, that was when they broke in. After I heard what happened I ran and got my parents and my Dad and I watched the second plane hit live. Right after impact my Dad uttered one word, "Terrorists." This shocked me because I simply thought, ater the first plane, that it was an accident.

At the Dentist I watched even more destruction in the waiting room, this being the Pentagon. After my appointment was all over and I arrived back at school, I discovered that my school had decided it best to keep it from the rest of the students. Naturally, I began telling all my friends, and by the end of the day most of the school knew anyway. We didn't grasp the gravity of the situation very well, and couldn't understand why our English teacher seemed so upset all day. We didn't understand why the office told us our parents may be late to pick us up because of lines at the gas station. We didn't understand that the world would never be the same again.

It was definitely a day I'll never forget.

[JLEW1818]

8th grade for me

what i remember the most is Peter Jennings saying "Mr President where are you?"

[I Am Right]

Like the civil war,WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, 9/11, Iraq & Afganistan, we will not forget!

[stoops the eternal pimp]

I was working for Locke Supply at the time(25 yrs old) and was pumping gas outside the Tastee Freeze/gas station. The first report I heard was that a plane went off course and hit the building. As I stood there, the reports changed often until the 2nd plane hit and then it became, "OK. This can't be an accident."

I had a 150 mile trip ahead and stared at the sky the whole time looking for airplanes. I know as stupid as that sounds now, I was fearful that the area might be hit, being that the Army Ammunication Plant is here.

I also remember cars lined up and down the street trying to get gas..You couldn't get anywhere here, due to cars..One station owner put up a sign saying his gas was 8 dollars a gallon to keep people from getting all his gas.

As somebody who was about to get married, it freaked me out quite a bit. I would have a wife soon, and kids later on. I was afraid of what the world would look like for them.

[JLEW1818]

My sister got married that Saturday, September 15th, 2001

They flew into Boston that Sunday. (The same airport that the terrorist flew out of, that hit building one, and maybe building two.)

They said it was dead silent in that airport, and didn't see a smile

[JLEW1818]

Timeline of 9/11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks

[soonerinabilene]

i wad 19. i had no idea. i was on a hunting/camping trip that week with no phone, no electricity, nothing. came back home on the 16th and we had been attacked. turning on the tv and seeing everythong that happened that day over and over was the most surreal moment of my life.

[Scott D]

I was a 30 year old manager at a Blockbuster in the metro Detroit area. Watching it was surreal as I'd heard the initial report interrupt local sports talk radio as I was driving to make the bank deposit. My employee and I watched NBC as the second plane hit the towers. We were in shock, and so were most of the customers that came in that day. By the time the night shift people came in, people were coming in to rent anything to distract them from the constant news coverage of the tragedy. The other thing that sticks with me from that day was our company requesting that we managers make sure that if our stores had any Arab employees that they weren't being attacked or discriminated against by either fellow employees or customers.

Another interesting note of reference, I was living about 40 miles away in New Jersey when the original 1993 attack happened.

[fadada1]

was 30 years old and a grad student at U. of Florida. was teaching back-to-back classes in the morning (outside - fitness classes). first class was normal. second class - the rowdy class - was quiet and not really into it. i stopped and asked what was wrong. somebody said a plane had crashed into the world trade center. i said "again" thinking back to the '93 bombing. somebody said, "i think this one is different."

dismissed class, stopped by a student store to get a drink, and watched the replay of the second plane. ran to my office and told everyone around to find a TV - no one had heard anything.

spent the rest of the day in front of the TV - watched the towers come down on live TV.

surreal.

[proud gonzo]

I was a junior in high school at the time. I went to my AP Calculus class that morning and the classroom phone rang during lecture. Mr. Holdeman answered the phone and talked for a minute. his wife called him to say goodmorning sometimes, so nobody thought anything of it. Then when he hung up he asked us, "Hey, did any of you guys know a plane flew into the World Trade Center?" He said it casually and we thought he meant "hey, did you know that one time a plane flew into the towers?"

We all said no. Someone asked when and he said "Just now." Everyone started asking "how did that happen? Was it cloudy?" they thought it was an accident, but none of the others in my class had ever been to NYC.

I remember the trip GHP talked about, but when he was eight I was three. I knew I had seen them, but I didn't actually remember.

I knew that flight paths don't take you through the middle of Manhattan and it couldn't be an accident. I asked what kind of plane and he said "A jet, I think." I started doing the math in my head...

The rest of the day, the teachers kept the tvs on in the classrooms and I turned on the news as soon as I got home. The strangest part for me was that all flights were grounded. We lived close to the airport, so we heard them constantly to the point I didn't notice the sound anymore--until it stopped.

I had a football game to go to (i was in the marching band) that friday night and we heard an airplane in the distance. We were all worried because we didn't realize military aircraft were allowed to fly again.

A few years later, after 9-11, my parents were moving to a new house and I was packing my things. I found the photo album from our NYC trip when I was three. And I had a photo looking straight up the twin towers--I don't even remember taking it. And it was a strange thing to realize it didn't exist anymore.

My fiance lives in Brooklyn, right under the Williamsburg Bridge. (He was cleaning someone's windows a few months ago and couldn't get this filmy garbage off. The owner of the place laughed and said "Yeah, dude. That stuff won't come off. It's 9-11.")
On 9-11 a few nights ago, Will went up on his roof and the lights were on at ground zero.

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7291/img00698200909112356.jpg

[Chuck Bao]

I was home after work, relaxing and watching TV. I just happened to flip through to CNN and started watching the first reports of a plane hitting one of the World Trade towers.

My previous company had offices there. During that period (88-94), I would make my annual international road show passing through New York and I would always stay at the Vista Hotel that was part of the World Trade Center complex.

So at first, I was very worried about my friends while I watched the TV news coverage. Later, I found out that my former company had moved offices sometimes between 1994 and 2001 and my former colleagues were all safe.

I was horrified at the audacity and scale of the attack. Later, as more news came out about the brave firefighters and policeman who rushed in and those airline passengers who fought on board that plane, all sacrificing their own lives so others could live, I just wanted to give thanks.

I have to also say as an American living overseas that I was proud of how Americans pulled together after the attack and the vast, vast majority of the rest of the world pulled together as well to support the US in countering terrorist attacks. These are attacks were against us and our way of life – freedom and democracy.

The response has been bungled and bungled badly. The US has squandered a lot of its international support in fighting wars and not the terrorists. Okay, scratch that because it isn’t on topic.

9-11 was a wake-up call for most Americans. So many Americans had previously thought that we are invincible and safe and loved and right by God. The fact is that almost every major capital in the world faces some terrorist threat. Our own home grown terrorist threat should have been clear wake-up call after the OKC bombing.

My point is that we are not invincible. We are not necessarily loved. It is a PR war. You have to win the masses before you knock all of the bad dudes in the head. Alright, knock them in the head.

[OKC-SLC]

i wad 19. i had no idea. i was on a hunting/camping trip that week with no phone, no electricity, nothing. came back home on the 16th and we had been attacked. turning on the tv and seeing everythong that happened that day over and over was the most surreal moment of my life.

that's probably the most interesting story of someone's recollection of 9/11 I've heard. The world completely changed while you were on your trip, and you didn't even know about it for 5 days. all the people you knew who weren't on that trip with you had done 5 days of processing (good or bad) before you even knew about it. must have been a real interesting dynamic.

[starclassic tama]

i was late for school like always on mondays. just got out of the shower and seen the first building on fire. figured a small bush plane hit it on accident, no biggie. then when i seen the second plane hit live on TV, i got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomache. i instantly knew this was an act of war. eerie feeling the rest of the day at school. you grow up so secure thinking nothing can happen to our country and then all the sudden the WTC is gone and the pentagon is damaged. felt the aura of invincability was gone. still pissed 8 years later that we haven't killed bin laden.

[Collier11]

I was in my 3rd year of college and was headed to class when I turned on the tv, once I saw what happened I immediately thought the country as a whole was under attack and wasnt sure what to think. I went in my roommates bedroom and woke him up to tell him, at first he told me I was full of sh*t, once I told him again he woke up and turned his tv on.

I remember being at work later that day (I was waiting tables) and the restaurant was dead, I remember my co-workers and everyone else running to get gas and all the gas stations gouging people, I refused to go cus I thought it was BS.

Im pretty sure I stayed up the next night or two just watching the news and wondering what was next

[unbiasedtruth]

I work for a large P&A insurance company and a Reginal office is just off the NE corner of DFQ airport in the flight path of the 2 main east runways. When the wind is from the south you hear the planes land as they fly over our buildings. I actually worked the "water cooler (1st)" shift at the time. We have a few TV's throughout the 5 buildings of our complex always on CNN, FOX news or another "news" channel. Word spread quickly and the TV in the main conference room on our floor was turned on to CNN.

Later, as the skys were deemed unsafe and all flights ordered to the ground to the nearest airport, DFW was quite busy and there was concern about the possibility of a plane flying into the buildings in out complex. Co-workers were wanting to go home. During the newscast that morning the stations reports the skies were all clear, no other planes were in the air. About 20-30 minutes after this one last jet flew in to DFW right over the building I work in just hauling tail to get down. When people heard this jet there were brief moments of pandimodium (sp) on my floor and thoughout the company to as far as people running out of the building screaming and crying hysterically.