9/11 where were you?

Submitted by randyfloyd on
14 years ago I awoke to a beautiful day, a perfect day. I decided to go out on my back porch and enjoy the morning a bit, instead of watching the news like I normally did. My neighbor came over and was freaking out, she told me to turn on the news, we are under attack. That day the world changed forever and I'll never forget those that were lost that day.

MinWhisky

September 11th, 2015 at 9:36 AM ^

I understand the desire to indulge in sports to avoid the real world, but there is no escaping this "bad shit".  And saying that we should "stop wallowing in it" after "14 years" is beyond belief.  I've never down-voted but if I knew how, you'd get one for your last two sentences.

henrynick20

September 11th, 2015 at 10:50 AM ^

But very poor word choices. As far as politics go, this discussion is merely a, "where were you?"

I was in 10th grade history with Mr. Blue. We watched as if it wasn't real and at times it still is overwhelming. There is a lot of "bad shit" in the world but if anything I think we can all be thankful that we haven't experienced a day like this since. This may not impact you anymore like it does others, so please keep them in mind when wanting to avoid the situation entirely.

DrMantisToboggan

September 11th, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^

My elementary school kept it quiet all day (we may have indoor recess instead of normal recess, even though the weather was great), but when my dad picked me up he tried to explain what was going on and couldn't. I knew it was terrible because it was the first time my incredibly intelligent and relatable father couldn't find the right words for something. When I got home, my mom was crying and watching the news, holding my 1 year old sister. A very haunting day to look back on, even being as removed from the actual tragedy as I was. 

FreddieMercuryHayes

September 11th, 2015 at 9:06 AM ^

10th grade social studies type class.  Needless to say, I did not do a single piece of actual school work the rest of the day.  I don't think anybody in the entire school was anything except glued to the TV.

yourmom_is_hot

September 11th, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^

junior at GVSU.  Came down to the TV being on, thinking that Jordan had annouced that he was coming out of retirement again to play for the Wizards.  Saw the first plane hit.

What I remember the most is standing in line for lunch, and a girl in front of me was saying that her brother was in one of the towers and she couldn't get a hold of him.

MeanJoe07

September 11th, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^

I was just a young Koala then sitting in gym class when we got called back to our classrooms. Saw the second plane hit. Initially I thought they meant a 4 seater plane and some inexperienced pilot crashed. Even after they hit I never expected the towers to fall. I remember sitting there in shock.

rockediny

September 11th, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^

I was a kid in Ghana. I remembered watching cartoons (which were rarely shown) on tv only to have it interrupted by a breaking news broadcast of 9/11 coverage. Not understanding how significant it was, I was pretty annoyed that the few hours of cartoons I got were interrupted by news. (1st world problems....kind of?)

RoseBowlBound

September 11th, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^

Just a few blocks away from the WTC on the southern tip of Manhattan.  It was the third week of my first job at an investment bank on the 49th floor of a 50 floor building.  Just weeks earlier we were training at the hotel in the WTC.  Very sad, surreal scene as the buildings fell and very important to never forget!

ToDefyTheFrizzleFry

September 11th, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^

10th grade American History class. A kid left the room to go to the bathroom and came back and said something about an attack in NYC. Our teacher turned on the TV in the room and it was just after the 2nd plane had hit. Every class for the remainder of the day was just watching the news. 

Cowboy Cody

September 11th, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^

Teaching a Government class of high school seniors. A Science teacher came to my classroom door to tell me a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. I figured a small plane accidentally hit it. He told me to turn on the TV. I was in a trance-like state for the next two days in school. Kids were mesmerized by what they were seeing. Not ashamed to say that I still haven't quite gotten over that episode of history.




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DrunkOnHiggins

September 11th, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^

2nd hour - Pottey - We didn't have a speaker in the room with all the pottery wheels so we missed the announcment. It was only after 2nd hour that we heard people talking about it in the halls. People were tripping out. We thought a fellow student had passed away.

abolden05

September 11th, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^

Spanish class in 9th grade. We were having a fiesta in class. Thought we were watching a movie when it first got turned on, then we noticed our teacher crying. Ended up watching the news in every class that day.

mGrowOld

September 11th, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^

On a plane heading for Charlotte, NC to fire a guy. We landed JUST as tower one got hit. In the terminal nobody knew what the hell was going on and I watched on a bar TV alongside my flight crew. When the second tower got hit they announced all flights were grounded and then within seconds told us to evacuate the Airport immediately. As I left I turned and watched wave after wave of commercial jets landing-nose to tail-like out of a WWII bomber movie.
Needless to say the guy I was heading down to fire got a reprieve.

RoxyMtnHiM

September 11th, 2015 at 9:12 AM ^

I was hunting doves north of Denver Int'l Airport. After a point, there weren't many planes in the air and we wondered what was up.

justingoblue

September 11th, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^

Seemed like half my classmates had a a parent with an office in the Sears Tower. They were understandably freaked out the whole day.

I keep thinking how different things would have been with ubiquitous smartphones, although that era didn't start until after Katrina as well.

evenyoubrutus

September 11th, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^

10th grade English class. It happened right before class let out but we didn't know until we got to the next class. For me this happened to be Spanish which was literally right across the hall so I get there before anyone else. My Spanish teacher storms into the room, almost shouting about some buildings in new York having been hit by airplanes. She turns on the TV and right there is an image of both towers billowing smoke. It's just her and me in the classroom staring silently at the TV for about two minutes before other students begin filtering in. What got me was watching each of these other kids see the tragedy for the first time. Some of them looked horrified but most had blank expressions, not knowing how to digest what they were seeing.

SCarolinaMaize

September 11th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^

up I85 through Charlotte.  Listening on the radio.  Didn't see the footage until I got home that evening.  Even though the radio broadcasts were surreal, couldn't fathom the reality until I saw the news.  God bless everyone that it affected.

swalburn

September 11th, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^

Just starting my second year of law school.  We had a good number of students from the East coast and I still remember watching their reactions.  We had one professor who was from NY who had friend killed in attack.  I still remember the discussion we had when classes resumed.  He was very smart indivdual and you could tell how personal attacks were for him.  I still remember him talking about how parts of him wanted to see Kabul "glow in the dark".  It was obviously personal for everyone but the way the he discussed it really stuck out to me. 

The Baughz

September 11th, 2015 at 9:28 AM ^

I was in high school and was on my way to History class when a classmate of mine stopped us and told us what happened. I didn't grasp the severity of the situation at first because our school chose not to let us watch any of it. But I knew it was bad when football practice got cancelled that day. I remember turning on the tv when I got home later that day and just sat in stunned silence as I'm watching planes purposely flying into buildings. It's something I will never forget.




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quigley.blue

September 11th, 2015 at 9:14 AM ^

Was getting ready before HS (Jr year) in California when the first one happened.  It was on the radio, so we turned the TV on, and saw the second one live.  Before that we were in the mode of "what a terrible accident" but there was a definite sense of dread and "this is not a mistake".  Our principal left a message on the voice system and said they would honor absences if the parents felt that's what was best for their families, but that school wouldn't be cancelled.  She said "The people who did this want us to cancel school, and they want us to be scared, so we will have school".  That was powerful to me as a then 16 year old. 

Michael

September 11th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^

I was in the middle of a practice debate round in high school, the topic of which was the liklihood of terrorists using WMD in an attack against the United States. Pretty surreal.

South TX MFan

September 11th, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^

I was about to leave for work when a coworker called me and asked if I was watching the news. I wasn't so I turned it on and couldn't believe what was happening. At the time people didn't know if it was an accident or intentional. Of course when the 2nd plane hit it became obvious. At the time I worked as a contractor in the largest chemical plant in the US. They of course went on high alert and my boss called and said to not even bother going in. I stayed home and watched in horror as the events unfolded. What a tragic day.




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hunterjoe

September 11th, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^

I had recently finished basic training and was sitting in tech school when it happened.  I remember it like it was this morning.  We had those TV cart deals on wheels that was only set up with a VCR...  You young cats might not know what those are.  But we took a coat hanger and made the best antenna we could just to watch the news.  Wasn't the best picture but we could see enough.  Being that I was in the military was a surreal feeling...  Not knowing what was going to happen next.  

 

I remember when I got to my first duty station one of the "cops" was telling us a story of that day.  He said he was manning the anti aircraft gun when one of our planes was coming in for a landing.  However the communications from the plane weren't working and he was within seconds from having to shoot it down when the line was recovered.   

LSAClassOf2000

September 11th, 2015 at 9:21 AM ^

I think the event is definitely significant enough that we can leave it (note to OP - it is OT and very much so, but we do make the odd exception in the season), especially considering that there are memorials being done around the conuntry today, but yeah, please tread lightly on some of the - what to call them - peripheral discussions.

As for myself, I had just gotten to work at a software company in Ann Arbor when the first tower was hit. I walked in to find everyone huddled around the television in the kitchen watching ABC's coverage. As it was just the one plane at the time, everyone thought - assumed - that this was some horrible accident. Not too long after that, of course, this theory is shattered by the second plane....then the Pentagon. No work got done that day, and no support calls came in either, which was unheard of. I imagine the folks who may have otherwise needed software help were doing exactly what we were - staring at a television in utter shock. 

EGD

September 11th, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^

I don't remember which network we were watching the coverage on at my office, but I distinctly recall one of the people on the broadcast saying, after the second plane hit, "we still don't know for sure that this is terrorism." I suppose that stands out to me as a reminder of just how inconceivable that kind of attack seemed at the time.

mgobleu

September 11th, 2015 at 9:22 AM ^

for the family business. Heard about "some idiot that flew a little Cessna into a building..." from Howard Stern, then got back home in time to see the first tower fall. I'll never forget seeing my mom on her knees in front of the tv, crying. I know everyone wants to forget about all this heinous shit, but I'll never ever forget it and I think that's a good thing.