September 11th: Where were you?

[May]

I was in my sophomore year of college when everything happened. I had gone to my 8:00am class, which lasted until 8:50. So I was on my way back to my dorm when the first plane hit. When I got back, my roommate told me about the first plane and then we watched as the second plane hit. I remember making a comment about Bin Laden at the time and my roommate looking at me like I was crazy. And then I went to bed because I was/am not a morning person, and I also just couldn't deal with it yet.

[Byakuya San]

I was in elementary school (apparently I'm the youngest one here) , but I didn't even find out until the next day. For several weeks, I was terrified that planes would crash into our school, which was, for the most part, in the middle of nowhere.

[MarchingDuck]

odd side note:
I remember the thread about 9/11 on PPT when it happened...and it being all we could talk about for awhile, Americans and world alike.

I wish I could go back and reread that thread.

[Asthaloth]

Wont it be Cached on Google?

[Bangel]

I was in 3rd grade. I remember I had heard some other kid mention it in the morning (Dumb jerk was bragging about how he knew it before everyone else did; his mom told him or something. Our school day started pretty much right as it was happening, so 99% of us hadn't heard yet. I think that kid was late that day or something.) but I didn't really pay attention to it. Then the teacher sat us all down in a circle and told us a very watered down version of what had happened. I didn't understand, no one understood. It probably wasn't until sixth grade that I really understood at all, for an entire different set of reasons. My sister lived in New York at the time and saw it.

I know this is a really dumb statement to make, but I just wish none of it had to happen. I don't want to look back on my childhood and see this destruction. I don't want to look back on my childhood and remember waiting hours for airplane security. I don't want to look back and see the same CNN video clips over and over again with people screaming and crying and not knowing if people they loved are okay.

But more than anything, I just don't want anyone to forget all of these things. It's painful to remember, but that would be so much worse.

[Jenna!]

I was in fifth grade, I remember going to my violin class in the morning, and my teacher looked upset. We all asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't know if she was supposed to tell us, but a plane just hit the world trade center. I didn't really knew the impact of what that meant, and neither really did the others, so we were just silent for a moment. Then later on a lot of parents were picking their kids up from school, including my mum and my brother, who was a freshman in high school at the time.

However, one of my big links to the disaster is that one of the last people to be rescued alive, John McLoughlin, lives in my town, down the road five minutes from me actually, and when I was younger I used to be best friends with his daughter, Caitlin. He was depicted by Nicolas Cage, in the 2006 movie, World Trade Center.

Here is his wikipedia article, if anyone is interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLou ... urvivor%29

[Mongrel]

I was in eighth grade, and I was watching Don Quixote(the musical version) in Spanish class. When I got to my next class, English, my teacher gave us this speech about how this moment would change our lives and our generation, and I was completely confused, because she assumed everyone already knew what had happened.
Then she turned on the TV, and I pieced it together. In every class, we watched television. I remember a few little bits and pieces--my typical eighth-grade classmates giggling when someone uttered mild profanities, the footage of the towers collapsing, wild rumors and half-truths. That was the first day I ever heard the name Osama bin Laden, when people were naming the possible coordinators of the attack. But I don't remember what it felt like. I just remember images. That day was a full mental shock.

[MarchingDuck]

I know this is a really dumb statement to make, but I just wish none of it had to happen. I don't want to look back on my childhood and see this destruction. I don't want to look back on my childhood and remember waiting hours for airplane security. I don't want to look back and see the same CNN video clips over and over again with people screaming and crying and not knowing if people they loved are okay.

Sadly love, its not that simple.

My mom endured JFK being shot.
My great grandmother kept newspapers from when the titanic sunk.
My great uncle gave his life aboard the USS Arizona.
My mother also witnessed Challenger. I was 2 years old...but still infront of the tv when it happened. I dont really have a coheirent memory of it, but it is tramatizing none the less.
I did, however, watch columbia become lost in the sky. I grew up loving NASA. I wanted to me the 1st woman in space...(no one told me for a long time that someone else beat me to it lol).

My generation has been through alot, both positive and negitive, and 2 wars (yes, the gulf war was still a war...).

Distruction is part of humanity. As horrible as it is. Violence has existed for longer than we even know.

Whats important is remembering those who lost their lives as victims and those who lost theirs trying to save others. my neighbor at the time was deployed to NYC. He is a firefighter. I am glad he came back ok, but so many others never made it back to their families.


What was interesting to me today was to see how many people didnt realize it was Sept 11th. I work at the mall and life seemed just like every other day. Maybe its a good example of how life progresses through disaster and time marches forward. But we cant forget those people's lives...Sept 11th, December 7th, whenever.


ok, thats the end of my speech. Sorry. I'm a bit long winded tonight.

[Asthaloth]

Edit:

Ignore me.
I am ornery and a bad day pushed me into that realm I call "Say stupid crap that is inappropriate."

[Ski]

I had a dentist's appointment that day. It was probably the only special thing that happened to me personally.

For a really amazing story about that day, I would suggest Ze Frank's the show on 9-7-06.

[FrankieG]

I was in Tech Ed in middle school when it happened..didnt find out about it til the next period (Homeroom), though I remember seeing people crying in the hallways and not knowing why.

[thesockoverlord]

ok...i was in first grade in art class and our principle came over the P.A. and said something...don't remember what, exactly, but that we were supposed to go back to our main classrooms. we ended up staying there for the rest of the day and watching the news...for some reason they didn't send us home. not sure....oh well.

but then a little side-story is that one of my friends' birthdays is sept. 11th and her dad had actually been on a plane into N.Y. that day...so ya, that was really scary. but don't worry tho, it was a different one!

(interesting topic, by the way )

[theonlysaneone]

I also remember being somewhat terrified because my family lives near Johnson Space Center, and there were people saying it was being evacuated as it was a possible target, but I couldn't get in touch with any of 'em. I mean, I knew they weren't injured, but still...I was worried.

Wow, you have family here? That's awesome. I might know them. Wouldn't it be weird if I WAS the family you're talking about? (although I'm the oldest of 16 in my generation of the extended family, and all of the ones outside of Houston are <5 years old, so it's a bit unlikely unless you're in your mid-30s).

[Skynetmain]

I had just gotten up after the second plane hit. That was back when my step-dad and I used to watch the Today Show during breakfast before school. I was scared, yes, but my step-dad was great at calming me down.

School was... about... 70% normal. My first period teacher was open if we wanted to talk about it, but no one knew what to say so he just said we should let it sink in and that was fine. Second period, our teacher was the top computer person in the school so we were able to steal a TV and watched CNN all period. Did the same in third and fifth too but by then, life was already returning to normal. Sixth (and last) was perfectly normal since it was a PE class, and we just played games as usual. Fifth was the class I was glad to have a crazy, far-right Republican teacher for (at least on this instance, not for the rest of the class that made me an outsider in the middle of the room). That was my government class. He was crazy, and I loved him for that. Then this event happened, and we had great discussions about the world and strayed from the course entirely for most of the semester.

I don't think I will forget what happened that day just because of how I and everyone around me was acting.

Follow up story: A few days later, there was the call for the national moment of silence as some may recall. My class did not participate, sadly. But my govt teacher... There is a line in the middle of the main hall of the school. It is for lunch schedules or something. It looks like the person painting it was drunk. Very drunk. My govt teacher was trying to follow the line on his way down the hall during that moment of silence... while everyone was out of class, looking on, for the moment of silence. I just thought I would include that to try and lighten the mood.

PS: Two years ago today was when I joined PPT (despite the sidebar saying otherwise). Not that this is relevant in any way.

[Robin]

I was in my 7th grade English class. The teachers were told not to tell us and to carry on with the day. My American History teacher told us anyway, she said we had the right to know. That was the day I went from hating that teacher to semi-liking her.