September 11th, 2001--Memorial Thread

[Amaris]

I was in my office at Boston Medical Center. I had no idea anything was going on until a friend, who was home on medical leave, called me. When she said a plane hit the WTC, I first thought it was a terrible accident; when she said a second plane hit the second tower, I knew exactly what was going on and who was responsible. I couldn't get through to CNN.com because the Internet was overwhelmed, so I ran over to the lounge on L&D and watched with the nurses and doctors. That's when we heard about the crash at the Pentagon.

When I went back to my office, I could see Mass Ave was bumper-to-bumper with people heading out of the city. I found a radio and listened as first one and then the other tower collapsed. I waited until I heard that all remaining planes were reported safely down, then I went home and watched CNN all night. It was a couple of days before I went to sleep. I felt like I'd be abandoning all those people if I turned off the TV.

It was the worst week of my life. Hopefully, it always will be.

I hope you don't mind if I ask, but since you worked in a major hospital and was there when it all transpired, how did the hospital let the patients know what was going on? Did they let them know? I kind of think something like that would make already delicate health conditions worse. Like I said, I hope you don't mind if I ask, that is, if you want to answer.

 

[Kira's Mom]

It was a couple of days before I went to sleep. I felt like I'd be abandoning all those people if I turned off the TV.

That's a great way of putting it.

I felt the same way. Just riveted to the TV for the first 36 hours or so.

I left my TV on all night those first two days with the volume on low- I'd sleep, wake up, check the latest info, go back to sleep, repeat. It was so weird to have nothing but news (or a "we have suspended normal programming" slide) on every channel.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ I imagine many millions of us were there in spirit.

I hope you don't mind if I ask, but since you worked in a major hospital and was there when it all transpired, how did the hospital let the patients know what was going on? Did they let them know? I kind of think something like that would make already delicate health conditions worse. Like I said, I hope you don't mind if I ask, that is, if you want to answer.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I worked in OB-GYN, so we didn't really have any seriously ill patients in our area, and I don't know what the nurses or doctors said to them. We did go into disaster readiness mode, in case of any local attacks, so I'm sure patients and families were made aware.

 

[DonIago]

I grew up 45 minutes north of NYC and my parents still live there.

I had just started working for the INS at a location in Vermont two weeks before 9/11, which in my more light-hearted moments I can make dark jokes about.

We didn't have any access to televisions or radios on our floor, but someone on our floor had been downstairs and heard about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. My first thought was that a private plane of some sort must have hit the building, which sounded weird but not particularly catastrophic. That all changed when it became clear it was a passenger jet, and moreso when the second tower was hit.

During my break I tried calling my parents somewhat frantically, but couldn't get through at all. Intellectually I knew they didn't actually live/work in NYC, but still... Parents were fine when I finally got through to them, but if my dad hadn't been terminated a couple of months earlier he would have been in the WTC at the time (another bit of irony).

We were sent home early because it was a federal building...I didn't really think it was likely we'd be targeted or anything, but under the circumstances (at the best of times I hated my job) I wasn't about to argue. Listened to the radio during the trip home, and I can't decide whether I would have been better off knowing or not knowing what was going on. One of the worst drives ever.

Like everyone else I watched tv when I got home. Was shocked to find the news still being covered the next morning, which is when the enormity of the situation really began to set in.

I was supposed to fly to NYC on 9/14 for a friend's wedding, but my flight was canceled and the wedding itself was postponed to a time when I couldn't attend in any case.

I don't know anyone who died on 9/11, but I have a number of friends who do.

 

[1001001]

There is one strong memory that stands out from that day.

Living on the west coast, I had no idea what had happened until I got in my car, started driving to work, and turned on the radio. When I got to the medical clinic where I was employed at the time, the TV was on, and we watched the first tower collapse.

I don't know how palpable this was for everyone else, but I remember thinking we have no way of knowing if the attacks were over or not. The governor at the time closed all state buildings, and I left our clinic around lunch time to go home and be with my family.

ANYWAY....we had just moved to a new neighborhood and we didn't really know anyone in our cul-de-sac. But I have this vivid memory of turning the corner, and seeing every single house flying the American flag. I was overwhelmed (I'm getting a little misty right now just remembering it. I'm such a big baby!).

This is how we met our new neighbors. Out in the streets and driveways on 9/11.

 

[Amaris]

^^ I imagine many millions of us were there in spirit.

I hope you don't mind if I ask, but since you worked in a major hospital and was there when it all transpired, how did the hospital let the patients know what was going on? Did they let them know? I kind of think something like that would make already delicate health conditions worse. Like I said, I hope you don't mind if I ask, that is, if you want to answer.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I worked in OB-GYN, so we didn't really have any seriously ill patients in our area, and I don't know what the nurses or doctors said to them. We did go into disaster readiness mode, in case of any local attacks, so I'm sure patients and families were made aware.

Ah, I see. Thanks for answering, RJ. I was just curious.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

This may seem crazy to some of you, but I'd been experiencing a buildup of fear before the attacks happened. I can't remember exactly what day it was, but I remembered at one point walking past a well-known building on our campus and feeling a sudden fear that terrorists would destroy this landmark. Being that it was a small town out in the country, I knew very well it was irrational and dismissed it as stupid, but I still felt uneasy.

Which is why it struck me as odd that apparently, I slept through the entire thing. My roommate was already out, so nobody woke me up, and I guess people must've been glued to their TVs as I walked to class, because I never noticed anything odd. I got up to go to my first class, having never turned on a TV or my computer, and when I got there, everyone was standing around talking about what had happened. I got angry because I thought they were playing a really horrible joke on me--a passenger jet flying into a government building was straight from Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor, and I said so, that they must've gotten it out of that book. When our professor said it had happened, that's when I knew it was really true.

I was scared...my dad was still in the Air Force at the time, and he had been on leave. I knew that if he wasn't recalled, he would be going home. The most terrifying thing was realizing that all of a sudden, we were at war, and not knowing how far it was going to go.

I didn't actually SEE the actual footage of the attacks until I went back to the dorm, trying to call everybody I knew (I have relatives in the DC area) to make sure they were OK. I remember how hard it was to make phone calls that day, especially to that part of the country, and somehow that just made it worse. One other sight that just chills me for some reason was that at one point during the day, the CNN website was stripped down to absolute bare bones--nothing but text and links...I guess to maximize bandwidth so that people could still get through even with the high traffic.

I remember how close people came on that day and those first few weeks, and was very deeply moved by that.

It didn't last, though and soon people were at each other's throats worse than ever (and still are)--and though I didn't realize it right away, I think something in me was destroyed on that day. I know it seems silly considering I didn't know anyone who was actually hurt in the attacks, but I don't think I'm the same person I would've been otherwise.

 

[Amaris]

This may seem crazy to some of you, but I'd been experiencing a buildup of fear before the attacks happened. I can't remember exactly what day it was, but I remembered at one point walking past a well-known building on our campus and feeling a sudden fear that terrorists would destroy this landmark. Being that it was a small town out in the country, I knew very well it was irrational and dismissed it as stupid, but I still felt uneasy.

Which is why it struck me as odd that apparently, I slept through the entire thing. My roommate was already out, so nobody woke me up, and I guess people must've been glued to their TVs as I walked to class, because I never noticed anything odd. I got up to go to my first class, having never turned on a TV or my computer, and when I got there, everyone was standing around talking about what had happened. I got angry because I thought they were playing a really horrible joke on me--a passenger jet flying into a government building was straight from Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor, and I said so, that they must've gotten it out of that book. When our professor said it had happened, that's when I knew it was really true.

I was scared...my dad was still in the Air Force at the time, and he had been on leave. I knew that if he wasn't recalled, he would be going home. The most terrifying thing was realizing that all of a sudden, we were at war, and not knowing how far it was going to go.

I didn't actually SEE the actual footage of the attacks until I went back to the dorm, trying to call everybody I knew (I have relatives in the DC area) to make sure they were OK. I remember how hard it was to make phone calls that day, especially to that part of the country, and somehow that just made it worse.

I remember how close people came on that day and those first few weeks, and was very deeply moved by that.

It didn't last, though and soon people were at each other's throats worse than ever (and still are)--and though I didn't realize it right away, I think something in me was destroyed on that day. I know it seems silly considering I didn't know anyone who was actually hurt in the attacks, but I don't think I'm the same person I would've been otherwise.

Empathy plays a large part of it. When you can see the pain in the eyes and hearts of your friends and neighbors, you share in that pain. One of my friends was in New York, and I didn't hear from him for several days and I was worried until he finally got hold of another friend who was able to get that back to me that he was okay and hadn't visited the WTC that day.

We share this pain, this fear. We work to overcome it together. Don't feel bad or ashamed because something changed in you. This was a major event in our history as a nation, and like those who lived during the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, our perspectives changed. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that.

 

[Jetfire]

 

[JarodRussell]

Superman has a dog?

 

[Jetfire]

^
Yes. Krypto.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

We share this pain, this fear. We work to overcome it together. Don't feel bad or ashamed because something changed in you. This was a major event in our history as a nation, and like those who lived during the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, our perspectives changed. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that.

I think I am a far more distrusting person than I would have been otherwise. I don't see that changing.

 

[Amaris]

We share this pain, this fear. We work to overcome it together. Don't feel bad or ashamed because something changed in you. This was a major event in our history as a nation, and like those who lived during the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, our perspectives changed. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that.

I think I am a far more distrusting person than I would have been otherwise. I don't see that changing.

Often we can't see around the next bend in the road. Sometimes we suspect it. Often, however, when we reach it, we are not surprised, we merely adjust our course and carry on, in a new direction, and it still feels that we're on the right road.

 

[Major Chord]

I was in elementary school-4th grade...they didn't tell us anything during the day, but I have a feeling the faculty knew. Apparently at the High School, most teachers stopped teaching their classes (especially history teachers) and plugged in a classroom TV. They also had a projector hooked up to one TV, to play on the giant projector screen in the auditorium (similar to what they did for Obama's inauguration). It may sound odd, but I wish I was older, so I could experience that, instead of my day of blissful ignorance.

I got home, and had no choice but to watch the news; we had Direct TV, but only had one line, so both TVs viewed the same thing at once. My dad worked as a paramedic for a local ambulance company which was sending ambulances down that week to help in the recovery efforts. He wasn't chosen to go, but a health teacher I had in High school (worked for the same company) was. Showed us a ton of pictures...intense stuff.

I guess I really grew up in a post 9/11 world...I was only 8 or 9 when it happened.

 

[Kira's Mom]

^You're a real young'un! My nephew was also in fourth grade. He got the day off from school- his school was one of the few in the D.C. area that closed. It might have been because it was so close to a military base...

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I was living in Indiana at the time and it started out like any other day. I was living in my mother's house and everyone was gone but me. I got up and was doing something mundane (replacing a broken CD jewel case, I think) and all of a sudden my mother called to ask if I'd turned on the TV or anything. I hadn't--I had no idea what was going on. She told me to turn it on and the first thing I saw was the two WTC towers smoking and on fire. She said we were "under siege" and I wasn't even sure what to make of it. She had to get back to work and I had to get ready for class.

Classes were weird that day. We didn't talk about anything other than the attacks. People were very emotional and upset. Someone in this thread said that, at the time, there was no way to know if the attacks were over yet--and I remember feeling that way for the rest of the day. I couldn't stay glued to a TV but I was getting CNN alerts in my email, and they reported all kinds of things that later turned out not to be have happened: a bomb at the State Department, the Washington Mall on fire, various other things. Seeing those reports trickle in all day it felt almost like the world was ending. I was very glad most of them turned out to be false reports, but it was still an awful day.

That evening, I had to work in one of the computer labs on campus. The girl I relieved didn't even know anything had happened--it was 6PM and somehow she was totally unaware. She thought I was making it up when I told her.

I followed the news very closely for a long time after that, watching the buildup to our invasion of Afghanistan, the unveiling of the USA PATRIOT Act, the backlash against American Muslims. It was a really dark period and the only good that came out of it is the heroism of the rescue workers that day, and the solidarity shown by much of the rest of the world toward us. I certainly appreciated that and thought it was a really nice thing to see.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^I wouldn't say the only good thing. Remember...it reminded us, albiet temporarily, that nothing should ever be taken for granted. Not our security...not our freedom.



I remember...I was in 6th grade.

Though I was homeschooled most of my life, for the first half of the 2001/2002 school year, we were experimenting with my going to a private school. My dad and some friends were on a fishing trip in Canada.

Anyway...9/11 was just like any other day...untill about 3/4 of the way in. Without warning, an adult walks into my class (North American History), and informs me that I, and others in my specific school district, have been recalled home. She didn't say why.

I go into the bus, and ask the driver what's going on.

Because of the noise of the bus, I could barely make out what she said, at first...something about "the twin towers".

I frowned, unsure of what to make of it--but what she said next I could hear--and it made my blood run cold.

"It's a terrorist attack...on our country."

I sat in the bus, feeling nothing. When I was dropped off, I went straight inside. The TV was on, to the news. I plopped on the coutch ottoman, pulled it close to the TV...and sat there, watching the story, taking in what had happened....


Folks...we must never forget where we were on that day, when we first found out what had happened, nor must we forget how we felt, and how we were united in that immediate aftermath (albiet...temporarily).

Never forget. I know I won't.



On a side note...I find it interesting that there will now be four towers. I think it's appropriate that it's name is, or was, "Freedom". There are four towers...and there are the Four Freedoms of Norman Rockwell.

(I wonder if they'd consider putting in each building a super-sized plaque of each of those paintings. Perhaps the "Freedom From Fear" would be set in the tallest one....)

 

[SPCTRE]

If you're interested, here is news coverage from Sept 11 from the major networks. It's interesting to watch how absolutely banal some of the "news" of the morning was.

http://www.archive.org/details/sept_11_tv_archive

The CNN feed... that image of the one tower burning and smoking was the first image I saw when I came home from school that day and turned on the TV; I got to see the second impact live while my lunch turned cold in front of me.

I had a similar experience. It was the first day of school in our last year at the Gymnasium after the summer holidays, so we were home early, playing some Starcraft over at my buddy's place. At one point, I suggested turning on the radio for some reason. Minutes later, the regular programming was interrupted mid-song by a breaking news bit about a supposed accidental (!) collision of an airplane with a WTC tower in NYC. We stopped playing immediately and went downstairs to watch CNN.

My buddy's mom had just finished breast-feeding his baby sister and was watching TV. We switched to CNN. Minutes after we tuned in, the second plane hit.

 

[bluedana]

I left my office to go to a conference at a hotel downtown after the first plane struck. We thought it was an accident. By the time I got to the Park Plaza, CNN was reporting the second plane. I was in a room full of federal agents. All at once, their beepers/cell phones went off, and they all bolted. It was like the end of the world.

It took hours to drive home that day -- the streets were absolutely clogged.

We waited until our little boy was in bed before we put the news on because we didn't know what we'd see. What I remember most is not being able to talk. Our house was just silent, except for our son, who was about 5 at the time, just repeating: What happened, Mummy? Mummy, what happened?

 

[clint g]

In my case, I was in the 9th grade when it happened attending a High School in Brooklyn. The funny thing about it is that even though we were maybe 15 minutes by subway from the World Trade Center (only 5 or so stops by train), we knew absolutely nothing. All we did know is that there was major fire or something going on since there were sirens going off non-stop. Eventually we started hearing rumors about the White House being hit and the World Trade Center being hit but I didn't find out anything solid until my dad came and picked me up. By that time the first tower had collapsed, or so my dad thought. For all intents and purposes the streets were dead. It was eerie, it was the first time I had ever seen the streets of NY dead. Every once in a while however you would see pockets of people roaming, trying to find a way home. Since mass-transit wasn't working most of us had a pretty long walk to get back to our houses. It was almost like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie. One thing that sticks with me is walking past a police station and seeing cops surrounding it, armed with shotguns and rifles. It was the first time I had ever seen such a thing. The air was even a little hazy as the dust and smoke flowed over the borough. Out of everything I experienced, I would have to say that 9/11 will be the one that stays with me.