There may be no more powerful, defining event in our lives as Americans than 9/11. Like most people, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the WTC was hit. Please respectfully tell us where you were the moment you learned the terrorists planes hit the twin towers.
Please, no wild conspiracy theorists and no mocking or joking about the moment. We have other threads for that if you can't help yourself.
I'll go first:
I was on my way to a job interview in South Florida. As I approached the parking lot, the AM radio station I was listening to broke in with a report that a plane or hellicopter hit the WTC and little else was known. I thought it was strange, but did not believe it was a terrorist strike...probably a personal jet and the pilot had a heart attack or something.
When I got back in the car after my interview the second plane hadn't hit yet. A moment or two later, the 2nd plane struck. Now I was certain this was a terrorist attack, and I raced to my office to see what was going on. The TV there then showed the image of what I heard on the radio...unbelievable.
When the pentagon was hit, and then PA, I remember wandering outside to see if there were planes in the air over Ft Lauderdale. I was nervous the whole nation was being attacked, and felt a very strange sensation of being in a world gone upside down.
Going into 9/11 I was politically moderate and completely secular. I considered myself an independent who leaned right. After 9/11...well, I'm not going to get too political, but since that moment I have become the MZ you've all come to know and love.
-MZ
I was cooking in the kitchen of my own diner/restaurant (in the UK) at the time. I heard (but did not watch) reports of the first plane hitting the WTC and like most I assumed it was a bizarre accident but when the second plane hit I knew immediately that this was terrorism. Then the rest of the day unfolded like a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteLater on that night I went to pick up a packet of fags from the late shop, ran by a Muslim (but not observant) Turk. I remember that we both remarked that this was going to be very bad for the world in general.
I may not have time to put something commemorative up on my blog but my thoughts are with the US on this day.
Later on I might want to ask a few questions about your conversion, religious and political (but nothing personal).
sent the children off to school and pop was home - i thought it was a monday, but it could have been a tuesday without my checking - we were having coffee and watching the morning news - when the second plane hit, he called his dad in cali and told him to get up and watch the news that we were under attack - we knew at that moment - i wanted to go get my babies from school and bring them home.
ReplyDeletedo you recall they jacked the price of gas up that day?
I was driving a school bus and had just dropped off a load of kids to school. I came back to the bus barn and somebody told me that someone had hit the Twin Towers with a plane. I went inside and was watching live as the second plane hit. Having grown up in NYC and having stood on top of those towers and having felt them sway below my feet and having felt the wind rush through my hair while gazing over the City I was moved to immediate tears (even as I am now).
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ReplyDeleteI was watching cartoons with my 4 year old son when they cut away and showed a tower on fire.
ReplyDeleteI flipped the channel and all the stations were showing the same events. I then saw the other plane hit so all hope was lost that this was a bad movie.
I stared at the TV trying to wrap my mind around these events just as the first tower started coming down.
I turned off the TV because I thought I was going to puke.
I told my son that these attacks were the work of godless moslem scum.
I had a 3rd shift job at the time, so my routine was fairly normal - come home at 6 am, pop on the Nintendo 64 and start killing simulated enemies until I couldn't keep my eyes open.
ReplyDeleteI turned off the video game and the morning garbage TV shows were on, "Good Morning America" I believe it was. They were showing live footage of the North Tower on fire, and talking about a passenger jet having just crashed into it.
And then I saw the second plane hit the South Tower on live television.
I did not sleep for around a week after that. I was too jacked up on adrenaline, and mad as hell.
Still waiting for the war on terror to begin.
I just posted on this exact topic...well, a little while ago.
ReplyDeleteI was watching t.v. with a friend of mine and his sister in Neve Sharet, just North of Tel-Aviv. It was late and they were broadcasting the news. I came late. I think someone may have called me because they knew I was from America.
Like I say in my post, my first feeling was "Now the Americans will know what it's like to suffer from terrorist attacks. Now they won't ask us to give away anymore land."
Later I felt sorry for the victims. A feeling of guilt and fear penetrated me.
I was doing some early morning shopping with my brother. We had gotten in the car and cut the radio on. We were stunned beyond belief. We couldn't believe this had happened. We left the town we were in and headed back home. We stopped in the local mall. People were glued to the television sets around the place. We stayed there for awhile watching all the coverage and talkign with all the others in there.
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