Where were you on September 11, 2001?

[fatalrendezvous]

This thread is not intended to discuss politics, but to reflect.

It just dawned on me that tomorrow, it will have been 12 years since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Every year, I try to think back to where I was, how I saw it happen, what I remember, what people said, everything.

I know that some of the folks on Iwaku are too young to really remember it, and that there are also a good portion who aren't from the US, and thus weren't as heavily affected by it. Nonetheless I'd still like to hear your stories about it if you recall them.

I was in 10th grade at the time, about 15 years old. I remember hearing about it on radio during the drive to school, but I was with our housekeeper in the car (who only spoke Chinese, no English) so I couldn't confirm with her about what had happened or what was really going on. I had marching band practice early before school started, and some of the other kids were talking about it but nobody seemed to really have a grasp on the magnitude of the situation.

Then I went to 2nd period, which for me was History, with a teacher I'm not very fond of. I still don't like her, but that day she was showing the news on TV in class and she said something which I have a lot of respect for. She said, "Remember this moment. You are watching history in the making right now. Years from now your kids will ask you about this day, about this moment. And you may not want to remember it right now, but if you don't, you will wish you remembered it then."

So I remembered. I still remember. Before 9/11, I didn't identify so strongly with the USA. Not out of disrespect or dissatisfaction, but I had just never even considered it or thought about it. When the country came under attack in a big way like that, I realized that indirectly, I had come under attack. And it's sad that it requires tragedy like that to ignite the flames of patriotism, but it just goes to show how adversity can bring people together. I'm not saying America is perfect; I'm not that foolish. I know the country has its flaws, and in some regards it has a long way to go. But there's no other place I'd be prouder to call home.

 

[Knives]

I was in school as well, one year older than yourself. We found out because my teacher was fond of the news, and when we saw what was going on, I was one of the ones tasked with going from classroom to classroom, telling the other teachers to turn it to the news while my teacher went to the main office to tell our principal.

 

[LogicfromLogic]

I was in fourth grade at the time, but I remember it very, very well. My cousin's friend was in the Trade center when the plane hit. i remember the teachers collecting in the hallway, a few were crying. At the time we had no idea what was happening just that something serious had happened. An assembly was held and we were informed of the attack, and were promptly all sent home that day.

I didn't fully understand what was going on, but my foster mother explained it to me in a very good way. 'There are some very bad people out there Al, some people who don't like what we do in our homes and how we live. So they hurt us, and hurting people is wrong. Remember that and do your best to keep yourself out of trouble.' Now I fully understand what went on that day, as being a twenty one year old I'd like to say that I have a very goods awareness.

What can we do to stop something like this from happening again?

We can't; but what we can do is never forget about this, and never let yourself stoop to hating someone, that adds to the cycle, and it all ends the same way; someone gets hurt. I don't look at my country the same way anymore, while I still am angry with my country right now does not mean that I am going to be anything but loyal to it. Many people died in those attacks, and we should never forget them, but don't disgrace their memory by giving in to what caused that.

 

[Fluffy]

I was in 5th grade at the time, I believe. My memory already isn't very good, so I can't remember specifically what was going on. I think the news was on when I was on my way out the door, going to the school bus. When I got to class, I sat down and we started our usual morning routine. Sometime later, someone wheeled in a television so we could watch the news about what was going on.

At the time, I was young and confused. I was also very sheltered. So, I didn't understand terrorism, or even why the World Trade Center was important. (I'm the first born, so my parents neglected to shine down on me with some rays of wisdom. e__e) I can remember the look on my teacher's face... Her name was Ms. Stevenson, I think. Her jaw dropped, and she stared at the TV with so much sadness.

I can remember thinking about the families who lost their beloved friends, siblings, etc... It was a heavy, tragic loss. Our school contributed a moment of silence during an assembly. It was so eerily quiet that you could hear a pin drop at the center if the gym. That many children, staying that silent? I was proud of us.

 

[Mittens83]

It's crazy to think this happened so long ago...This day was confusing for me. I was 8 years old and I remember we had a morning assembly. That was normal for my school, but the next few events weren't something that happened everyday. We were told to go to our homerooms and to wait there as the teachers discussed something. We figured it had something to do with school events, so, being kids, we screwed around until our homeroom teacher got back.

I was quiet back then, hardly saying much to anyone at all, but something felt wrong to me. Obviously I hadn't watched the news, I was a kid, I turned on cartoons in the morning before school. When the teachers finally came back, we were told to get out jackets on and follow our teachers outside. This was when the rest of the kids finally realized something was up. Everyone was quiet, for the most part. We knew something was up but no one would have expected what we were about to be told.

We waited in groups of grades and homerooms until our Principal came out. Everyone got really quiet when he started to speak, explaining to us what had happened. I remember he asked us to stand and have a moment of silence for those who were killed and for their families. The rest of the day went by too slow. I remember wanting to go home. I was scared and worried about what was going to happen during the days that followed. Our multi-purpose room turned into a sort of news room, having a bunch of tvs in it on different channels. We didn't learn much that day as the teachers spent most of their time explaining to us older kids the details of what happened, to the extent of their knowledge, and going to the multi-purpose room to check on the news.

Thinking back to it still makes me sad. I remember everyone crying for people we didn't even know, and for families who couldn't see their loved ones anymore. I remember consoling my brother then too, spending most of the day with him even though he was a grade younger than me. When we got home, our Mum hugged us and tried to explain what had happened. I remember her being mad that our school for not letting us come home, but I figured that it was better for us to have stayed.

It's crazy how when something this tragic happens, the world remembers the day like it was yesterday, no matter where they live in the world.

 

[Falcon]

It was my freshman year in high school so I would have been 14. I was waiting with a group of kids in my neighborhood for the bus and my classmate who lived in the house next to the bus stop came running out just as the bus appeared down the block. He was usually the last one there so I didn't think anything of it until he started rambling on about a plane flying into the Towers and how it had to be some sort of practical joke. Of coarse by that time the bus was there so there was no time for anyone to figure out what he was talking about.

By the time we got to school the teachers had turned all the monitors onto CNN (they were usually used for morning announcements and any projects the broadcast and communications class put together) and everybody was watching. I think they turned out first class period into a study hall, but most of us just watched the news, and by second period they had announced that those of us who could get parental permission could go home. For those of use who stayed they turned the career advisement room into a sort of media area for those who wanted to sit there and watch, and the rest of us went to class, though the monitors stayed on the news and classes were pretty much what ever they teacher felt like doing.

If I remember correctly my chemistry teacher tried to cheer us up by letting us choose whatever activity we liked which turned into someone convincing him to teach us how to make dry ice bombs out of cheep water bottles. Of course by that time there were only ten out of twenty left in class so that might have something to do with it.

 

[Red Revolver]

I was only a little girl starting out in school when 9/11 hit. A little over 6 years old.

Being in Canada at the time, I was not well-aware what was going on in our neighbouring country on the very hour the first tower was struck. However, if my memory allows it, I do remember sitting on the carpet floor with my older brother playing with my toys when I glanced over to our mom and saw her concerned about something just before telling me to pick up my toys to head out somewhere. While I did, I heard my mom on the phone and I remember hearing her asking if things were alright, so I assumed she was talking to an Aunt of mine back in the US. It's very blurry on my part what happened next or what time I saw it or why I wasn't at school, I honestly can't remember well, but I do remember my mom saying this to herself after picking up my toys: "It seems like something out of Hollywood....oh god....the jumping felt like it was all acting..." then some other stuff I can't fully recall, but I knew she said it right in front of me thereafter.

A couple of years later; I'd say two at least, I fully understood the situation that occurred on 9/11 during a moment of silence/respect held at class by our teacher. I was too young at the time of the attacks to get the full reason why it happened, be it political or religious, whatever, But I did feel very hurt to know that in this world there will always be some who will disturb the peace on a whim without caring about whoever they hurt along the way. It was such a difficult time during the 2001 and post 9/11 months to come as I see it now as an adult. Everything was just never the same in North America and the world.

I sometimes do wish I were a little older to at least remember completely on where I was, exact time, etc. Then there's a big part of me that just tells me that things shouldn't have been like that. I was better off young to not fully get what was going on.

 

[Kitti]

I was in third grade, if I'm not mistaken. My teachers gathered us all into the rooms at the center of the building and I remember some of them crying. We weren't doing lessons, we just had the radio on and we were listening to what was happening. Then, since the room that I was in still had a window, I remember looking out of the windows and seeing all the planes. I lived right at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, then, which houses one of the "safe zones", Norad, which meant the sky was full of planes that day.

 

[Blackangel]

I remember well where I was in 2001.

I was a freshman in high school. At the time of the first plane, I was in computer Engineering Tech 1 with one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Greir, at the N.F. Woods Tech campus. It was toward the end of class, and we had all finished early, so we had the TV on, tuned to the Weather Channel. A small news blurb scrolled along the bottom, though no one really paid attention. The bell rang, and we boarded to buses to head to the main campus. My next class ( third period) was P.E., and my path to the locker room went passed the coachs' office, and they had MSNBC on the TV, and they were covering the second plane hitting, and replaying the impact. It was about that time reports of the Pentagon being hit.

I never found out until later that the Towers had collapsed, though in my World History class at the end of the day, the teacher had thrown out the lesson plan for the day, and told us to discuss what had happened. Understandably, there was anger, once we as the US found out who did this, but I said that not all Middleeasterners were guilty by association.

We saw the horror Man can visit upon his kind, but we also saw the heroism that Man is capable of, regardless of the cost to the heros.

 

[Lonely Angel]

I was at home with my younger sister and dad. My mom had gone to a forum on homelessness and my older sister was at the horse farm where she worked. She called us up, and told dad to turn on the news, which we switched to from the cartoons we were watching. The first tower was already hit. I was only 11, but I could tell it was serious. My younger sister and I went to our room to play quietly, and mom came home soon because the forum was canceled. It was so quiet outside for the next few days. I had never realized until then how many planes had flown over our house.

 

[angrycactuar]

I was in 2nd grade, doing some sort of math when it happened. I didn't understand what was going on, but they turned off all the lights in the school and put on movies for everybody while the teachers grouped up and cried together. They sent us all home early and when I got in the door, my mother was sitting on the couch and my older sister, Amanda, was sitting with her and they were crying while watching the news.

I wish I could've understood what was happening a little better, but nobody wanted to explain it to me as I was very young.

 

[Saint Tribs]

Sophomore year in High School. We were between classes and I remember walking into ... English, I believe it was. A few kids were gathered around the tv and I stopped and stared for a minute and wondered what movie they were watching. Then it dawned on me that it wasn't a movie. It was very surreal. I remember just standing there and watching the tv with the rest that trickled in. We weren't allowed to leave the school, the doors were kept shut and everything. It was very quiet.

 

[Lady Sabine]

I was in kindergarten. I had turned five less than a month before, and started my very first year of school maybe one, two weeks earlier? I didn't really know what normal was, and the school didn't want to scare anyone, so they kept it pretty calm. We had an early out already planned for that day, so by the time the fear really got going we were already leaving. I don't recall much being out of the ordinary, to be honest.

Most of my memories were from 9/11 in later years. I moved to a much, much more conservative town and we were given the good old "This is why you need America, because everyone wants to kill you because they're jealous of your freedom" fear speeches once per year to keep the fear of god George Bush in us. Only this year (my senior year) did one of my teachers show us the actual footage in a classroom- and he could have gotten sacked for it, given it's a banned video.
It did make me reflect, though I wish I had been older and had more comprehension at the time. I don't really feel like I "lived through nine eleven", persay, since I wasn't really old enough to understand anything, and lived halfway across the country. Everything I know of it I've learned in years since.