Remembering 9-11-01

[sandyshoes]

Nineteen years ago today, we were all just "Americans".  Never Forget. 

[marcuscnelson]

Nineteen years ago, I was four months old. I don't think I had the slightest idea of what happened on that Tuesday, which is strange to think about in hindsight. Nevertheless, it's days like that which define all of us. Never Forget.

[Ken_FSU]

An important day to remember not just the American lives lost, but also the lives needlessly and tragically lost in the aftermath as well.

Really dark period in American history, for a lot of reasons.

Sending thoughts and prayers to all those effected.

[Steve]

Nineteen years ago, I was four months old. I don't think I had the slightest idea of what happened on that Tuesday, which is strange to think about in hindsight. Nevertheless, it's days like that which define all of us. Never Forget.

It's not entirely crazy. I still think about my reaction:

I was at JU, and woke up a combination of tired/hungover on a Tuesday morning, threw on some clothes quickly and rushed off to class so I wasn't late. As I was leaving someone said to me, "A plane crashed into the World Trade Center." I didn't really get it though...I was thinking it was like a small plane or helicopter or something. I was thinking bad but not catastrophic. I got into the car to drive to class because I was running late and didn't have time to walk and every radio station had already flipped to news. In the 4 minutes it took me to drive I was stunned - I understood what was happening.

[Ken_FSU]

Nineteen years ago, I was four months old. I don't think I had the slightest idea of what happened on that Tuesday, which is strange to think about in hindsight. Nevertheless, it's days like that which define all of us. Never Forget.

It's not entirely crazy. I still think about my reaction:

I was at JU, and woke up a combination of tired/hungover on a Tuesday morning, threw on some clothes quickly and rushed off to class so I wasn't late. As I was leaving someone said to me, "A plane crashed into the World Trade Center." I didn't really get it though...I was thinking it was like a small plane or helicopter or something. I was thinking bad but not catastrophic. I got into the car to drive to class because I was running late and didn't have time to walk and every radio station had already flipped to news. In the 4 minutes it took me to drive I was stunned - I understood what was happening.

I've got a similar story.

Was at Florida State, had been out drinking the night before, and woke up like 15 minutes before class was starting.

If you've spent time around the campus, you'll know that it's nearly impossible to find parking on campus, and traffic is gridlocked from like 8 AM until 6 PM.

I sped to class, but when I pulled into campus, the parking lots were completely empty. The only people around were a few students running across campus and yelling that America was under attack. I had no idea what was going on.

Probably the eeriest thing I've ever experienced, except maybe those first few days of the covid shutdown.

[thelakelander]

I was at work, when a co-worker heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We then turned on the tv and continued to watch in horror as the second plane hit and news came in about the crashes into the Pentagon and PA. Then our boss told everyone to turn the tv off and get back to work.

[Wacca Pilatka]

I was at University of Texas.  That morning in my building's cafeteria, I saw the reports of a plane crash into the first tower.  It didn't register that this was a big plane, and I paid it little attention, thinking it was something on the order of the small plane that hit the Empire State Building many years before.  I must have left right before the second plane hit.

Took the bus to school, and by the time I got to Townes Hall, a huge crowd had formed around the one television in the lounge area, dense enough that I couldn't see it.  Right before my 9:00 class started, people started screaming and cursing, and I later learned that this was because the first of the towers collapsed.

I had three consecutive classes that morning.  First professor did not acknowledge the day's events at all.  The second gave a little speech before class about how the best thing we could do as Americans is go on with our daily lives as normal.  During the third class, I started hearing people murmuring about the Pentagon, a plane crash in Pennsylvania, and some of the false rumors that were circulating that day, e.g., fires on the Mall in D.C.

I skipped my remaining classes and spent the rest of the day transfixed in horror in front of the television.  I'm pretty sure I'd still count it as the worst day ever.

Reading "The Only Plane In The Sky" and watching a few other documentaries lately, it was striking to think about the terror and confusion for those who happened to be airborne when the attacks happened and didn't know what was happening as they were suddenly forced to land or diverted to Newfoundland, or heard the sketchiest of information.  I read of one dad who closed the window shades on his plane because the pilot vaguely announced a national emergency and he feared his daughter would see the outcome of a nuclear attack.

[Adam White]

Nineteen years ago, I was four months old. I don't think I had the slightest idea of what happened on that Tuesday, which is strange to think about in hindsight. Nevertheless, it's days like that which define all of us. Never Forget.

Okay, well now I feel old AF.

[BridgeTroll]

Nineteen years ago today, we were all just "Americans".  Never Forget. 

We still are... Never/Cannot forget...

[sandyshoes]

Let me try to clarify this further...nineteen years ago today, we were all Americans, of a more Norman Rockwell-esque ilk.  At the time of 9/11, I don't believe any of our own country's citizens were out rioting, looting, burning stores, taking over towns, accosting people who ate at restaurants because they demanded an agenda be supported.  In short - nobody was doing the stuff that's happening in our country now.  Afterwards, I remember how nearly every home had an American flag flying, and people seemed a little more civil to each other after the foreign attacks on American soil.  Now it seems we're doing in each other. 

[BridgeTroll]

Ok... After the attack. A few months prior the Supreme court had to decide the election... Hanging chads etc... W was not very popular.  We rallied behind a wartime president... temporarily.

[Charles Hunter]

Let me try to clarify this further...nineteen years ago today, we were all Americans, of a more Norman Rockwell-esque ilk.  At the time of 9/11, I don't believe any of our own country's citizens were out rioting, looting, burning stores, taking over towns, accosting people who ate at restaurants because they demanded an agenda be supported.  In short - nobody was doing the stuff that's happening in our country now.  Afterwards, I remember how nearly every home had an American flag flying, and people seemed a little more civil to each other after the foreign attacks on American soil.  Now it seems we're doing in each other. 

Unless you were Muslim, or looked Muslim, or had a Middle Eastern sounding name.

[Tacachale]

I was in English class in the basement of Turlington Hall at the University of Florida. We were underground so no one got calls or text messages or anything. After class, we came out and there was no one on campus. That never happened so I knew something major was up. When I got back to my apartment, my roommates were watching the news and told me what was happening. I almost couldn't believe it. It took a minute to process it.

[Adam White]

Let me try to clarify this further...nineteen years ago today, we were all Americans, of a more Norman Rockwell-esque ilk.  At the time of 9/11, I don't believe any of our own country's citizens were out rioting, looting, burning stores, taking over towns, accosting people who ate at restaurants because they demanded an agenda be supported.  In short - nobody was doing the stuff that's happening in our country now.  Afterwards, I remember how nearly every home had an American flag flying, and people seemed a little more civil to each other after the foreign attacks on American soil.  Now it seems we're doing in each other.

I think you probably just don't remember stuff or it wasn't on your radar at the time. People have been rioting or protesting for a long time. And you can ask lots of older black Americans about being accosted while they ate because they didn't support a particular agenda.

America was hardly Rockwellesque. This isn't a judgment of America - it is what it is and it was what it was. America - like anywhere - is a complicated, multi-faceted place.

[Adam White]

I was in English class in the basement of Turlington Hall at the University of Florida. We were underground so no one got calls or text messages or anything. After class, we came out and there was no one on campus. That never happened so I knew something major was up. When I got back to my apartment, my roommates were watching the news and told me what was happening. I almost couldn't believe it. It took a minute to process it.

Did they still also call Turlington "GPA" when you were there? I had classes there during my brief spell at UF in 1990. At the time, it was mainly science classes being held there.

Edit: probably more accurate to say I mainly had science classes there, as I have no idea what other people were up to!