Seven years on.

[david petley]

In Australia, it is already 9/11 ...and I was sitting here reflecting on what was going on 7 years ago.

I was doing the same thing then I am now, sitting at my keyboard, a gazillion browser windows open, a TV news station blasting away in the other room.

i heard the news of the first plane crashing into the building and was at the TV in time to watch footage of that first horrible moment.

I rushed back to my keyboard and raised this thread.

I have just been rereading it, jumping around seeing what was being said, and I cannot describe how much I have relived those first couple of days. I am so glad we have this repository of peoples thoughts and typings over 8 years to reflect upon.

david

btw, I renamed it a few years ago so it could be found in a search

[jAQUAN]

Whoa what a thread. I got to about page 5 just now and started to tear up. Had to stop reading. I wasn't participating here at the time but I remember every second of that day.
I was sleeping in from an all nighter when my brother called and woke up my room mate. I heard him say "Oh my god!" so I sat up and turned on the TV. Everything had happened by that time and they were running down a recap. It was too much to fathom in 30 seconds. In denial I fell back asleep and had a dream about the all the streets in my neighborhood being used as spare runway for anything that could fly. Then I just sat in the living room watching the news all day. I cried on and off all day in pure shock.
The only thing that shook me out of if was my clients calling saying they wanted to start printing shirts right away. I was happy to feel like I was doing something and cranked out design after design for free.

That friday there was a televised concert with all kinds of bands playing songs and asking for donations. That's when I really broke down and balled my eyes out.

I never hurt more however until they started talking about Iraq. I was sick at the thought of wasted patriotism and knew I was seeing the last of our chance to heal. It's so hard to see 911 as something other than a false flag incident but either reality is equally hard to comprehend.

I'm choked up just thinking about it. My gf has a couple passes to the pentagon memorial presentation tomorrow but they're closing down half the freeways so I don't know if we'd make it in time.

[gerbick]

Man, it was insanity. I was en route from Richmond/Lorton and crossing the Potomac to either Pentagon City or perhaps the server building for the DLA or DoD around on I-495 and I-50 when all of this insanity happened.

I settled into Virginia Beach for like the next 14 days or something after the fact. Even lost a colleague at the Pentagon. I somehow had enough clearance to get back into Richmond's DSCR that very same day, which surprised everybody due to them being at the highest level of security they had been in since the Cuban Missile Crisis and finished an install remotely.

While crossing the Potomac on I-95 - they were screaming into the phone from the office - Modulant, I was working right in Daniel's Island at the time - screaming "DON'T GO THERE!"

And to imagine, I was a few minutes late because of a speeding ticket I got that morning. It was sheer ****ing insanity.

[hanratty21]

I was working 5 blocks from WTC. Long day that was...long week and month too.

[koolbabs2000]

I was home on a holiday and was just about to go out in the evening when my sister called me to check this news on TV. I was shocked beyond belief.

Let us all say a small pray for all the ones who suffered and also for the misled youth who were brainwashed into doing this.

[chrismitchell]

I can't actually remember where I was ... sad I know.. I was probably at work somewhere and didn't find out about it until I got home..

[WannaBe_80z]

I was in school during study hall when we first heard about it. No one in the room even cared. A teacher came in and told us that a plane had hit the WTC but no one even knew what it was. I couldn't believe how dumb people are. I saw the buildings go down live. I think I was also the only one comprehending that we had just watched hundreds of people die on live television.

[carly1979]

i was at home.... my sister called to tell me about it and i saw it all happening on tv live from the second plane crashing. was pretty surreal.

i was working as cabin crew at the time. only on european [mostly] flights, but it was a weird time. i think all flights were grounded for a day or so, but when i went back everything was different- everyone was spooked.

[webdreamer]

I was building a project in Director and had just come home from meeting the client. i just caught the second plane hitting the tower. I have never felt a feeling like it. My heart just sank.

[CVO Chris]

That thread is just like a trip back through time. So many people speculating on who done it, what happened and a lot of anger on view.

That day I walked in to my living room and saw my brother glued to the news. It was over when I found out and they were showing live pictures of where the 2 towers stood. The dust was still in the air and I initially thought a massive bomb went off. Even contemplated a small nuclear device.

Then I was told what happened and they replayed one of the planes going in to the tower and then the towers collapsing. I was thinking wow. Such an evil thing to do but at the same time an amazing and awesome sight.

So many years on we have have fought multiple wars, lost many good soldiers, wasted soo much money and lost most of our civil liberties because of the actions of a small group of terrorists, inept leadership from our politicians and carelessness from those who are entrusted with our security.

[Loyal Rogue]

I was working in a customer's home at the time.
I remember him having the news on in the living room and when they started talking about the first plane crash we both just stood and stared at the TV.
I finished my install and went down to the truck thinking it was a horrible accident.
I turned on the radio and Howard Stern was talking about a small private plane and what a terrible pilot must have been flying when the second plane hit.
Then we all knew it wasn't an accident.
I just sat in my truck and did nothing but flip channels for the next hour or two.
The rest of that day was just a zombified blur of going thru the motions.

[silverx2]

i was in gym class when the first plane hit, the entire school shut down, students went to the nearest room that wasnt filled to try and follow it on the news.

it almost didnt feel like it was real, it felt like a twisted nightmare.

[jAQUAN]

No disrespect but I'm watching coverage of the pentagon memorial where there's a bench and a tree for each victim and wondering, did they find any bodies at the site? I can't remember.

[ViRGo_RK]

I was in band, 6th grade... The notoriously crazy teacher came in and told us, but we blew it off at first. Flipped the TV on just in time to see the second one hit...

We couldn't comprehend it at the time.

[lesli_felix]

8000 people died from aids in africa on the same day. Just that no-one was pointing a camera at them.

Perspective.

I has it.

[silverx2]

8000 people died from aids in africa on the same day. Just that no-one was pointing a camera at them.

Perspective.

I has it.

those 8000 people didnt buy a ticket on a plane that was highjacked and flown into the side of a tower that housed 14000 other people that were trying to work and do their jobs.

similarities.

i dont see them.

i sneezed into a tissue and killed millions of germs. nobodies cares.

8000 people die from a killer virus. it happens, its nature. thousands of people are killed by an act of hate. Different beast, differnt reaction.

[lesli_felix]

You've made some *very* disturbing comparisons there.

Shall we just forget about this and leave the thread to nice people?

[silverx2]

no id rather not.

i want to know how you can compare 8000 people dying to a virus that they caught through various means(most of which i assume dont include being flown into a building), And the fact that thousdands of people were murdered?

how does that give you perspective?

thousands of people in an instant had their lives ENDED, because a group of people decided they wanted to send a message.
thousands of people die because of a virus that does NOT have a cure.

which is worse in your opinion? That thousdands of people know they are going to die long before they do(everybody) or a smaller number of people that are snuffed out without ever getting to say goodbye?

[lesli_felix]

The same thing has happened every day since. That's over 20 million. No comparison at all, to be honest.

And it's not nature, it's a consequence of global socioeconomics.

That's also the only thing they really have in common with the victims of 9/11

[gerbick]

Strangers die everyday due to decisions they've either made in their life or people immediately around them have made. In the case of African AIDS, it's a dire situation that is being propagated by sheer idiocy and ignorance - besides not getting tested, men are told by so-called shamans that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS.

That's as misguided as the brainwashed individuals that hijacked three planes and took the lives of people that really had made other decisions for their day/travel and were unfortunately railroaded into the decision of the misguided folks and died in an unfortunate situation.

Perspective, as previously bragged about is also to understand the surrounding circumstances that lead to the final result. In one hand, you have uneducated choices about sex that lead to a death of many. On the other hand, you have persuasion involved to force an (normally) rational being to make an irrational choice and include hundreds/thousands of people unwillingly that lead to the death of many.

Both are steeped in ignorance and rank idiotic/lacking of logic. I won't put one on top of the other. As it stands, they have a lot in common; people invariably loved the people that passed away.

Leave it at that. That's my perspective...