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9/11 The Anniversary.. What Did You Do Today?

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saucycobblers:
It was about 3 in the afternoon when we heard about 9/11 here in the UK. I remember a bloke called Dave from one of the adjoining offices (we had no internet access on our PCs) racing in with his eyes out on stalks clutching a page he'd printed from the NBC website showing the towers ablaze. At the time I was working for an organization attempting to get compensation for victims of the Holocaust and their families who had lost property and all other assets during the occupation. I'd spent all day reading terrible stories of families being torn apart, and I remember being oversome with sadness and bursting into tears at the thought of the children of the people killed in the towers, having read first-hand accounts by the children of the Holocaust victims of what it had meant to them to lose sometimes entire families under such circumstances.

All the terristrial channels in the UK are running 9/11 documentaries tonight and I'm crying all over again... :'(

Sheyne:

It was very late at night on the 11th that we here in Australia heard about it, around 11pm, from memory.  I was just walking past my parents bedroom when the show that was on television stopped and a "Special News Bulletin" cut in. It reported that a passenger aircraft had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in New York. I remember feeling hollow - but not comprehending at that point that this was an act of terrorism. I went to bed, shocked and saddened by this terrible "accident". As I awoke the next morning, something felt very wrong. I remember the plane "accident" and then it dawned on me, quite horribly, that New York is restricted airspace and an "accident" couldn't happen because planes don't fly over there.  I leapt out of bed and oh my god, it was everywhere.  Some 6 or so minutes after I'd gone to bed that previous night, the other tower had been hit. By that time, they'd both collapsed, the Pentagon had been hit and United 93 had gone down in Pennsylvania.

I cannot describe the fear I felt looking at the television screen. There was a surreal automaticity with which the items were being chronicled. I remember thinking to myself "This world is never going to be the same after this". I was morbidly transfixed to those images of the planes hitting the buildings, as though just one more viewing would make it sink-in; make it real to me. But here we are, five years later and I still can't quite grasp it.

America will never forget. But trust me, neither will the rest of the world.   :'(

Front-Ranger:
mwah, Sheyne! That's what boggles my mind: the U.S. had the cooperation and well wishes of the entire world, and we squandered it!!

moremojo:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on September 11, 2006, 02:54:06 pm ---The way that I personally have responded to the tragedy of 9-11 is by supporting an organization that builds schools for girls in the Himalayan countries. The more girls in these cultures that can be educated, the fewer unwanted children will be born, and those children who are born will be wanted, loved, and nurtured. That's the only real way to wage war on terrorism, IMHO.
--- End quote ---
I like your way of thinking, Lee. The battle to heal and eradicate hatred always begins and ends within our own hearts.

delalluvia:
There were observances all over the country, Sheyne.  Different areas had moments of silence, memorials, etc.  My company, of course, did nothing in remembrance, not even a memo.  Personally. I wore all black today in memorial.  I've been doing this every year since 9/11 on this day.

On 9/11, I was in the same office, but we had a much more laid-back atmosphere back then and a woman kept a TV under her desk to watch her soaps.  I saw the net story online, but couldn't log onto it because it was getting so many hits.  Then word spread around the floor that this woman had it up on her TV.  We didn't know it was a large plane until the 2nd one hit.  We were all standing around this woman's cubical in shock.  We wandered back to our desks, then word came back round about the rumors of the plane that hit the Pentagon.  First they weren't sure it hit, then they said it was just a bomb going off in the parking lot, then it came back again and then again that it was another plane hitting the Pentagon.  We continued to work, but oh, you wondered at what might come at you out of the clear blue sky.

The TV was on all day, and we wandered over whenever we had the chance or listened to our radios to keep abreast of any more attacks.

When I left work that day, I drove numbly over to DFW airport, realizing never in my lifetime have I *not* seen or heard an airplane in the sky.  There was a silence I'd never heard before.  The skies were clear.  Totally.

I do know I started every time I heard a siren after that for weeks.

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