Never forget

[JV3]

it was my last semester in college and remember watching the news and thought it was just an accident. i was looking literally in my rear view mirror at the towers' smoke while i drove to class. when i got there the classes were canceled and i tried to go back home but they shut down all incoming traffic to jersey city (right across nyc in nj) except emergency personnel only.

i was fortunate enough to not personally know anyone that died that day. the main reason i decided to do my first mtb race today was to show them they tried to destroy our way of life but failed. also, part of the proceeds went to a fallen firefighter's fund so it was my small way of saying thank you for those who sacrificed.

 

[willworship]

I was in classes at USF, and when I got back home my friends had the tv on and told me what happened. I watched as the second plane hit the other tower, and I sat there in complete shock and prayed. I can remember those moments like it was yesterday. I will never forget.

 

[dingobubba]

I was living with my folks at the time and was getting ready to go do some clearing of the family property in the mountains with my dad. I was waiting for him to get ready and turned on the tube and seen smoke coming from one of the towers and thought to myself "why are they showing footage from that failed attack in '93?" Then the reporter came on and said what was really happening. Had to call the family in to see it. An hour later I was called into work at my old EMS job. Ended up spending two days there waiting for word on us going up to NYC to help. Never did go.

 

[NixKustoms]

I was in the Navy when it happened; probably in for about 11 months. The ship I was stationed on had just mored up next to the ship I was soon to transfer to and I was standing on the quarterdeck waiting to speak with someone from the shop I was going to in a few days. While I was standing there waiting I couldn't help but hear someone passing talking about an airplane crashing into a building. I really didn't think much of it. After waiting a bit more I was told that no one was available to speak with me at that time so I went back to my ship. Walking past the office for my department I saw the news. I couldn't believe what I was watching. I went to my shop to try to find out more of what was going on. Shortly after that the Captain made an announcement to the ship that we were going to be getting underway again for an unknown amount of time.

For ten days we floated around, and the entire crew not knowing much of anything. When we pulled back into where we were before I was able to finaley transfer to my know command, and from there I was on the command ship for the Med Sea. I watch Tlambs launch from the Med and verious other things that I really can't talk about.

I do remember well though, watching CNN everyday, watching our ground troops kicking ass, and watching the air support dropping bombs.


I'll never forget that day.

 

[FAL'ER]

well, the media won't let us forget. that's for sure.

i'm a little bitter.

unfortunately, they don't really help us remember some important things.

i feel badly for those that died. especially as i've met some of them (boston plane, nyc tower, in particular)

really feel badly for all the first responders, who were the real patriots of the day, and many who died, and suffer to this day, and our govt that doesn't care

with some clarity, i recall that we grounded all the planes. on sept 12 we had a surfer's vigil on the ocean for all the lost, one of whom was one of us. the skies were eerily empty of everything. planes and helicopters. none.

though i also recall the govt specifically allowed certain privileged people to leave the country, because they knew they would be persecuted. later we find out that some of those that left were involved. nice one.

tsa. morally questionable searches, invasions of privacy, and more. disgusting. probable cancer inducing nudity level xray machines. we affect more people each day than were immediately affected 10 years ago. not cool.

investigations showed that the people involved were known nationality, and were here illegally or at least of sketchy terms, and the govt knew about it to some extent, and well, that's history. little was done about it though. we got into a war with a different people on the basis of the attacks. we still are for the most part. oh, and of course, the govt (govts in some cases) lied about it quite frequently. with vendetta, we went after people and families as well. what honor.

gitmo. waterboarding. other horrors, atrocities, extraditions, and so on. we've become the enemy. the world mostly hates us now.

then the patriot act, taking many of our freedoms, and essentially letting the terrorists win. in 10 years, the at has been used mostly for drugs crimes, and pretty much no terrorist activities at all. 100:1 ratio there, might as well be none, eh? 1740 vs 15. typical crimes vs terrorism.

have a url: http://nymag.com/news/9-11/10th-anniversary/patriot-act/

we were attacked. it was unique, as the USA just was not attacked in the world were other countries see this frequently. we've responded as best we could for the first time. we did okay. we were not graceful about it, but hopefully that can be fixed. we're moving on.

the best thing we can do is remember our loved ones, the people that responded at cost of their lives and health to save those they could, and to live our lives as if it never happened, and pursue our dreams and freedoms without fear. living out our lives in fear would be so wrong. so, be brave, and get out there, and live.

me? i remember every day to not be afraid and live

(and ask kindly for my rights back, and not to be angry at those currently in office who have to power to help)

This.

I'll never forget.

 

[jarodmichael]

I was in 10th grade Social Studies. We spent the whole day watching the news. I have the newspapers from that night and and the next few days.

In high school I never thought in a million years I would ever join the military. I have given the last 4 years to the cause, and I am very proud of that. I look at the colors much differently than I did even a year ago. I have been in the desert, given up time from my son and wife, all because I love my country and I would do it all again without hesitation. Every Sept 11th I will pour a drink, and pour it out for the men and women who have given their lives so that I could enjoy mine with my family.

I will never forget.

 

[hughewil]

I was working overnights at the time. I was on my way home listening to howard stern when it happened. Suprisingly he did a decent job covering it, I got home and rushed in and turned on the news to see the 2nd plane hit.

I didn't get any sleep that day as I sat glued to the TV. At first I was overwhelmed with shock and sadness, but that eventualy turned into fierce anger.

 

[Ethan Becker]

A horrible horrible day.....Although I am not a religious person the man who summed it up best for me was Billy Graham, who wrote that it was an attack on the idea of America.......Because the IDEA of America is anathema to our enemies.....That idea brought forth the greatest engine for human good in mankind's history.......

Out of our sadness for the loss of so many brilliant minds in the world trade center, the loss of so many brave and hardy souls there, our grief over our loss of so many brave and thoughtful men and women at the pentagon and, our mixture of sadness and pride that "ordinary" Americans almost immediately transformed themselves into raging warriors, started fighting back and winning in an aluminum tube many thousands of feet up.....We can be thankful that ten years later despite some setbacks that the IDEA is still largely intact......

I am so often moved by the incredible sacrifice of those Americans in uniform who risk it all for us.....Bless them all who go in harms way on our behalf.....Bless them every day and keep them safe......

ethan

 

[Snakedoc]

I was getting ready for work while watching the news, was on for a minute or two when the second tower was hit..... I was in shock, couldn't even explain to my sleeping girlfriend (now wife) why I was shaking her and trying to wake her up.

Made my way into work, we listened to the radio in the warehouse all day long, don't really remember doing any work, just standing around the radio in disbelief.

Truely a very sad day, lives lost that day and many lives lost after that day. Friends and family off to fight, families left behind, children lost, loved ones lost..... Hard to even type 10 years later.

God Bless all

 

[BluesStringer]

With apologies for being late to the Memorial Service here, most every second of that day is very clear in my memory. GW and I moved into our first purchased home on 9/8/01. Towards the end of a long, hard moving day, I was taking a stack of cardboard from broken down boxes out to the garage. I was wearing flip-flops, and as I took the step down from the laundry room into the garage, the toe on one of 'em hung up on the threshold and I went flying ass-end over tea-kettle. Broke my big toe on one foot, and tried to break my fall in a sort of push-up position, but busted both wrists and one elbow instead. Spent the next eight hours in the emergency room. Got a cast on my left arm for the wrist and elbow, and just a shorty wrist cast on my right hand. The only "good" thing that came out of that emergency room visit was a prescription for enough Demerol to kill an elephant (if you've ever broken a wrist, you know about pain).

On 9/11 I had just settled in for a day of reruns of Roseanne. A fist-full of Demerol, a cup of coffee and an excuse to be allowed by GW to smoke in the house, I was all set. Since we were new to the house (and neighborhood), I didn't have the channel lineup for the cable memorized yet, so I started scrolling. Caught the first glimpse of the WTC on fire and stopped long enough to hear someone say a "small general aviation plane has crashed into the World Trade Center." "Bummer" I thought, and kept scrolling. Hit the next channel covering it and started thinking, man, that's a ton of smoke for a general aviation aircraft to have caused, and decided to watch that coverage for awhile. I think it was Fox News, but I'm not positive. Anyway, it was still just the North Tower burning, and it was still being treated by reporters as an accident, although corrections about the small plane were being given and eye-witness reports of a passenger jet were replacing that errant part of the story by now. Then the second plane came into frame. It was probably only three to five seconds that it was in-frame before impact, but it seemed like an eternity. As soon as I saw it I started yelling out loud, "This ain't no F'n accident! No F'n way is this an accident!" My dog cowered under the coffee table thinking I was yelling at him. Then it hit. I changed, America changed and the world changed that very second, and almost all of us felt it and knew it before a single pundit or politician had uttered a word.

I wanted to go to NY worse than I've ever wanted anything in my life. I am a former Steelworker and still had lots of tools and advanced skills that could've helped. But I was too banged up and had to just sit there in front of the tube for what seemed like forever watching everything unfold and unable to do a thing. I remember saying to GW that night that we should turn Iraq into a glass parking lot. I don't know why exactly. It was knee-jerk puffery. I was just in a somebody's-gotta-pay mood.

As I look back now, I wonder if our leaders are/were any less knee-jerk than I was. While still having much respect for Jarod and all of his brothers and sisters serving in Iraq, I want it to be over now. How one more American life can be seen as avenging the 9/11 attacks at this point is well beyond my ability to understand. Then again, we're still firmly entrenched in Germany, Japan and Korea, so I guess boots on Arab/Asian ground is one of those permanent changes that 9/11 has wrought, with or without the support of the American People. As a combat vet, I will always support our troops no matter what. As a Jeffersonian constitutionalist, I will always oppose the policy of endless foreign wars.

I wish there was some profound lesson I could say I've come to understand in the 10 years since that horrible day. Unfortunately though, the only lessons our own government apparently wishes us to learn is that unreasonable searches of Americans in our own airports is a reasonable reaction to terror attacks. Apparently suspending the spirit and letter of the probable cause clause of the 4th Amendment is how we show the terrorists that we will not be defeated by their cowardly acts. We should accept and learn from 9/11 that having a pro-life, anti-Obama or NRA bumper sticker on our cars will be reason enough for the US government to keep a keener eye on our activities. Warrantless wiretaps and no-knock entries into our homes are now, and seemingly forever will be, commonplace as a result of our reactions to 9/11.

Don't worry, I will never forget 9/11/01. Nor will I forget prior to that dastardly date, when America was still more or less America. My personal memorials are equal parts sorrow and prayer for those who fell that day and those who have fallen since in the wars the terrorists succeeded in fomenting, and for that document that served as the threads that weaved the tapestry of what America once was before it was destroyed as completely as the Twin Towers were on that same day.

Blues