What do you remember about Sept 11, 2001?

[Ozmar]

I was 18 and in MOS school in 29 Palms, Ca. While I had joined the Marines not really knowing what to expect, I knew well that I was on a war footing from then on out. Since then I've been to Iraq, and now I'm out of the service and about to complete my BA.

 

[Eightball]

I came to the US to live in 1997. I've always been a great admirer of the America but I didn't have much of an emotional attachment. That changed on 9/11. That is when I first felt a strong emotional bond to America. It is when I became an American.

Congrats on your decision to join the Republic!
****
Me and the wife were actually high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains camping in our tent trailer. 9-11-2001 was the day we were packing up to head home(300 miles/6 hours drive back to S.F. bay area.).

We couldn't get cell phone calls, but could faintly get a Reno, Nevada 50,000 watt AM radio station.

I turned on the radio that morning as the wife and me were brushing our teeth, and getting ready to start packing for home.

By that time both towers had collapsed, and the news broadcast was still conjecturing about other possible attacks around our nation.

I still remember listening to that radio report and thinking it was an Orson Wells type of "War of the Worlds" radio/fiction drama that I had tuned into.

Nope: It wasn't!

Our drive home Westward on I-80 towards the S.F. Bay area/San Jose was so strange. Not an airliner in the sky as we looked skyward while driving through the Sacramento valley. However we did see military fighter jets occasionally passing over.

The car radio stayed on for our entire 6 hour drive.

We got hold of our three sons who were at home, and they were all worked up, and had some anxiety. We calmed them, and gradually made it home.

It was good to be home and together as a family. We stayed glued to the news for quite some time too.
*****
As an American, I felt so different that day. I had both sorrow, and an inner strength and hope that this nation was both resilient, and we would not let this terrible disaster bring us down as a society.

When President Reagan years ago referred to our country as that "Beacon On A Hill", those words couldn't have been more appropriate. I just knew that who or whomever had done this to us would pay dearly.

I know that our country is not perfect, but of all the nations on earth, it is one of the most successful experiments of nationhood and nation-creation that has ever happened on this terrestrial ball called earth. A nation that is ruled by law, that grants liberty and freedom for all, yet that freedom must respect the individual, as minute as that might seem to many.

I think that day, I felt "violated" as an American. Yes, "violated!".

I am a biblical Christian, and I abhor the Quran burnings, yet I son understand the angst that so many people have.

Mohammed Atta's suitcase missed his flight, and the FBI obtained it from the airlines and the contents of that suitcase was indicting to Atta, and reeked of an evil agenda/intent that transgressed human civility whether one is a Christian, buddist, Hindo, agnostic, atheist, etc......

Sadly, the Quran does teach that all of the world must be brought under Islamic law.......A theocracy......It was tried in Europe for hundreds of years.........and we know what the outcome was.........

People like Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton......etc.... knew exactly what a toll it took on humanity in Europe and wherever it was practiced as a national way of governing.

Thus, the Great Experiment was created, and withstood the mightiest military(Great Britain) both in this nation's birth and then in the early 1800's again but somehow prevailed.

Last Note: After 9/11, church attendance in the U.S. jumped up drastically, as Americans looked for solace, and fellowship in a lasting faith that could transcend the "worst" of earthly life.

Sadly, church attendance is back to pre-9/11 size. It isn't that churches have failed in their mission to be there, but it is that we as a people collectively, and individually have "forgotten" the reality of that 9-11-2001 day. Why must it take a tragedy of such monumental proportions to wake us up, and make us think beyond ourselves, to a bigger picture?

 

[Charles_Main]

Sadly, church attendance is back to pre-9/11 size. It isn't that churches have failed in their mission to be there, but it is that we as a people collectively, and individually have "forgotten" the reality of that 9-11-2001 day. Why must it take a tragedy of such monumental proportions to wake us up, and make us think beyond ourselves, to a bigger picture?

There are no atheists in a fox hole. Even the most anti Christian far left wacko will probably prey before he or she dies if they see it coming.

That's a fact jack.

You know. Just in case

 

[Samson]

And I always curse the terrorists when waiting in security lines at the airport after I take 3 Xanax.

I don't need the Xanax, but I curse those fuckers while waiting in security, taking off my shoes, belt, holding up my freakin' pants with one hand, loading all my toiletries into a QUART SIZED BAGGIE, for christssakes.

 

[Ozmar]

And I always curse the terrorists when waiting in security lines at the airport after I take 3 Xanax.

I don't need the Xanax, but I curse those fuckers while waiting in security, taking off my shoes, belt, holding up my freakin' pants with one hand, loading all my toiletries into a QUART SIZED BAGGIE, for christssakes.

Xanax is better than anthrax.

 

[Avatar4321]

And I always curse the terrorists when waiting in security lines at the airport after I take 3 Xanax.

I don't need the Xanax, but I curse those fuckers while waiting in security, taking off my shoes, belt, holding up my freakin' pants with one hand, loading all my toiletries into a QUART SIZED BAGGIE, for christssakes.

Xanax is better than anthrax.

Not if you have too much.

 

[Ozmar]

I don't need the Xanax, but I curse those fuckers while waiting in security, taking off my shoes, belt, holding up my freakin' pants with one hand, loading all my toiletries into a QUART SIZED BAGGIE, for christssakes.

Xanax is better than anthrax.

Not if you have too much.

same with water

 

[Foxfyre]

Up after a very short nap. Waiting by the phone to see if my neighbor will need a ride to the hospital.

Since 9/11 I pack differently and dress differently when I fly. I am more conscious of unattended luggage or packages or vehicles that look out of place. I am more uneasy in parking garages under tall buildings. I am more careful about what I have on my person when I attend sporting events or go to the courthouse. Like others I profile more. I trust less. I still feel anger that evil people were able to hurt us and make us grieve and make us afraid and that they feel proud and triumphant about that. I hate that I can't shake the feeling that the stupid mosque near ground zero will be seen as a monument to that 'triumph' and I hate feeling that way.

 

[Charles_Main]

Before 9/11 I was Naive and full of on founded beliefs. After I started to actually pay attention and many of those ended.

 

[Claudette]

I was at work.

My supervisor said OMG. A plane just hit one of the trade Towers in NYC.

Initially we all thought it was and accident. A plane, for whatever reason, hit one of the Towers. We all discussed it for a bit and then went back to work.

Then the second plane hit and we all knew it was no accident. We were all just plain stunned and incredulous that anyone would do such a thing.

Its a moment in time that I will remember for the rest of my life. My heart went out to all the victims and their families.

Always remember. I sure will.

 

[Ozmar]

Come to think of it, before 911 I actually believed that the terrorism was shunned by mainstream Islam, and going out of fashion as the world embarked on an era of peace, cooperation and prosperity. Maybe that is because my formative years were through the 90's in a period of relative stability.

The reality of how things work thus caught me off guard. I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt that way.

 

[Neser Boha]

No change here.

I was in my late teens and to be honest with you, after reading all that I did at the time of American international policies, exploits and faux pas, I was almost not even surprised about what happened on 9/11. It just kind of made sense to me. You know ... the whole action--> reaction thing. Not that I thought it was right, not by a long shot. (For those that like to attack people for what they didn't actually say.)

 

[Intense]

THE UNOFFICIAL HOME PAGE OF FDNY



A NEVER ENDING STORY






All 343 911wtc Killed at the World Trade Center September 11, 2001



THE UNOFFICIAL HOME PAGE OF FDNY New York City Fire Department

 

[Si modo]

What action got the USA that reaction, Neser?

 

[goldcatt]

Actually, it was only recently I realized just how profoundly I'd changed on 9/11. Yes, I knew I'd changed. Nobody goes through that kind of shock and trauma without changing in some way. I think it made me realize how fragile and uncertain life can be, and made me examine my priorities in a way I hadn't done before. For me personally, pre-9/11 my life was all planned out, I knew exactly where I was going and what my future looked like. I had a string of events happen recently that made me realize just how much the loss of that certainty had changed me. I think I'm much less ambitious but more determined, and far more accepting and aware of the uncertainties in life. I'm definitely more conscious of the people around me, and I like to think wiser and stronger in a way that's hard to define. My politics really didn't change, but my life and the way I look at the world sure did.

 

[Intense]

The Heroes of 9/11: The Photos

FEMA: KIDS - The Heroes of 9/11: The Photos

 

[Neser Boha]

Actually, it was only recently I realized just how profoundly I'd changed on 9/11. Yes, I knew I'd changed. Nobody goes through that kind of shock and trauma without changing in some way. I think it made me realize how fragile and uncertain life can be, and made me examine my priorities in a way I hadn't done before. For me personally, pre-9/11 my life was all planned out, I knew exactly where I was going and what my future looked like. I had a string of events happen recently that made me realize just how much the loss of that certainty had changed me. I think I'm much less ambitious but more determined, and far more accepting and aware of the uncertainties in life. I'm definitely more conscious of the people around me, and I like to think wiser and stronger in a way that's hard to define. My politics really didn't change, but my life and the way I look at the world sure did.

You see, I didn't ... There are wars, death and suffering going on on daily basis - somewhere in the world. New York didn't feel any closer to me than did Kosovo. I see how can it have such an effect on a sheltered American that has never even seen real war on TV because your TV just doesn't show that shit, but to me, it was just yet another tragedy - in a long line of tragedies.

Not remarkable at all, in my eyes.

 

[Intense]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C36Me-acAps]YouTube - REMEMBER September 11, 2001 - TRIBUTE TO THE VICTIMS OF 9/11[/ame]

 

[Neser Boha]

What action got the USA that reaction, Neser?

US has been meddling in other countries affairs ever since WWII (before that as well, but they usually just stuck to their own backyard - Latin America). There has been a lot of anti-Americanism due to many of US policies around the world - especially in places such as the Middle East. To me, it really was just a matter of time when a bunch of extremists lashed out against American presence and intervention.

 

[JWBooth]

Ssdd