9/11

[dawnofsierra]

I was home from work that day having torn my achilles tendon running. I remember I was hobbling to the kitchen thinking how much it hurt when I stopped to turn on Good Morning America. Just then was when they broke in with the report and our entire reality as we knew it changed. Suddenly my foot sure did seem like a foolish concern. I was awake for over 48 hours unable to get away from the news. It was an unspeakable tragedy. Just unbelievable, it's still difficult to grasp how many people lost their lives and loved ones.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute, Cheryl. That is really something to make us think.

 

[brianlojeck]

I just remembered what I did that night. I was studying Muay Thai at the time (kickboxing, basically), and had class that night.

Kru (the title for the instructor) showed up that night only in case anyone else did. The building hadn't been opened all day, the clerical staff wasn't there, none of the asst. instructors had showed up, and there were only... 3 or 4 students tops. Myself and one other student had taken our black hand-wrapping cloths (you see boxers with what looks like ace bandages on their hands, that stuff) and made black arm bands.

The class was kind of surreal. Normally we'd chat, talk, and joke during class. We'd have a CD player playing Thai music, but not tonight.

In this big gymnasium there were only a few lights on, the radio was off, and nobody was talking. We didn't even really "train" so much as we just grabbed pads and started kicking drills. Nothing that required thought.

We stayed there for hours, just kicking. Even the instructor was amazingly silent. He hardly spoke, and when he did it was hardly loud enough to hear.

We went home with a simple agreement. We all knew at that point that boxcutters had been the weapon of choice for the highjackers, and we all knew that one or two halfway decent martial artists on each of those aircraft could have saved 6000 lives (at the time, that was the estimate). Fear held those aircraft prisoner, and one fighter could have spurred en entire craft to revolt (like the craft in Pennsylvania).

I think every single one of us went home thinking about how we could use our techniques in an aircraft's tiny isles...

 

[dicknleah]

I wish I knew of this site back then but hey, I was isolated on a tiny Hawiian island so who am I to complain. Thanks for the link MA it brings back alot of memories.

 

[fwan]

I woke up to my mother screaming, at 6 am my mother came into my bedroom and said
AMERICA IS ON FIRE THE TOWERS COLLAPSED! and i told her to stop watching movies, untill i went downstairs because she was in hysterics and i just flopped on the couch and couldnt believe my eyes.

All tv shows were cancelled for i think 2 days all was on was the news and Cnn i was glued on the tv and it was a major topic at school.

I feel so sorry for the lives lost, and it still brings a tear to my eye when i read poems about little kids parents who went to the sky.

 

[yosemite]

I was at work - hadn't been there very long and when we heard, we ran to the nearest conference room to turn on the TV. I had a hard time believing it was true!

My brother-in-law is a sculptor. He did a sculpture of a fireman being welcomed into heaven by Jesus. The base is the cloud and the fireman is standing on the top of a ladder and being embraced by Jesus and a fire hose and axe on resting on the cloud.

It was unveiled in New York City a year (or 2 - not sure now) after 9/11. It is a 6 foot sculpture cast in bronze.

We have a small replica of it in our home. All of our family pretty much have a copy of it.

Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones. May you all find peace.

 

[darkeyedgirl]

I was right here, at this desk in this chair. It was just me and one other coworker here. We had no TV at the time and I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the WTC; they thought it was a joke, so did I. Then the 2nd plane hit. Rob came over and said, we better go next door (to a bar that had a TV) and watch what's going on.

Half of our guys were up in planes... our boss included, who was diverted to Canada and stuck there for days.

Rob and I sat next door along with other young professionals, staring in disbelief, and horror. I remember when the tower fell, everyone in there just grew silent. It was such a sad day.

I saved the newspaper the following day for my daughter, and also saved magazines that covered 9/11. It's all in my hope chest bound in a container along with a letter I wrote to her... she was only 4 yrs old but I wrote a 2 page letter letting her know how I felt, how the world felt, and what it felt like to be violated like we (the USA) were!

We all thought it was the start of WWIII.

 

[jcat]

I was on my way home from work. When I walked into the train station, I saw literally hundreds of people watching CNN on the wide screens there, so I stopped and watched, too. The train ride home was surreal, because one of the conductors kept making announcements to keep everybody up to date. I called a colleague (already home) on my cell phone, and he told me about the Pentagon.

 

[wellingtoncats]

This still brings tears to my eyes. I was on the way to school when I heard it on the radio. It definitly was the day the world fell still.

 

[sar]

Originally Posted by GailC

I bet everyone still knows what they were doing or where they were that day still.

I was at home (at my parents') and spent the day on the phone to my college mates, we were at the top of the WTC in February that year....such a shock

Cheryl, thanks for sharing!

 

[loubelia]

Wow, very moving. I know what I was doing that day, sure! I had just come back to work from vacation from visiting my family. My husband (boyfriend at the time) had just flown the day before from Sea-Tac International Airport to Tampa International. We had stopped in St. Paul/Minneapolis for a short stop in-between flights and the airport had asked volunteers if they wanted to stay overnight for a flight the next day (the flight was too full.) Wisely, we had said no because the next day I had to be back at work. Thankgoodness we had said no that day, cause the next day was 9/11/2001. Anyways, my welcome back to work was not "Welcome back, Anne!", it was, "Go to the cafeteria-we're under attack." I came into the cafeteria seconds after the first tower was hit and watched with confusion and horror as the second tower was shown being hit." That night my honey and I felt very Very humble indeed.