# September 11th memories



## Darkness (Mar 12, 2002)

It's been half a year since that dark day, the 11th of Semptember 2001...

A reporter on tv today remarked that "we all surely remember what we did on that day." That is, he meant that the terrible magnitude of the events of that day has burned the entire day into our memories - all the little things of one's life that one might not remember had they occured on any other day.

(Note: I want to commemorate that dark day and its victims - _not_ start a political discussion, much less talk about the current state of the "War on Terror." So please don't. Thanks. )

My immediate reason for posting all this in this particular fashion is that an e-mail I replied to today reminded me of my experiences on September 11th because it caused me to muse about my love for talking to foreign nationals who have - for some reason or another - come to the city I live in (Vienna).

Here, then, are my memories of that day. Heh. And the reporter was right in my case; I remember it all quite clearly...

Early in the day, I went to one of my favorite RPG stores, looking for the Manual of the Planes. While browsing that book, I noticed that another customer was asking a clerk - in English - about D&D 3e. The clerk - who doesn't play D&D - could give him only insufficient information. *I* could, though, and did so.  After talking with me, he bought a PHB but since the store had no DMG or MM in stock, I offered to take him to another store (a walk of 10 minutes). On the way to the other store, we talked and it turned out that the guy was an Israeli now living in Ireland who had studied in Vienna some years earlier and was visiting the city again on his way - through Europe - back to Ireland (his next destination was some city in Germany, IIRC). In order not the bore you with the details, he got a DMG (but no MM) in the other store and I also bought the MoP there (since it was cheaper than in the first store). Thereafter, we parted ways and I promised to send him links to important D&D-related sites (e.g., WotC home page, EN World) - which I did when I got home.
In the afternoon, at around 17 PM (my time), he wrote me back (he was already in Germany by then, I think), remarked that he was watching the news on tv and expressed his feelings of shock about what was happening. I was watching tv as well and was, too, shocked to the core. Still later, I went to these boards (the old ones, that is ) and participated in the first of the big "terrorist attack" threads, reading and providing a few links so people who were still at work could also get information about the events...

*sigh*

These are my memories... If you want to, please share yours as well. 

- Darkness

_edit - Now it's been a full year. And I'd still like to hear your memories. _


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## Barendd Nobeard (Mar 12, 2002)

I'm pulling into the parking lot at work.

The radio mentions the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

After a sentence or two, the local host (this is an NPR affiliate) comes on, obviously a little disoriented, and says the NPR equivalent of "and now back to our regularly scheduled program."

I'm sitting there, going 'WTF?!!??!' in my head, but I walk into work.

I immediately get on the internet, but all the news sites are clogged.  So I, too, mosey on over to the EN boards for all the news.

Then, I pulled someone out of a meeting and told him.  He went back in and told the others.... then they continued the meeting.

The entire day was spent scouring the internet for news, emailing friends & family in NYC and Northern Virginia, and watching the news on a little tv someone had.  

My best friend (in NYC) was fine; he was currently job-hunting but was in another part of town.

My mother (in DC), could see the smoke from the Pentagon from the roof of the building she worked in.  She usually takes the subway home, but I think they closed it that day.  Someone gave her a ride home, but it took hours.

My brother-in-law had just started a new job not too far from the Pentagon.  I later found out he felt the ground shake from the crash; everyone wondered what it was but soon found out.

I watched the first tower fall, but couldn't bring myself to watch the second one.  (And I'm usually a cynical, heartless bastard.)

I left early (3 p.m.) to pick up the children and go home a little early.  There were a lot more parents at school picking up their children than usual.

This will be there "where were you when you heard Kennedy was shot?" for people alive in 2001.


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## EricNoah (Mar 12, 2002)

I was in the library at my school and there's a TV nearby.  One of my fellow teachers comes in and says we should turn on the TV.  I watch the second plane hit and I turn to my assistant and say, "We just saw the start of World War III."  That day is spent trying to keep our students informed without scaring them.  I have never been more proud of my teaching friends and our kids.


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## Skarp Hedin (Mar 12, 2002)

I was at work.  We listened to events on the radio for a bit, but that wasn't very satisfying and since everyone was upset and clearly wasn't going to do any actual -work- (can't blame us), the boss closed down the office and we left.  Some of us went to his house and watched the news there for a while, then I went home and watched more news.  We had two employees who were near the crashes -- one guy was getting out of his car in the parking lot of the MCI building near the Pentagon and just sort of watched the plane crash, and another guy was at work on a project location in one of the WTC buildings (not the twin towers, but one of the smaller ones.. I think it was the first smaller building that collapsed).  He evacuated without any trouble, thankfully.


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## Simon Magalis (Mar 12, 2002)

I too was in school. First block was just over and a teacher in the hall told me what had happened. I went back in my room and turned on the TV. I watched both towers fall during second block in a room full of 14 year olds who are too used to seeing such things in movies to really understand what was happening ( I think they do now, to some extent). I remember, after the second tower went down, sitting behind my desk in utter shock and a student looking to me and asking "Its gone isn't it?". I nodded slowly. Of course he referred to the building, but sadly his words ring more true than he knows in so many other ways.


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## Old One (Mar 12, 2002)

*Memories...*

The wife and I were headed out the door to catch a plane to London, England for a long-planned trip.  I had arranged to meet up with Plane Sailing, Monte Carlo and a couple of other old EN Worlders at a London Pub for a pint or two.

Needless to say, we didn't make the trip.  We spent most of the morning staring at the TV in disbelief, then met some friends at a local pub around 2 PM EST.  There were about 10 people there when we arrived, but by 3:30 PM, the place was packed.  I guess people didn't want to be alone.

I tried to get ahold of some West Point classmates that were working in the Pentagon and got word late in the day that they were all fine.  I also had a good friend from an old gaming group that did computer work in the WTC and another that worked at a hospital in Lower Manhatten.

The computer worker didn't go to the WTC that day, working instead from his NJ office in Hoboken...right across the river.  He watched the entire thing from his office window.  He told me latter that if he had followed his normal schedule, he would have been passing through the PATH station when the first train hit.

My doctor friend treated about 20 burn victims that came in the first wave of refugees.  He and his OR staff stood by for 12 hours, waiting to receive other mass casualties that never came...they wounded either came early or didn't come at all.

Never forget!

~ Old One


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## Ulrick (Mar 12, 2002)

The first thing I saw that day was the black cloud of where the WTC was supposed to be at.

My roommate (I live in a dorm room)  had come into the room and turned on the TV while I slept.  He started yelling "Oh my God! The World Trade Center is gone!"

I woke up and looked at the TV.  Although I couldn't see very well without my contacts, I saw the New York skyline...minus one WTC.

The first person I thought of was my Ex-girlfriend, I wondered if she was okay.  I knew that she sometimes goes to NYC.  I eventually found out she was.

I admit, I was scared, terrified.  But I when I found out terrorist were involved I knew that's exactly what they wanted.  So I shoved those feeling down.  And continued with my day as normally as possible (going to class, etc).  I comforted people people that needed conforting.  I cried when nobody was around.
I had to be some kind of strength for people to look up to.  Set an example.

And I used that energy I pent up to change my life forever.  I released it in the things I do to better my life and those around me. 

The images I saw that day I will remember for the rest of my life.  But I will not let them haunt me.  I will let them be a reminder that life is fragile, and be grateful the things I have.  And yet despite the fact horrible things happened that day, there were 
many acts of heroism.

There are heroes within us all.

Ulrick


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## Napftor (Mar 12, 2002)

I was letting out some dogs for a friend and on the way home heard in the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the trade center towers.  I, like everyone at that time, thought the accident was just that--an accident.  I arrived home not long after nine and turned on the TV.  I was flipping through the various networks and I think I was watching CNN when the second plane was shot, live, hitting the second tower.

News was also spilling in about the Pentagon (I think it was around that time).  And I remember it was not long after that the plane crashed in western PA.  The triangle that these three crashes make centers me inside geographically (eastern PA).  Whenever I heard something odd I looked cautiously out the window.

My next source of news was on Eric Noah's board, where I relayed little bits of news to the fast-expanding thread on the attacks.  I regrettably had to leave for work before noon.

The world never seemed so small.


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## Triple H (Mar 12, 2002)

Truth be told I remember these message boards. I was at my computer lab in college trying to keep up with the flow of info that was going on and posting it here. Not to mention everyone else who was doing the same thing. hate to say it but this meesage board was educated when Sept 111 happened. We were up to date,helpful and I am proud to be a part of it. We also consoled each other. I know posting the news and someone posting a thankyou warmed my heart. I cant even express what that made me feel. I thank everyone who was there that day. Ont he boards. Putting up info,consoling others. It was great.

Another thing I think of when I think of Sept 11 is heroes. Firman,paramedics,police,and...normal people. Helping,consoling,going into danger for their fellow amn. Sometimes this world can make you very cynical but when I saw one man. Who had just come out of the area that was devastated and then go back into the devastation to get another person. Someone he did not know...it speaks volumes of the human spirit,of human sacrifice,of human heroism. THAT is true heroism. I must say that on that day I started out disgusted to be human but ended proud,changed and jsut feelings of pure hope.

Well now I am rambling so I leave you to your thread. Once again thank you for the memories.


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## Talvisota (Mar 12, 2002)

Well.  This will be rather different.

As I am 11 hours ahead of NY time, it was evening, and my wife of three months and I had just recently moved into our new place and cable nor phone was not yet installed.

At about, oh, I guess 730 pm, our friend, a Canadian, ran over and told us what was going on.  Of course, you don't noramlly believe someone when they mention topics like these.  ANyway, we ran across the courtyard to her place to check out CNN as she was getting frazzled watching it alone.

We arrived 5 minutes before the second tower fell.  Immediately, my cell phone started ringing - I have several US employees, and we had to figure out what to do.  Of course, I knew that all would be fine and I said to hold tight for now.  A few minutes later the Cultural Affairs Officer of the Embassy called me and we decided it indeed was best to do so.

The next morning I went to the embassy annex to usher all employees home; we were going to be closed for the rest of the week.  Officials from the Ministry of Education (the Ministry with whom I deal with in development issues) came to pay their respects, and it was after speaking with them and our local employees that I learned that the Russian news was spouting typical incorrect garbage.  They were reporting that 4 had crashed into places, but 10 were still missing!!!  (You think that is bad, you should have heard them during the 1999 Kosovo/Serbia shindig.)

The next few weeks were rough, with Kyrgyzstan going on voluntary evac and I think Turkmenistan did, too.  Lots of back and forth with DC which was the worst.  We were FINE here, as Kazakhstan is quite stable.  However, all of YOU were completely freaking out, and it seems, still are!

board-brotherhood to you all,


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## orbitalfreak (Mar 12, 2002)

*In memory...*

Don't know how many have heard this song, but here it is.
---------------------------------------
"Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
Alan Jackson (American country music artist, for those in other countries)

Where were you when the world stopped turnin' on that September day
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or workin' on some stage in L.A.
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Risin' against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children, they lost their dear loved ones
Or pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue
For the heroes who died just doin' what they do
Did you look up to Heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turnin' on that September day
Teachin' a class full of innocent children
Or drivin' down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you loved her
Did you dust off that bible at home

Did you open your eyes and hoped it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak to some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers
Or stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love
The greatest is love
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turnin' on that September day......
------------------------------------------

I don't know if I'll ever forget that day.  I hope not.  I was at Southeastern Louisiana University, in Calculus when the planes hit, but I didn't know it then.  I noticed on my way to my Art History class that many people were somber, distracted, and even a few crying.  Many more were talking on cell phones than usual, and several were talking about "did you hear the news?" type things.

When I got to Art, the professor opened class by saying
"As I'm sure, you've all heard what has happened in New York.  I'll get to class in a few minutes, but now I want to talk to all of you."  He then gave an account of the events, and I think that only the collisions were known at that time.  During class, several students gave updates, including when I first heard of the collapse of the towers.  I was stunned.  

At the time, I knew that two buildings had collapsed, killing many people, but I didn't know what the WTC exactly was; it wasn't until I got home that I realized _what_ the buildings actually were, their size, and their population.  Seeing the replay footage of the collapses, I cried (and I am crying as I write this).  I was holding my baby sister in my lap, thinking of what the world would be like when she grew up, thinking that she would read about this in her history books in school as I read about Pearl Harbor.

I am saddened by my lack of patriotism prior to 9/11, but now I truly appreciate what this country means.

If you get the chance, look on the news for the memorial in NYC going on for the next month:  Two twin beams of light soaring into the sky.  It is truly a beautiful sight.


```
/*\     a candle lit in rememberance
      |*|
      \|/
       |
      { }
     {   }
     {   }
     {   }
     {   }
     {   }
     {_ _}
```


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## Rashak Mani (Mar 12, 2002)

This message board was what marked the day for me... I got a lot of insight from people in the US at the moment of the attack.  The fact that many depended on the EN / Erich Noah board to get up to date information was quite neat. 

     That day I spent mostly at home so I saw CNN all day long...


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## Goodsport (Mar 12, 2002)

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp On the evening of September 10th, I had rented and watched _The Siege_ on DVD before going to bed - I kid you not!   


-G


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## orbitalfreak (Mar 12, 2002)

I just wanted to give a couple of links showing more memorials....

A series of pictures. 

A beautiful picture of a Fireman and angel snow-sculpture can be found here, just scroll down, it's on the right hand side.  This site is from an area radio station, and has other great pictures on it.  Also, check out the "Poems and Stuff" section for great stories, as well.


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## NiTessine (Mar 12, 2002)

I came home from school, logged on the boards, and spotted the first few messages of the first news thread, scant minutes after the crashes. Then, I spent the rest of the day with a cold knot in my stomach, reading the news from the thread.


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## JohnBrown (Mar 12, 2002)

I had always heard people a few years older than me tell me that they remembered what they where doing when they heard Kennedy was shot or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.  I could always empathize, but I could never sympathize  (the events happening just a few years before I was born, or too young to remember).  I have seen many amazing and horrible things happen in my 35 years; far too many to mention here.  None of which, however, had stuck with quite with the impression that those two events seemed to leave with people.  After 9/11 I can, unfortunately, sympathize now.

Two thoughts/observations/feelings stick with more than any others.  The first was how much it looked “just liked the movies.”   I was watching the news, looking at the towers, saw the second plane hit and thought, “Man, that just looked like a movie.”  I kept waiting for that feeling to go away.  I didn’t want to think that, but it just stayed with me.  It was just how the whole thing looked.  It just didn’t look real enough.  I kept expecting someone to say “This is a preview for Die Hard IV.”  I don’t mean to any disrespect, but my something in my mind just kept saying, it wasn’t real.

That was until the towers started to collapse.  Then it was really all too real.  There was something in their collapsing that hit me even harder.  When they came down it became more real than I care to think about.


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## Broken Fang (Mar 12, 2002)

I was on the way to school and heard it on the radio.  Once I got there, much like Eric, I spent the whole day with the kids.  I was very impressed with how the kids acted throughout the entire day (6th-8th graders).  Many went home as parents came to pick them up.  A good friend who teaches with me has family in NYC and his wife at home was going crazy trying to get through to them.  She ended up getting my wife to come to hang out with her till they found out the news (all were ok)!  The mood at the schhol was vvery somber, everyone really wanted to go home and be with their families.  When I got home I remember giving long lasting hugs to the girls and wife.  I hope we are all proud to say that we are Americans and for those of your around the world who have prayed for us God bless!

Ray


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## Lucias (Mar 12, 2002)

*...*

I'll never forget either...

As "first years" in optometry school we had Geometric Optics every morning but Friday.  We had just gotten out of that class and were preparing for the terribly boring and dry three hour lecture we had forthcoming on basic Anatomy and Physiology. 

Between classes a lot of us walk down the hall and into a little convenience store built next to a lounge that plays this annoying Campus Television Network crap all day.  A few of us had decided to go to that store to get something to keep us awake for the next class.  One guy mentioned that he heard that someone had crashed into the WTC when he got out of the car that morning, but we all thought it was some bizarre accident.  We had heard no news up to that point.

Then we got to the lounge and saw the burning towers on the TV there.  We were shocked.  Then we heard what happened.  We all just pulled up chairs and watched.  Before long the rest of our class showed up as the teacher had cancelled due to the events.  Not long after that the whole optometry school was there watching in horror.  

I'll never shake the image of the towers collapsing.  Ever.  All I could think about was that as many people died as those towers collapsed as live in my hometown.  

After several hours we all dispersed and tried to get back to life as best we could.  As we learned more and more over the next few days I saw an America I had not seen before.  I saw the American spirit burn brighter than it had in decades.  I cheered for the heroes, cried with the grieving, and prayed for the dead.

That's where I was on September 11th.


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## Aeris Winterood (Mar 12, 2002)

*Where I was...*

I had just gotten off a 10 hour shift at work and popped into my mothers house for some coffee (I work nights). My sister called and said to turn on the news, a plane had just hit a tower in NYC.

After seeing the first disaster, I thought at the time that it was no accident even though reporters at the time had called it an 'accident'. We were watching it live when the second plane hit. What I really remember was getting very angry, and just repeating over and over, someone will pay for this. I didnt sleep for a whole day, I couldnt get away from the news pouring in, and of course seeing the pentagon just added to the anger.

I really wasnt suprised it happened though. When the USS Cole was bombed everyone asked me how that could have happened. I was in the Navy for 10 years and wass over there many times. I told them it wasnt a matter of how it was only a matter of when. After the adrenaline of anger left (after a whloe day) I then felt all the sadness and pain that must have been felt by all those who had loved ones involved and thanked god that i and my family live in an obscure little town in northern Michigan. 

Anyway.. just what and how I felt at that time.. and yes.. it is burned into my memory for all time. Only Alzheimers will take that away.

I did know one of the men on AA flight 11 who died. He worked for General Dynamics which I workled on some of thier systems. Ironically, i knew him from when I was in the NAvy and had met him at a few different meetings at the Pentagon. Kind of freaky.


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## I'm A Banana (Mar 12, 2002)

I remember a vague dream. Numbness. Shock. Unreality.

I moved through the world though it was a mist. The only reality my horribly bad imagination.

Mostly, I remember sorrow at the loss of a loved one. I remember anger at those who wanted vengeance.

Emotions. The rest of the world doesn't exist.


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## Mr. Grimm (Mar 12, 2002)

I was home and actually woke early that morning, a rarity when I'm home.  It was a gorgeous NY morning, still summer, I was thinking of biking to the beach.  Flipping channels I caught the 1st tower in flames, hearing the confused accounts of the newsmen.  Many didn't seem to want to believe it was a jet airliner but if you know those buildings, their size, then you'd know that nothing else could've caused that much damage.  Maybe like many, I knew this wasn't an accident even before the second plane came on screen while I was talking to my father.  We had both worked across the street of the WTC at One Liberty until recently.  Maybe every cynical NYer expected the terrorism to come someday after the 93 attack, after the tunnel and bridge bombing plot was discovered out in Brooklyn.  Funny, but I don't remember what we said after that but I know I hung up and started calling others.  Friends, family everyone I knew who worked in the city and I couldn't get a hold of anyone except those outside of the city.   Tears and sudden rememberances of who else might be in harm's way, including two firms I used to deal with actually located in the towers.  My friend, a NYC motorcycle cop, my old co-workers still across the street. I was even thinking of the guys who used to park my car at the WTC lot and the one by the tiny Greek church near West St.  And the firehouse that was right up the street as I walked to my building.  And then the towers collapsed and I never expected that.  Maybe the upper burning portions threatening those on the street but not the whole structures.  But the pictures I think that got me the most, the images you don't often see replayed, were those of  the clouds of debris and dust that engulfed lower Manhattan as if from some bizarre sci-fi movie -- were there more buildings falling like dominos in that cloud???   And what was in that cloud?  That night, ninety miles away from NYC, we could see the glow and the pillar of smoke, and we could smell it.  Sirens from emergency vehicles were going the whole day.  Highways were closed as were portions of the LIRR.  A friend had to walk from midtown to Brooklyn, catch a ride from a stranger who took her to a running train station and she got home almost 10 hours after setting out from work.  But she got home.  And even though there weren't supposed to be any aircraft in the air, we kept hearing helecopters flying overhead, probably police and Coast Guard, and fighter jets from the Air Reserve base out east.


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## jollyninja (Mar 12, 2002)

I woke up, got dressed, ate, got into my car and drove to work.  The radio in my car did not work at the time so I was clueless as I got there at 11:30 AM mountain time. I sell TV's so the first thing i saw was a replay of the first plane hitting the wtc on 50 tv's at once, then they showed the second then the buildings falling, all at once. Seeing it on 50 TV's as my first exposure to the whole thing was about as surreal as anything I have ever experienced. We had no customers that day, we sold nothing, we just watched CNN all week, we are all commision sales people but for a week we felt as though money meant nothing, customers only interrupted CNN. Nothing, and I mean nothing has ever meant more to me then money before.


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## spacecrime.com (Mar 12, 2002)

We came to work here at the store a little before 11 a.m. EST, and found a notice about what was happening on an industry forum. Deb and I spent most of the rest of the day sitting in the front of the store listening to the radio.

I don't think we really believed it until we went home and saw the pictures. 

yours,


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## Zhure (Mar 12, 2002)

I woke up after the attacks, but before the buildings fell. I work overnights, and was swapping my sleep cycle to return to work. All day long I tried to sleep, but couldn't focus on it.

The EN boards were my main source of cutting edge information. Triple H was faster than CNN and more accurate than FOX news. I was filled with anger at many things; I wept for my fellow citizens; my heart swelled with pride at the heroes in Flight 43 and the rescue workers.

I went to work that night. Everyone was somber and angry. By unspoken consent, there was almost no jocularity as is our norm. We speculated about the coming war -- we knew one was coming. I shook the hands of my co-workers in the National Guard. None have been called up even now.

What I remember most was the empty skies. Only for a brief time did we see planes. Jets scrambled everywhere when Air Force One landed nearby, but other than that, the sky was an ironic blue, clear... one of the few beautiful days that fall.

Greg


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## Synthetic (Mar 12, 2002)

I was dozing with my girlfriend on a bed in the apartment she lived in with her mother and little sister. Suddenly her best friend called and said a plane had crasched into one of the WTC buildings in New York (I think this was about 15 minutes after the first crash). 

"Whoa", I thought. "That's really bad.". We rushed out to the living room to turn on the TV

As we stepped out of the door to her room, her friend called her again. I can remember my girlfriend (now my ex) shouting "What!? Another plane?".

I had just grabbed the remote to turn on the TV set when he called her a third time. This time she yelled "ANOTHER one? The PENTAGON?".

After that, we sat for nearly three hours in front of the TV, watching CNN. I saw both towers collapse live. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The only other thing I can remember about that day was that one of the commercial TV channels here in Sweden (TV3) didn't interrupt their regular programs. As the towers collapsed and thousands died, they happily kept showing "Days of our Lives". Believe it or not.

-S


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## hong (Mar 12, 2002)

It was past midnight here in Oz when it happened. I was actually online at the time, and someone posted a message that a plane had hit the WTC.

I switched off the computer and went to bed. In my tired state, it simply didn't occur to me that by "plane", he meant "airliner", and what had happened wasn't some kid straying off course in a light plane, but the worst terrorist attack since the war.

Sleeping through history, that's me.


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## Horacio (Mar 12, 2002)

I was here, at my desk in the University, trying to work and reading this board, when somebody posted the first thread. No info website worked, French news didn't say anything, so I informed all the Electronics Department, I passed around all the info you (specially, I rembember TripleH) posted. You were my eyes and ears in such a sad day, and the eyes and ears of many people you don't even know in this far corner of French Brittany.


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## Berandor (Mar 12, 2002)

I had gotten up late, and was just trying to formulate a believable excuse for not atténding a friend's party on saturday, when I turned on the TV - right when the second plane hit the tower.
I remember the German newsman being shocked to silence for several moments, and I sat there, mouth agape.

Then I called my mother, my father, my grandparents, and most of my friends... I had sort of a communication bureau in my apartment, where people would call in with their news and thoughts, talk to each other via conference call, and so on.

I remember thinking that this was the start of WWIII.

I remember not being able to think of anything else for two days, being in a state of shock for two whole days, while the pictures were broadcast over and over.

I remember going to the old boards, giving information of German news reactions, and reading other posts.

I remember everything else becoming unimportant even though it was far away.

I remember thinking of a close friend who was at an actor's workshop in NYC.
I remember hoping for a friend who works as attourney and was scheduled to fly on the Pennsylvania flight.
Both were unharmed.

I remember our music video channel sending only black screen with messages of condolence.

I remember changing my website's home to give a prayer to all involved. (see it here - minus the pictures)

I remember not being laughed at for my faith by my friends (they usually at least roll their eyes, especially since my belief isn't closely tied to a religion).

I remember when reality stopped for two days.

Berandor


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## Zappo (Mar 12, 2002)

Hmm... I was reading a magazine, when the phone rings. It's a friend of mine, who immediately says "Are you watching TV?"

"No."

"Turn on channel 5"

"What?"

"Turn on the TV. I wait on the phone".

...after a few minutes, I'm back on the phone and saying "My god".

Then, we both went back to our respective TVs. I watched the scenes until the speakers began repeating themselves, then went looking for more news on the Internet.

After some more time, the aforementioned friend comes to my home; he says: "Have you kept watching TV?"

"No, I've seen all the available footage and heard all available details..."

"...so you don't know that the Pentagon and White House have blown up too?" (hey, they were the first moments, things were confused for everyone)

That was too much. "It's not true."

"It is."

We went to the TV again and watched it until evening, making all sort of comments and speculations.


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## Gargoyle (Mar 12, 2002)

I was working in my home office and came downstairs for something to drink.  Heather told me that she heard on the radio that a plane had hit the WTC, but no details.  

I commented that "it was probably a small one; that happened to the Empire State Building once, I think."  I had a picture in my head of some idiot in a Cessna trying to fly between the towers and hitting one of them.

Later, I turned on my own radio for some music and heard a second plane, another jetliner, had hit the other tower and I knew it was terrorists.  I came downstairs, and we turned on the TV and watched it most of the day.  I didn't work much the rest of the week.


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## maddman75 (Mar 12, 2002)

Here's my story

I was working third shift.  Got off about seven AM, went home.  Wasn't tired, and I'd gotten my new soundblaster card the night before.  So I spend some time installing and configuring my new toy, pretty good morning for a techie 

Thought I'd check out a little news before I went to bed.  I turned on the TV just as the second tower started to come down.  Called friends, watched it most of the afternoon, and got on the boards.  Like many others, these boards were the most reliable, fastest source of news during the crisis.

Having that happen actually filled me with patriotism.  I even lost my cynicism about politics for nearly a month


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## Henry (Mar 12, 2002)

My remembrances:

It was tuesday morning. Just late yesterday, our main manufacturing computer system had just recovered from a massive crash that we had from the previous friday until that Monday. We were informed that the replacement hardware that we would need to get the system back up to full capability was going to come out of New Jersey, and it would be at least 24 hours before arriving.

I came in that morning very optimistic that the next weekend was going to turn out better than this one. 

fast forward to around 8:50, when I heard that the first jet hit the WTC. We at the office were all flabbergasted, and didn't conceive of the carnage until we later that morning got to see pictures. Around 10:00 AM I logged into every news site I could find, only to find every one of them timing out - the internet and phone systems were so overworked that no news was coming to us. I then logged onto the EN Boards to see if someone was discussing it.

Discussing it we were.

Triple H, I must say that you were the most valuable person in my life that day. You provided info to me I never would have found otherwise. You kick much ass and you deserve as much praise as possible for your role that day. Triple H should have named himself after you. 

My boss and I discussed implications of the attacks clear until closing time. No one was really working much that day, and no calls were getting through to our home office anyway, so the day was very uneventful as far as work went.

Our gaming group didn't even meet that week, because every one of us unilaterally didn't feel like it. It somehow felt "wrong" to game that first weekend. The next weekend, however, we all gamed like Hack & Slash madmen. We should have been playing a LAN first-person shooter, the way we were playing that day. But we had a lot to work out that first weekend. Hell, if it were out at the time, we all would have been playing d20 Afghanistan.  The sentiment changed later, but it's times like that you feel a human need to take justice into your own hands and make things right again - even if it is a little childish at heart.

These boards and this little community here did much good for me that month. It was a place to come to work out frustrations and lose myself in D&D rules questions.


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## Bubbledragon (Mar 12, 2002)

Not a lot I can say on the subject.

I woke up, already in a bad mood. Its my birthday, I'll cry if I want to. Seeing as the day had no promise for me, I was content to stay in bed for the day. I eventually pulled myself out and wandered to the computer and sat down, reading emails and all. I got a message from a friend reading: "...you better turn the TV on."

I did and the rest is history.

As selfish as it sounds, my birthday's forever marred by this as well. So much for the day being one of happiness and all. ^^;


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## King_Stannis (Mar 12, 2002)

i was at work when it happened. my coworker peered over my cube and told me that there was an accident and that a plane hit the WTC. i immediately thought it was a cessna or something like that.

then i heard about tower two....that's when my wife called, understandibly scared. i calmed her down.....

that was when we started to watch the happenings. some of the investment people here have bloomburg terminals, and they were watching bloomburg TV through them. before i got over there to start watching, i remember one of the guys coming over and saying "it's all gone, one of the towers just fell".

my heart was kind of in my throat, so i went over and watched an listened. there were so many replays and such, that i think i was the only one who realized that tower 2 fell. when i asked out loud if that was indeed tower 2, people said "no, it's just a replay". of course i knew it wasn't, and in a matter of seconds, so did they.

the rest of the day was spent going on and off of ENWORLD, an invaluable resource. i remember feeling awful, because many members are from NYC. i was glad when they started reporting in, safe and sound.

a day never to forget, to be sure. i have our local newspaper from the day after, which i'll always keep for my sake and my kids sake.

it was only later that i realized that the father of one of my players worked in the pentagon....he was out of the building at the time, though.


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## Theron (Mar 12, 2002)

It feels a little strange relating what was such a relatively uneventful experience.  I knew no one in New York or DC, and never worried about anyone's safety except in the most abstract terms.  But what the heck?  It still wakes me up in the middle of the night at least once a month and I still can't look at a plane in flight the same way.  So here's my story...

It was a pretty normal day thus far.  I'd gotten up, gotten myself and the kid dressed, dropped him off at day care, and was checking my e-mail before going off to work myself.  Then the wife called from her office.

"Turn on the TV, some idiot flew a plane into the World Trade Center".  So I did...and saw the gaping hole from the first impact.  And another plane flying into the picture and straight into the other tower.  There was a millisecond of "What the hell is wrong with the air traffic control system?" as my mind tried to come up with a rational explanation of what I'd just seen.  Then the realization hit me.  I called my wife and told her, "That was no accident and it's worse than you can imagine".

I watched for as long as I could before heading to the office.  At that point, both towers were still standing.  I stopped for gas and heard on the radio that the Pentagon had been hit.  Just before I got to the office, the NPR announcer interrupted himself to say, "One of the towers has collapsed".  How I managed to keep from wrecking the car right then and there, I'll never know.  But I drove the rest of the way with tears in my eyes.

When I got to work (a medical clinic), we had the TV on in the waiting area and everyone was watching.  My boss decided to keep us open, since she felt the last thing we should do is deprive indigent people of medical care at a time like that.

For the rest of the day, the horror stories poured in.  Meanwhile, my wife was sent home from work because her office is in a tall building and Houston is at the heart of the petroleum industry.  Downtown was a ghost town withiin a matter of hours.

When I drove home that night, everything seemed eerily calm, like the entire city was holding its breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I got home and held my kid, and had another long cry (which probably confused him, since he wasn't even two at the time), wondering what sort of world I'd brought him into.

That night, I called my folks.  Being one of the "senior set" as gamers go (I'll be 39 in a couple of months), my folks lived through WWII and remember Pearl Harbor from their childhood.  For the first time, my dad and I could discuss something like that with some degree of a common frame of reference.  Somehow, talking about something that happened sixty years ago made me feel a bit better about the future.


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## Tzarevitch (Mar 12, 2002)

I am a born and bred New Yorker who now lives in DC. I work mainly in the District of Columbia courthouse about 4 blocks from the U.S. Capitol building and right across the street from the District Federal Courthouse.  

Word got to us very late about what was going on. I was already at the court. By then word had apparently been circulating in whispers that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I was told this about 9:30AM. Apparently no official word had as yet came down from the Chief Judge or the Clerk of the Court as to what to do. 

Within minutes we heard additional whispers that planes had hit the other WTC tower and the Pentagon right across the river from us. Confusion was turning to near panic in the building as no word had come to us as to what exactly was going on or what we should do. We heard all sorts of panicked rumors about a plane coming to the Capitol building (4 blocks from us) and at that point people started leaving the building. 

The next word we received (at almost 10AM) was from the court marshals.  They were going through the buildings telling us to E-V-A-C-U-A-T-E NOW!    NOW!   NOW!     OUT! OUT! OUT! 

By now all of the government buildings around us had had evacuated into the streets. There were crowds in the streets and on the sidewalk. The buses and the metro had all stopped running. Traffic was jammed all over and people just opened their car doors and played the radio loudly so passers by could hear the news. I remember thinking it looked like scenes you see in disaster movies. 

Pretty much all of us had to walk home that day. I live very close to work so the walk wasn't bad, but with all the rumors of planes heading for the Capitol (my apartment is only 8 blocks from the Capitol) I was starting to regret being so close. 

Once I got home I looked out on my balcony and realized that I had a view of the Pentagon (it is about a mile from me across the Potomac). I could tell because of the flames and dense columns of smoke trailing up into the sky and the helicopters that continued to circle the building with their searchlights trained on the wreckage. It occured to me then that if I had left for work ten minutes later, I could've seen and heard it hit the Pentagon. 

From home I spent 2 hours trying to call home to find out if my mother and cousin were ok (both worked about 2 blocks from the World Trade Center and my mother regularly took the subway to work and exited at the WTC subway station. ) As it turned out, my mother was in New Jersey that day, and my cousin had opted to work from home that day. 

The sheer panic in Washington, the worry about my family, the sight of the WTC collapsing, and the firsthand sight and smell of the Pentagon burning are things I will never forget. (BTW I still remember exactly what I was doing when I heard of the Challenger disaster too.) 

Tzarevitch


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## Psion (Mar 12, 2002)

I was at work when it happened. I work on a military base. I remember Chris, the engineer in the office next door, mentioning that a plane had hit the WTC tower.

Then I remember the sheer shock when the second hit. It took me mere minutes before I had posted something on Nutkinland expressing my outrage.

How little I knew then the depth of outrage I would feel, and the sorrow at the loss of life.

And anger at those who dared to dismiss this as just deserts.

I remember the deeper horror when we heard word or some kind of exposion at the pentagon.

I remember the news sites where clogged, and we all gathered and posted news here.

I remember hearing something about planes headed to the west coast... and a brief bit of confusion not understanding that those were the planes that had already crashed, not planes on their way to new targets.

I remember hearing about the fourth plane that went down in PA.

I remember some idiot -- an imigrant -- not understanding why everyone was in shock and no one was getting anything done.

I remember how empty the roads were on the way home from work that day.

I remember the base being locked down like a fortress.

I remember sadness, sorrow, confusion, and anger.

And I remember friendship and love. I remember recieving calls from family wondering how I was.

I remember getting emails from people that I only know through email -- Mike Johnstone (my volunteer editor and all-around good guy) and the members of the dndtech mailing list emailing because they knew I worked near DC and wondering if I was okay.

I remember hearing the story of Todd Beamer and his last words:

Let's Roll.


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## Wolf72 (Mar 12, 2002)

I was teaching a class when the first plane hit ... then we turned on the tv.  We all thought it was some sort of accident.  Then the second one slammed into the other tower.  Even at this point I was just stunned.

When the pentagon report came in with visuals I remember saying in front of my students, "Oh st" ...

Then got lots of questions because many had relatives in the area or in the military ... "Mr. Rodriguez my cousin is in the Navy ..", I remember answering lots of "will I be drafted questions".

The school district's, where I was student teaching, superintendent lost both his son and son-in-law.


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## Triple H (Mar 13, 2002)

Well the day sure affected all of us quite a bit. I do not know anyone is DC,NY,PA. Only in CA. I have no parents alive. Basically I have no family left. The posting thing I did was automatic. I just felt the need, the desire to do it. Another poster had the same feeling. We couldnt do a whole lot where we were so we posted news. It made us feel better. We never were looking for praise. in fact it was not until around 5 pacific that I actually started to read the posts on the enboards. Between reading,listening and relaying news I became lost and unemotional.

On that day Angelboi called me heroic. It made me tear up. I respect him a whole lot and to "hear" him call me heroic made me feel better on such a dark day. On that same day while I was relaying news and news broadcasts I got an IM. I always turn it on even then. It was from one of my friends who is in the navy. He was scared,he had no news outlet and the base was onf ull alert. He called me heroic.

This may sound like a HUGE pat on the back to myself, in actuality it is conveying how each of you made me feel that day. You made me feel like I really could do something in a hopeless situation. That even though I could not stop riots,board the planes,help clean up and rescue people I COULD still do something. You gave me self worth(tearing up now) and I can find no way to completly thank you. You are a great group and I am proud to be a part of it.

A definign uote of how I feel from of all people Supergirl:

"We don't do it for the glory. We don't do it for the recognition. We do it because it needs to be done. Because if we don't, no one else will. And we do it even if no one knows what we've done. Even if no one knows we exist. Even if no one remembers that we ever existed."

THAT is exactly how I felt that day.


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## Chairman_Kaga (Mar 13, 2002)

I was two blocks away when the first plane struck...saw it all.  I blew out my knee dodging flaming debris and bodies.  Walked all the way from southern Manhattan to the Bronx where I actually live (never mind the profile) on a blown knee, as all subways were shutdown.  

I remember very little from the moment of the first impact to the explosion caused by the second.  I remember a child holding his mother's hand and realizing the rest of her was under a pile of rubble.  I remember wishing the whole world would burn.

I've calmed down some...my knee has had two surgeries since, but I will always have to wear a brace.  My wife doesn't cling to me the way she did immediately after anymore.  I don't see people jumping 100 stories to their deaths whenever I close my eyes anymore.  The building where I work is back up and running and it no longer resembles an armed camp...

Things would appear to be getting back to normal...

except that every time my knee twinges I truly understand what it feels like to hate...and maybe a little part of me still wants the world to burn.


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## Someguy (Mar 13, 2002)

About 9:30, I started my Architecture class, and i heard the Health teacher and my Teacher talking. I heard something about A plane hitting something in NY. Then My teacher lead us into the studio for the local tv station (located in our chool).   I then saw that indeed, both towers were on fire. Later I saw the pentagon.I sat and watched that for about 3 hours, school was a no-go from there. the school set up TVs around the school. I remember that the underclassmen had no idea how to react,and were going about business as usual. Most of the senior class jsut sat and watched.   My best friend, who's a little emotionally unstable, just cried on my shoulder all day. She was a wreck. That;s actually probably what I will remeber, both the imagews of the towers collapsing, and someone at the break of collapse as well...  ever since then, we have been better friends too... but that day still makes me sad


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## Trainz (Mar 13, 2002)

I don't work on tuesdays, so I wake up around more or less 10'ish and open the computer. I never open the TV but this time the machine was taking forever to boot up so I decide to turn it on.

I see one of the WTC towers. One. It took me a good 5 minutes to realise what was happening. I decide to call the store where I work. Of course, they already know. Then I see it crumble. I kid you not, for the next hour I stood there with my mouth half open watching the tube. Thinking of all the lives that where lost. Thinking about the whole incoming repercussions of such an evil act.

Then my wife calls me from university. "Get here right now" I tell her and she does. We watch the tube all afternoon, and then we start thinking about our two kids, and the world they are going to grow up in.

My condolences and wishes of goodwill to all my american neighboors from Montreal.


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## Pazu (Mar 13, 2002)

Well, I lack the eloquence of many of the preceding posters, so I'll keep it simple...

My alarm was set to a news station. I woke up in the middle of a sentence about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. I thought I was having a nightmare and hit "snooze".

When the radio went on again I was fully awake. I ran into the living room and turned on the TV in time to see the first tower collapse.

I called my folks, who live in NJ, just to make sure they were all right. My mother was trying to reach her sister, who lives in NY. She was fine. My wife was worried about a friend of hers who lives in DC and works at the Treasury Department. She was also fine.*

I drove to work in a bit of a haze. For some reason, our medical group actually bothered to have a business meeting, although I don't remember that anything useful actually got accomplished.**

I spent most of the day logged on to these very message boards, lurking, reading the posts from Triple H and Chairman Kaga, whose work I greatly appreciated. I remember becoming enraged at another physician who called me that day to whine that I hadn't completed a report on one of his cases. I remember being largely incapable of getting any work done, so a friend and I eventually took a long lunch break in a nearby park under a treacherously serene blue sky.

I remember feeling both profound grief and cold fury. I remember hearing the (probably overly-emphasized) reports of a few Palestinians dancing in the streets chanting "God is great!" and telling my friend that this was why I couldn't believe in any sort of God, because everyone in the world thinks God is on their side. My friend, a devout Christian, wisely said nothing.

But I also remember that in the midst of the carnage, there were moments of such grace and selflessness and courage, from the rescue workers at the WTC site, the passengers on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, and yes, the folks like Triple H and Chairman Kaga on these messageboards. And I am thankful for that.

I've rambled too long about this. Sorry.

-- Pazu

*My wife later told me that her friend at the Treasury Department first realized something was wrong when she was watching the international market and saw the dollar drop suddenly.

**Our group generally doesn't accomplish anything useful at business meetings anyway, so this wasn't unusual.


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## King_Stannis (Mar 13, 2002)

Chairman_Kaga said:
			
		

> *I was two blocks away when the first plane struck...saw it all.  I blew out my knee dodging flaming debris and bodies.  Walked all the way from southern Manhattan to the Bronx where I actually live (never mind the profile) on a blown knee, as all subways were shutdown.
> 
> I remember very little from the moment of the first impact to the explosion caused by the second.  I remember a child holding his mother's hand and realizing the rest of her was under a pile of rubble.  I remember wishing the whole world would burn.
> 
> ...




wow....what can you say to something as profound as this? i got a lump in my throat reading your account. 

maybe you need to post this in the "WotC layoff" thread currently on the board. as bad as losing ones job is, it may offer some perspective for those members here who think it's the end of the world.


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## Chairman_Kaga (Mar 13, 2002)

That's not a bad idea...for three weeks or so, no one in my office knew if we still had a job.  As close as we were we didn't even know if we would be allowed into our offices.

I work for a toy company and with xmas and the NY Toyfair coming up, if we couldn't get in there, my company would have ceased to exist...


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## Chairman_Kaga (Mar 13, 2002)

Pazu said:
			
		

> *...reading the posts from Triple H and Chairman Kaga, whose work I greatly appreciated. *




If my account helped even one person to understand what happened...what it was like to see it first-hand and not through the eyes of a cameraman...then I am thankful...


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## Chairman_Kaga (Mar 13, 2002)

For those who can't see them...


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## orbitalfreak (Mar 13, 2002)

*Beautiful photo*

Wow, an absolutely amazing image there.  I especially love how there's a starburst halo around Lady Liberty.  The beams of light, when I first saw them, struck me with a metaphysical wave of emotion, and I immediately thought: "Two shafts of pure light, showing the way to Heaven for those departed souls."

May we never forget.


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## Darkness (Sep 11, 2002)

*Re: Beautiful photo*



			
				orbitalfreak said:
			
		

> *Wow, an absolutely amazing image there.  I especially love how there's a starburst halo around Lady Liberty.  The beams of light, when I first saw them, struck me with a metaphysical wave of emotion, and I immediately thought: "Two shafts of pure light, showing the way to Heaven for those departed souls."
> 
> May we never forget. *



I agree absolutely. 

Heh. Today is 9/11/02 - and I went back to this thread again to compare my memories today to those of half a year previous. And they haven't changed...

Peace,
Darkness


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## Kyramus (Sep 11, 2002)

I was at work. 
One of the co-workers came in and said that if I had a radio, to turn it on. The twin towers were under attack.

By the time we managed to get a radio working, the first tower had fell.

When the second tower fell, I was at my desk manning the phones in case people start calling for problems.

I had a mug half filled with water, and when the second tower fell, there was ripples in the water.

The WTC was about 20-25 blocks away. I live in NYC and my work place is on 18th street and 5th ave.


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## Wikidogre (Sep 11, 2002)

i was in the scariest place of all, on a plane over the Atlantic, he got word of what was happening when we where about 50 miles off of the east coast.........or plane was too land at JFK, but we ended up landing in Montreal, and had to drive all the way to Columbus Ohio........it was me and my younger brother, and we where coming back from visiting our grand-parents in Glasgow.....we where suppose to land in NYC, around 9:00am, and we did not hit the ground till around 1pm, my mother to this day says it was the longest 4 hours of her life.


Peace

The WikidOgre


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## shadow (Sep 11, 2002)

Well I was commuting to campus with a women from my hometown.  On the drive to campus we had the radio off and were chatting about politics, unaware of the events that were transpiring.  When I got to class I saw all the students gathered around talking, then another student came into class and said "Well the towers have just came crumbling down!"  It took me a minute to gather what was happening.  When my professor, Dr. Friedenburg, got to class she tried talking for a few minutes, but then dismissed class as she was about to break out into tears.  (She was from New York and had family living in NYC).  After class was dismissed I went to the TV lounge in the student center.  There I watched in horror, footage of people jumping to their deaths from the burning towers.  Needless to say, I was in shock!


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## Henry (Sep 11, 2002)

Chairman_Kaga said:
			
		

> *I was two blocks away when the first plane struck...saw it all.  I blew out my knee dodging flaming debris and bodies.  Walked all the way from southern Manhattan to the Bronx where I actually live (never mind the profile) on a blown knee, as all subways were shutdown...*




A moment of remembrance for the ENWorld Poster Chairman_Kaga, (whose first name was Peter, and who left behind a wife and unborn child), who passed away in an auto accident last month. His haunting words on this board not long after the attacks (he reiterated them in this thread here), will always stay with me.

May all the posters here remember him, too, on this day, and raise a toast for him.


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## KnowTheToe (Sep 11, 2002)

The phone rang and it was my wife.  She was watching the news and told me of the first plane.  I hung up and searched the very clogged internet.  Moments later the phone rang again, she told me of the second plane.  I left the office and bought a TV and brought it back.  All day we stayed at the office for who knows what reason and watched the news.  30 of us crowded aroung a fuzzy screen and spoke very little as we watched the towers burn and speculated of the who and why.  

When he first tower fell the pain of reality really struck, the horrer, the multitude the death.  Sorrow so deep I can't describe.  

A week later I received a montoge of pictures in a power point presentation.  I look at this every few weeks.  I won't let myself foget, I won't let myself feel to secure, I won't let my anger die.


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## Eosin the Red (Sep 12, 2002)

wow.

For a moment I hoped that Chairman Kaga was the victim of a hoax. His death, somehow, in a way I don't quite understand really has impacted me. We announced the imminent birth of our children at roughly the same time. Never spoke directly to him but replied to some of his threads. Stange how you can feel for someone you never met on a personal level.

Me one year ago:
My wife woke me up in tears. I told her to calm down that everything would be ok. I walked into the living room and looked at the TV. I just stood for about 4-5 minutes. I do not frighten easily, I worked rescue for the OKC bombing and the Tornado that killed nearly as many people a few years later. I spent 6 years as an Air Force fire fighter before becoming an ICU and ER nurse. I got scared.

The thing I remember most was staring numbly at the TV. My mind unable to calculate how long it would take me to drive directly to the site from oklahoma. Unable to calculate  the odds of another attack. Unable to calculate the safety of my wife, my son, and my unborn child with me gone. Unable to calculate the sheer volume of the dead and suffering. Unable to imagine the numbers of fire fighters lost. Occasionally,  I would make some movement. My pregnant wife looking at me. I knew, she knew. 

By the end of the day my mind and body quaked with equal mixes of fear,  a desire to do what I do best, anger, and ultimately helplessness at being so far from where I could do some good. I went to work that night and took some solice that I was helping someone, somewhere, even if it was not where I felt I needed to be. In the am of the 12th I remember tickling my 12 month old son and hearing his untainted laughter. It was nearly more than I could take.

Now I sit and I think of my children and how the Chairman will be missed by his.


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## EverSoar (Sep 12, 2002)

I was sitting on the couch, watching the Australian news.  Then the first plane hit, my friend and I were shocked, but only presumed it was an accident.  The second plane hit, and we just stared at each other, utter disbelief.  

Right then, I knew, this is the beginning of something I wish I would never have to live to see.  

The Plane hitting the pentagon wasn't a real shock to me, I expected it.  

I didn't expect, is of the plane coming down in shanksville.  And not knowing it at the time, but the people on the plane, fighting back, knowing what happened, and choosing to crash in a field, than kill hundreds of others.  Thats  courageous, brave and inspirational.  Thats human spirit.  The one thing the terrorists gave us.  The key to our human spirit.  

I remembering crying at the sight, of the two towers falling, the pictures of the people in the tower, knowing they were going to never make it out, was too much......

I watched all night, and all day, I had to.  It was all I could do, to honor those that had worked so tirelessly, and to the innocent victims, caught up in something much larger.

I feel sorry for New York people, I personally could no handle, the constant reminder, of what happened.  The two towers missing, would be obvious, and it would hit me each time, i looked to where they once stood.  I don't' envy you.  

We made an American flag here in Australia, on Bondi beach.  I was touched that America noticed this, and felt moved.  It's the least we can do to support you.

All we can do is live


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## JeffB (Sep 12, 2002)

I was at work ...I live about an hour outside NY city..

When people started talking about it I immediately knew it was an attack of some sort..i just knew..especially when the second plane hit...

Anyway...the company I worked for at the time had about 400 Temp employees in those buildings...and many of the employees in my building had family down there...I talked to those employees all the time...In fact I had just got off the phone with one minutes before it happened..my company lost almost  50% of their nationwide business in matter of minutes...they let me go about 10 days after..it crushed them....

One story really shook me up and still does to this day...A young wife... she was the daughter of one of the ladies in my building...I worked with her...the daughter's husband was down there with their baby girl less than a year old...he was just going in to pick up a few pieces of paperwork from his office  and then come home....Of course they never came home...the daughter of the lady I worked with ran out of her house screaming bloody murder after it happened...they couldn't find her for almost 2 days...she just walked around in a crazed stupor till she collapsed...

I've never broke down and sobbed like a baby in my life in front of people, especially people at work who  I was not close with.....I did it for a week straight...


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## Nellisir (Sep 12, 2002)

I remember exactly where I was, but not alot of the details of the day.

I work as a carpenter, and had started work late that morning for some reason.  I turned on the radio in my truck just before I reached the jobsite to hear, instead of music, a network newscaster talking about an explosion at the pentagon and fire at the WTC.  I never actually got out of my truck.

I waited at the site 20 minutes until my cousin showed up.  He hadn't been listening to the radio, and listened to it, stunned, as we both sat in my truck.  We had no interest in working, and drove back to my house, spending the rest of the day in front of the tv.

I found out later one of my cousins was in, not the towers, but one of the smaller WTC buildings that collapsed later.  She escaped, and walked to NJ.  She saw the bodies, and was near the towers when they collapsed.

Her sister works as a nurse in NYC, and ended up working in the morgue, working on the bodies as they came in.

Nell.


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## Friadoc (Sep 12, 2002)

Sept. 11th 2001:

My job with EDS, at a local call center doing CST work for HP on their Photosmart products, had ended just a few weeks before on the 30th of August.

Although I didn't need to, I awoke early and placed a call to my girlfriend - kinda common actually, calling to wake her up before she went into work - and I turned the TV, more specifically to the news, which is something I very rarely watch.

I can't really stand hypocrisy, which at times the media has truly flowering in their mannerisms.

I saw the replay of the first plan, as I'm in Idaho so, thusly, Mountain Time.

Sometimes I'm still at a loss for words, not that they are hard to come to my mind and lips, but more that I still cannot truly fathom the depth of it all.

I do know, however, that there was no doubt, to me, that this was a terrorist incident - not only were the odds of two planes striking those towers, on the same day, to great, but the flight patterns really didn't support it.

In a way it was weird how that popped in my mind, it was very surreal to be watching the events unfold and then some piece of detached logic appear in thoughts.

One fell, then the other, and I just could not fathom any of it. Many of my thoughts were very rational, although one thought I had was a wish for super-heroes - which, to me anyways, came true since the fact that anyone could survive the attacks was proof, in my heart and mind.

I guess the pure innocence of childhood holds more wisdom then we thought, since it's then that we wish to be policemen and firemen, or person(s) if you wish, when we grow up.

I sat on the couch all day, just watching the news, and all night. 

Part of me just wanted to be there, in the city helping out - heck, the whole reason I joined the Marines was to help my country - but I couldn't be there, the best I could do was witness this, donate when and what I could, and commit the whole event to memory.

It's not just to read about this in history books, or news paper archives, but to have actually lived in the time...it's just different.

Talk to someone who lived through the depression, as it is surreal to hear it from their lips.

Or someone from the WWII generations, when they talk about Pearl Harbor, it's battles, and the cost of it all.

Or to Jews that lived through the holocaust, again it's just different to hear it from those who experienced it.

None of those are truly the same, as suffering is so frustrating in it's ability to be comprised of varied flavors.

I'll admit that I cried, in fact I still do from time to time when it comes to these events.

Stories of the dead make me cry, as I can relate to those children who will grow up with only one parent.

Those of the heroes, living and dead bring tears to my eyes and pull at my heart. I'd like to think I could do what they did if I would have had to, in fact more so I feel if I had to that I will do as they had done, since it would be so tragic to ignore such a shining example of the 'human spirit'.

Basically I cried, I watched, I remembered, and I learned from that day.

People, regardless of ethnic origins, can be better then we normally are, as well as worse, because when you break it down to the simplest of factors we saw two things that day - the worst of us and the best of us. Period.

[edited for spelling errors and an addendum]


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## Paladin (Sep 12, 2002)

I watched TV all day after my husband called to tell me that a plane had flown into the WTC, which at the time meant nothing to me, I wasn't really sure what was in the WTC. Now I know what was there and I hope that there is a way for all the people who lost loved ones there to find peace and closure by knowing that those people who gave their lives have given patriotism back to our country where it had been before lacking, pride to all of us who live in this great country, and courage to fight for our freedom and face those who appose these ideas. God bless those heros and heroines, those who died so tragically. May we never forget them, no matter where we are from or who we are, a part of all of us was taken away on September 11th. I only wish I could give more than words to all of you. Act great, live great, think great, be great and always remember...Paladinwife


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## Khan the Warlord (Sep 12, 2002)

I was stuck in Tennesse for my brother's stupid wedding on Sept. 10. My wife, parents, and my youngest daughter (Gabrielle) drove to my grandfather's home in Kentucky that night to rest for our trip back north to Ohio the next day.

The next morning, we're spending quality time with my grandfather and one GRAND breakfast (a tradition of his), when we begin to hear blurbs on the TV in the living room about some "bombing" (soon after, we learned the truth).

I'll never, ever, forget that ****ing day of loss. We quickly left London, Kentucky and listened to the news on the radio for the 200+ mile drive home. Once we got home, we watched the news on the television and did so for the next few months.

Before I left my parents house for my own, I made sure they both knew just how much I love and care for them -- hell, I even got a kiss and hug from my invincible father out of the deal (who felt his mortality and ours and worried). When we finally got home to our quaint little house, I put my daughter to bed, made love to my wife as if it were the last time, and talked to her until sleep took her. Then, I decided to go into my daughter's room and just WATCH her sleep for what must have been an hour or so. I finally broke down, retrieved her from her crib, and just HELD her. I carried her to the coach, continued watching the news, and began to cry, wondering how I could have brought her into this world with it being the way it is. I finally fell to sleep around 5 am, with my angel sleeping soundly on my chest.

The saddest part of it all on my end (and no lie): My angel, Gabrielle, watched the entire footage before we did and we unwittingly subjugated her young and fragile mind to the constant replays of the event -- to this day, she screams and cries whenever an airplanes flies overhead and she can either see/hear it.

I honestly had no clue, nor even gave it a thought, that my sweet daughter could have perceived and remembered what happened to this day, let alone be scared as Hell of it happening again -- she wasn't even 2 when it happened.


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## Neowolf (Sep 12, 2002)

Though my story isn't nearly as dramatic or involved as many others' (Chairman Kaga's for example), I guess it wouldn't be out of place here.

I was a senior in high school then.  The day started like any other: I got up, drove to school, got my books, went to class.  The minute I stepped into my first-period English classroom, I knew something was drastically wrong.  I looked up at the TV (wall-mounted) just in time to see the first plane slam into the building.  A few minutes later, I watched in horror, not fully comprehending, as the second plane hit.  I think I was in mild shock by the time the plane hit the Pentagon.  Maybe I was already overdosed on emotion by then, but by that point I seemed to already be at the bottom, and couldn't go any lower emotionally.  The days and weeks that followed were a nightmarish blur of emotions: rage, fear, worry...

Who would bring themselves to commit such an inhuman act?  Moreover, who could manage to convince themselves that God himself wanted them to do it? Last time I checked, one of the few things that all major religions agree on is that God teaches love and compassion, not hatred and murder. 

Another thing that shocked and disgusted me was how eager my fellow Americans were to lash out at any and all Muslims and even non-Muslims of middle-eastern descent.  I have several Muslim friends, and all of them made it very clear to me that this was not the act of a true follower of Islam, and whoever said it was must be twisted beyond redemption.

As I'm sure is obvious by now, I'm not at a point in my life where fatherhood is even an issue yet.  However, as sad as it is to say, I don't know if I would want my children growing up in the world we got a glimpse of that horrible morning.

Even now, a year later, just thinking of these events makes me grit my teeth even as my eyes fill with tears.


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Sep 12, 2002)

I was in my college physics course when the planes hit.  Two classes later, and still not a hint.  However, then I went home and check my e-mail.

There was one from my mom, an elementary school music teacher that said something like this:

"It's such a tragedy.  The kids are asking questions that I can't answer.  Be safe, I love you."

I zipped over to CNN.com and looked at that for the next half-hour.  

None of the things I was responsible for were cancelled, so I had to go to football practice (I'm a student athletic trainer).  To top off this day, one of the players got hit wrong, ended up with neck pain, and had to be spine boarded and taken to the hospital.  

Very emotionally draining.  After practice I kept the TV on while I surfed the news sites, trying to piece together what had happened


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## William Ronald (Sep 12, 2002)

I was at home and woke up after the planes hit the World Trade Center.  My first reaction was stunned disbelief, then realization that this was nightmarishly real.


As a Chicagoan, I feared that my city's downtown would be a target as well.  I worried about friends who worked downtown.

For most of the day, I was glued to my television set.  I prayed that people would make it out of the buildings.  I was stunned when the Towers fell, and after a few minutes called my sister.

I had to run an errand for her, and saw her after she got off of work.  We cried, and wondered who was responsible for the attacks.  I was grateful that my family and friends were safe, and wondered how many families and friends would never see a loved one again.

I went home, and watched the news until about 4 a.m.  When I slept, I went to bed with a heavy heart, full of grief.

Now, a year later, I find myself still saddened by the loss of life.  If September 11th has changed me, it has made me appreciate even more the people who are dear to me.


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## darkdancer (Sep 12, 2002)

I had just moved from New York City to a new job in Japan about a month before.  I actually had already gone to bed (it happened about 10pm our time - I was coming down with a cold or something).  The next morning I was awoken by a Japanese friend who was trying to ask me if my family is ok.  Surprised, I said of course until I began to understand through her so so English and my awful Japanese that something catastrophic had happened back home ... something impossible involving maybe bombs, planes, the twin towers .... 

Most of my family lives in and around New York - a brother in Brooklyn, sister in New Jersey,  another sister and my parents  and my husband's entire family in Westchester ... needless to say, I had a lot of trouble getting through on the telephone, and all I had for information while I was trying to get through was a television in a language I could barely (with subtitles) understand and a situation that I couldn't understand at all.  

I finally got through to the one sister in northern Westchester:  yes there were hijacked planes - they're all accounted for ... only four and they're all gone .... no, the twin towers are no longer there ... yes, really, they are gone.

Suddenly I became a representative for my country when I had never really felt especially American before (more sort of world citizen and all that).  Everywhere my friends and coworkers wanted an immediate response to something I was still too shocked to respond to.

My sister's kids in NJ were locked in their schools with their classmates, watching on tv the towers falling, over and over again.  Just like watching Armageddon, my nephew said, but more.  My sister tried to drive from one side of her town to the other, to get home, and ended up getting onto the Jersey turnpike, eventually getting stuck for hours directly across from the smoke in lower Manhattan.


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## ninthcouncil (Sep 12, 2002)

This time last year, I and my partner were out of Britain, having just started our 3-month "last big adventure before thinking about having children", to China, Nepal and Japan. After a few days exploring Beijing independently, we joined our China tour group on the evening of Sep 11. Because of the time difference, we went to bed that night unaware that anything had happened. Next morning, we bumped into some of the others in the corridor and overheard a rather garbled version of what had happened, before the tour leader appeared and ushered us into his room, where he had his laptop linked to the internet, showing recordings of the second plane hitting the WTC.... Most of the group were British, Irish and Australian, but there were also a Canadians couple, and they had a cousin who worked in the WTC. After some frantic calling, complicated by the time zones, they established that he had not yet arrived at work when the first plane hit, so had not been harmed.

The next few days were a bit unreal; we were thousands of miles away, trying to do the tourist things, but worrying that all hell was about to break loose back home. We could get the basic details off Channel 9, the English language news on Chinese state TV (none of the hotels we stayed at had CNN), but it didn't give much feel of how things actually were in the US or Britain at the time. I had a little short-wave receiver with me, and could therefore get a bit of BBC World Service, and it sounded like everyone was extremely paranoid, and expected London to get hit at any moment. We felt rather guilty to think that we were in possibly the safest imaginable place if things did escalate - after all, the Chinese would never get involved, would they?

In China, foreigners always get approached by people who want to practice their English, and of course 9/11 was the major topic of conversation, so we couldn't get away from it even there....


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## alsih2o (Sep 12, 2002)

looking up into the sky that evening, and for the first time in my life, ther were no planes....


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## Melkor Lord Of ALL! (Sep 12, 2002)

_Not caring is one thing, but tasteless comments are another...
- Darkness_


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## Pielorinho (Sep 12, 2002)

One of my main memories of that morning was the _confusion_.

When a coworker called the office and told me that a plane had crashed into the WTC, I almost didn't turn on the TV.  I thought she meant a little Piper plane, and maybe a half-dozen people would be hurt, and that it would just be sensationalistic news coverage.

But I turned the TV on anyway, and saw the smoke, and began hoping desperately it was an accident.  Then the reporter said there were rumors that a second plane had hit, and that they were trying to ready some footage to replay it, and as we watched, they played the footage of the second plane striking, and the reporter and I and everyone else knew it couldn't be an accident.

Then there were reports that a helicopter had blown up on the Pentagon, and that a car bomb had blown up outside the Capitol building, and that the White House was being evacuated, and that a plane had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania, and that it was a plane and not a helicopter that had crashed into the Pentagon, and that it was a bomb and not a plane that had exploded at the Pentagon, and that there were an average of 70,000 (?) people in the WTC every day, and that there were two planes missing somewhere over the United States --

and just as, half an hour earlier I'd been hoping desperately that this wasn't terrorism, now I was hoping desperately that this wasn't a government coup.  Nothing made sense, and nobody seemed to know what was happening, and I didn't know if our government would be intact at the end of the day.

That confusion, that terror of not knowing just what was happening, is my strongest memory.

Daniel


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## Maraxle (Sep 12, 2002)

My thoughts probably won't be very popular, so if you're easily offended, maybe you should skip my post.

---

I remember being angry.  Angry at the evil people who could commit such an act.  Angry at the US government, whose foreign policy, in my opinion, prompted these attacks.  I wanted to be Canadian very badly, as they are so much less hated worldwide.

I also remember wishing that we would become isolationists.  Close the borders and expire the visas.  We have the resources to continue to live well, right?

I also remember that it reaffirmed my strong dislike of flying.  I have never liked setting foot on an airplane, and now I never will.  When I had to fly just two weeks later, made an effort to sit near the front so that I would be the last line of defense before the cockpit.  Nobody was getting past me without a fight.  I was distrustful at that point.

I remember my frustration when I was searched at each and every security checkpoint.  I was "randomly" selected on each and every flight because I have dark hair and dark eyes.  I viewed each time they searched me as a waste, as they could have been searching someone who might actually want to cause harm.

Now, just over a year later, my anger has softened a bit.  However, I still dislike our foreign policy and admittedly still hate those who could commit such vile acts.  I still wouldn't mind being Canadian.  I still would love to see our borders more restricted, though not completely closed.  And I still hate flying.


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