9/11: Where were you?

[Ax01]

today marks the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on America. i wasn't around the forum back then and haven't seen a discussion on it since i've been here. so i just want to take a moment to create a space where we can reflect, share and continue to heal.


it was still summer for me and school did not start yet so i was still working my summer job. being a lazy kid, i slept in as much as possible. however that morning my house was buzzing. my parents were up, my lazy siblings too. they were all glued to the TV, horrified, watching planes slam into the WTC. everyone was up early but me. we are on the West Coast and i got up in time to watch the North Tower collapse live on TV.


shortly i got a call from my supervisor to make sure i was still coming into work. i worked at a big, fancy Hilton hotel, in housekeeping of all places, and she needed everyone there. flights were grounded/cancelled out of Seatac and guests are overstaying. i get to work late, everyone was emotional, i watched CNN in the rooms all day while i cleaned them. it was still surreal. i wanted to be home with family but we all worked late that day.


i'm not an expert on geo-politics (or national security) nor will i pretend to be one but i knew the world had changed that fatefull day 16years ago. war was at our doorstep, suspicion and mistrust was swelling, America demanded answers and accountability. i just remember floating around for a long time in a state of ambivalence. i still feel stuck in this state of mind alot of times these days.


regardless remember the fallen and thank you to the first responders and service members. there is alot of good that rises above the bad. in light of the hurricanes in the past week(s), again we see the good in people in our collective national crisis. never forget.

[tttaylorrr]

i was in 5th grade when someone came in and whispered to my teacher, then he made an announcement to our class. i remember thinking "wow what a horrible accident." i was too young to realize that someone would actually WANT to do this to people.

i remember getting home from school and seeing my mother sitting inches from the television and in tears. i tried to ask her what happened, but she had a hard time explaining it to me. i remember her telling me it was an attack, and then i realized that this was done on purpose. the internet and stuff was still pretty new back then, so i didn't really know how to use it to answer my questions. i just remember watching the news every day for the next month trying to understand with my tiny 10-year-old brain, and getting scared that we were going to be bombed, or my dad was going to be sent off to hurt people.

it was a really scary time as a 10-year-old. a year or so later (maybe less) my parents bought me a bunch of books about 9/11 and what exactly happened. i became super interested in it; i think because it was the first time i could understand what happened.

interesting fact: 9/11 was the first time news stations started scrolling news on the bottom of their broadcasts, since there was so much news that needed to be conveyed that day.

[ElliotNess]

I had just finished PT and was in the shower in the hangar. One of my guys came down and said a plane crashed in NY. I walked in just as the 2nd one struck. I was in Kandahar shortly there after. 8 years total in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[Craiga 01453]

I had just finished PT and was in the shower in the hangar. One of my guys came down and said a plane crashed in NY. I walked in just as the 2nd one struck. I was in Kandahar shortly there after. 8 years total in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Thank you for your service.


I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was living at my father's house at the time. I had a nice little basement bachelor pad, but that's neither here nor there. For some reason I woke up early that day. And I always sleep with the TV on, so the emergency broadcasts were everywhere. I called my good friend who lived a few houses up from me and woke him up. He came down the street and we watched the second building fall, live as it happened. We didn't think it could be real. NOBODY would do that to us!!! We thought the United States was too powerful to be a victim of such an attack. We just watched in awe for a few hours until I had to go to work. At the time I was tending bar at a private country club. Hardly anybody played golf that day, everybody just huddled around the TVs and watched all day and night. Watching men cry, shedding tears myself as I watched from behind the bar, embracing club members and coworkers alike was surreal in itself. As some can imagine, the members at a private club like that can be a bit snotty and think they are above the bartenders and waiters and waitresses. But that day we were all one, all equals....all Americans.

[bcr229]

At the time I worked for a defense contractor in northern Virginia. We heard about the first plane, turned on the TV's in the conference rooms, and saw the second one it.

I had friends working in the Pentagon, fortunately none were hurt that day.

IIRC schools let out and so did most of the government buildings. I went home as well but eventually just had to get away from the tv so I went to the barn to cry on my horse's shoulder.

[ElliotNess]

Thank you for your service.

It was an honor and privilege. You are more than welcome...

[Sunnieskys]

I was driving to work and heard it on the radio and thought it was a joke until he said OMG A SECOND PLANE JUST HIT THE OTHER TOWER. I am in Seattle so it was pretty early here. I got to work and watched the TV and watched the towers come down. I was crying and I knew everything had changed. I worried for my husband in the navy, I worried about my son who was two at the time. I cried, for my family, the people in the tower who perished, and their families as well. The. The pentagon and the plane that crashed in PA too. Those people were Heros. I cried for everything that day. It all changed for the US.

[DLena]

I was a new teacher in my classroom with 26 7th graders. We were watching a tv show. It was interrupted for the live news coverage. Parents swarmed the school to take their kids home to keep them safe "just in case." No one had a clue as to what was going on, the magnitude of it was mind-boggling. Lots of families in North Tonawanda have family members in the military; so much fear on so many levels...

[Tila]

I was a high school student in NH that got picked up early. I had stepped out of math class to use the bathroom and I saw a teacher crying in there. I went back to class and the lesson had stopped and the class was watching the news. We all sat in disbelief watching the second tower get crashed into and collapse. I try now to remember this day through building up my relationships and community.

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[ebbanflo]

I live in NYC as I did at the time. Im 23, so I was in 2nd grade. My school was midtown, so I was fairly far from the towers. I remember parents coming to get kids and my mom came to get me. As we went home I saw the smoke in the distance from further downtown. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I definitely remember not understanding how big a deal it was in the moment.

The night of Sep 11 2001 My dad went downstairs because he heard a lot of commotion outside the window. I lived in an apartment building with my dad mom, and brother (they all still live in the same apartment I just recently moved out!) He came back and told all of us to get clothes on and shoes on and we began to run. There was rumors of a threat that the Empire state may be another target and our apartment was only 2 blocks from that building. As we ran, I really am not lying when I say that we ran into the band Cheap Trick, who my parents were big fans of. As we were directed where to go during the evacuation, we also got to talk with rockstars.

Really insane night. Never forget. Love and thoughts to all those who lost someone.