Where were you on 11 September 2001?

[huskeroadgeek]

I wasn't working that day and was staying at my parents house and was asleep when it all happened. I knew nothing about it until I went downstairs and my dad told me what was going on. I didn't have the horror of watching it all live on TV like many did, but I had to process it all at once-planes crashed into both towers of the World Trade Center and both towers had fallen, a 3rd plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and they weren't sure yet at that moment of the fate of the 4th plane. That was a lot to process all at the same time. The toughest part for me was the thought of the World Trade Center just being gone. I had visited New York 2 years earlier and while I didn't actually go inside the Trade Center while I was there, I remember spending time gazing at the towers while I rode the Staten Island Ferry.

Probably the most lasting thing for me that 9/11 has done to me is it permanently changed some of my pop culture likes and dislikes. I used to be a fan of action/adventure and disaster movies with lots of explosions and destruction. As I watched the replay of events on 9/11, I kept thinking to myself how much it all looked like a movie except it was real. I no longer am a fan of those kinds of movies anymore.

[Roadgeek Adam]

5th grade and class.

I wasn't told by my mother when she came to pick me up to why. It wasn't till we got home and I saw the TV that I knew what happened.

(Note, for whatever reason I wrote my 11s on my college work today in tower form. Figured I did my part.)

[Jim]

I was getting ready to teach a lecture in my Operating Systems course at Williams College.  Our department secretary mentioned that something was going on, and I turned on the radio and saw the early reports on the web, and soon after found a television.  By that time, both towers had been hit.  I was watching live for both collapses.  When it was time for class, I went to the classroom and many of the students hadn't yet heard so I told them what I knew (this is the days before every person on every college campus walked from place to place with a smartphone in front of their face).  I gave them the option of cancelling class but we went ahead with our lecture on processes and threads.  We soon learned that (I think) 3 students at the college lost family members.  I remember it being a very surreal feeling all afternoon trying to go through the day but knowing that no one really was getting much accomplished.  There was a very well-attended memorial at the chapel on campus that night.

We also learned that one of the planes probably passed right about over Williamstown, and the same one made its turn toward New York after being hijacked almost right over my hometown of Amsterdam, NY.

In subsequent days, I remember how strange it was to see no planes or contrails in the sky.  Williamstown wasn't likely high on any target list for followup attacks, but it was definitely a very tense time, not knowing what might be in the works next.

I'm no longer at Williams, but on the way to teach at the College of Saint Rose in Albany this morning, it was a bright and sunny Tuesday morning, very much like that day.  Hard to believe that such a perfect day could turn into such a horrible day.

I had never been up in the towers but had seen them a number of times and walked the area nearby.  Just a couple weeks earlier, some friends were in from out out town and we went down to a Yankee game.  After the game, they wanted to see a bit of Manhattan, so we drove around there for a while before heading back north.  We drove right down West Street past the WTC, so the area was very fresh in my mind on that day.

[Alps]

5th grade and class.

I wasn't told by my mother when she came to pick me up to why. It wasn't till we got home and I saw the TV that I knew what happened.

(Note, for whatever reason I wrote my 11s on my college work today in tower form. Figured I did my part.)

(if you wrote your 9 in flying airplanes form, that would be cool, funny, and a great American pastime, namely freedom of expression)

[NYYPhil777]

5th grade and class.

I wasn't told by my mother when she came to pick me up to why. It wasn't till we got home and I saw the TV that I knew what happened.

(Note, for whatever reason I wrote my 11s on my college work today in tower form. Figured I did my part.)

(if you wrote your 9 in flying airplanes form, that would be cool, funny, and a great American pastime, namely freedom of expression)

Nothing is cool or funny about September 11, 2011.

[rickmastfan67]

I was at home sick from school.  I was in bed sleeping when the first plane hit.  My mom came to get me up saying that a plane had hit the WTC.  A few minutes after I got to the living room where the TV was, I saw the second plane hit live.  I was freaking out then and hid in the bathroom for a bit.  Then I really started freaking out when I head a plane go overhead, which I'm 99.9% sure was Flight 93 since I live in the North Hills of Pgh, since you normally don't hear the planes overhead on their approach to Pgh'Int and only hear the local medical helicopters, or the local TV stations ones (like on Black Friday).  I also saw both towers collapse live on TV as well (I think we had NBC on).  It was just nuts that day.

Also, I have some relatives that live in NJ and have work that sometimes took them into NYC.  One of them was on a ferry into NYC that morning and they saw the first plane hit.  When the ferry docked near the WTC, they just stayed on it and left for NJ again before the 2nd plane hit.  So, they are lucky to still be alive.

Anyways, this is my way of tribute to the people that lost their lives that day.  I've been working on re-creating every scheme that was run in the NASCAR Winston Cup race @ Dover the week after the attacks happened.

(Note: the URL on the image doesn't work anymore)

[NE2]

Nothing is cool or funny about September 11, 2011.

So someone who was born on that day is doomed to be forever uncool?

[english si]

Nothing is cool or funny about September 11, 2011.

So someone who was born on that day is doomed to be forever uncool?

All those poor 367 day-olds!

[NYYPhil777]

Nothing is cool or funny about September 11, 2011.

So someone who was born on that day is doomed to be forever uncool?

That's a 50/50 question, I don't know about "doomed." What I was trying to point out was that the events of 9/11 must never be described in a positive light. Now for people who were born on that day, my advice is to only look at that day as their birthday and try to make the most out of life. NYC didn't just completely fall apart after 9/11, it's just building back together. Though a difficult process, this country is carrying on.

[NE2]

What I was trying to point out was that the events of 9/11 must never be described in a positive light.

What you mean to say is a few specific events. Other things happened that day, you know. Other than 10th anniversary festivities (kudos to spanish yes for seeng what I missed).

[english si]

Was nice to see NBC atone for cutting to an interview during the 7/7 (and if you are Israeli, Munich) minutes silence in the Olympic Opening Ceremony by also having an interview when the other networks were holding a minutes silence for 9/11. We did wonder if it was a location thing - deaths in NYC being worth more than deaths in London (we reckoned on it being unthinkable that they would have done the same with a 9/11 minutes silence). Turns out NBC is simply massively disrespectful to all victims of terror - either that or ridiculously incompetent.

[Special K]

I think dead air just makes TV producers nervous.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I was in grade 5 of elementary school.  We didn't cancel class or anything, just had the TVs on for about 30-60min at the start of the day (school started at 9:10).  Since I didn't know anyone who lived or worked in NYC, nor did anyone else in the family, and since I had never even heard of the twin towers before 9/11, a lot of the symbolic meaning of the event was lost on me, and to this day the world looks the same to me post-9/11 as it does pre-9/11, so a lot of the changes that have happened in response seem weird to me (the best way I can put it without politicizing this thread).

That pretty much sums it up for me too.

[kphoger]

What I was trying to point out was that the events of 9/11 must never be described in a positive light.

What you mean to say is a few specific events. Other things happened that day, you know. Other than 10th anniversary festivities (kudos to spanish yes for seeng what I missed).

Not to mention the solidarity that our country had for a brief time, and that many people set their priorities in order for a brief time.  Not all bad came from 9/11, you know.  Some good came from it as well.

As a Christian, I maintain that God is in control of history and, no matter how terrible an event may be (and the world is full of terrible events), it is not outside His grasp, and He can actually use it to produce some good.  I think the real tragedy is that, since 9/11, we've forgotten the good things about that day, perhaps more than we've forgotten the bad things.

Furthermore, while an airplane-styled 9 and tower-styled 1s may be disrespectful and in bad taste, I'd like to say a couple of things about it:

(1) 9/11 was just one day.  Here we are, a decade later, and the world is still turning.  Kings come and go, the seasons run their course, Cain kills Abel century after century, and life does go on.  Let us not make the mistake of never putting 9/11 behind us.  Eventually, there has to be a time when it's OK to make a joke about a piece of our nation's history.  If not, our society is crippled, and–in a sense–the terrorists are still winning.

(2) What does America value more than the freedom of speech?  I may not like everything someone has to say or write or produce, but in some places what you write can land you in prison or worse.  Draw a funny picture of Muhammad's head being chopped off in the KSA and see what happens.  Again, let us not make the mistake of trading our love of freedom for hatred of impropriety.  If we do, then–in a sense–the terrorists are still winning.

[agentsteel53]

Nothing is cool or funny about September 11, 2011.

people who share your opinion include such luminaries as Osama bin Laden.

[agentsteel53]

Draw a funny picture of Muhammad's head being chopped off in the KSA and see what happens.

or in the USA and end up with the most bizarre meta-meta-meta-joke in the history of South Park.  to this day, I still cannot tell if that was funny or not.

[triplemultiplex]

Nothing is cool or funny about September 11, 2011.

So someone who was born on that day is doomed to be forever uncool?

South Park seems to think so, since that's Butters' birthday and he is usually uncool.

[Special K]

Butters is a lot older than 1.

[Special K]

I maintain that God is in control of history

That's an interesting conspiracy theory.

[bugo]

I maintain that God is in control of history

That's an interesting conspiracy theory.

If He is, then He is a monster.  The Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Khmer Rouge, the Great Leap Forward, 9/11...I could keep on going...and that's all within the last 100 years.  Not to mention all the atrocities that He committed in the Old Testament.

[agentsteel53]

If He is, then He is a monster.  The Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Khmer Rouge, the Great Leap Forward, 9/11...I could keep on going...and that's all within the last 100 years.  Not to mention all the atrocities that He committed in the Old Testament.

also, mosquitoes.  poor choice, Big Guy.

[vdeane]

I maintain that God is in control of history

That's an interesting conspiracy theory.

If He is, then He is a monster.  The Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Khmer Rouge, the Great Leap Forward, 9/11...I could keep on going...and that's all within the last 100 years.  Not to mention all the atrocities that He committed in the Old Testament.

We'll have to see how those events are remembered in 500 years, after the memory of the horrors have faded.  The similar extermination of many cities and villages at the hands of the Mongols is viewed in a positive light by many these days because the societies were stagnant and "needed a push to resume progress".  Nice to know that it's ethical to kill millions of people in order to further "progress", never mind that the Mongols didn't care about such stuff.  It's actually quite likely that something similar will happen to the holocaust since it directly caused the later formation of Israel, though as I said, that will be centuries from now when the horror of the people who actually lived through it is no longer remembered.

It's quite unfortunate, really.  Our views of events are so polarized based on whether we bore the costs of them or only reaped the rewards.

EDIT: Ironically, my 2001th post is about 9/11/2001.

[english si]

Nice to know that it's ethical to kill millions of people in order to further "progress"

Of course, bugo's list of 20th Century atrocities were justified on those evolutionary grounds - Darwin giving a biological phenomenon that was similar to his father and grandfather's Hegelian worldview that the world opened the lid on what we now call 'Social Darwinism'.

Darwin himself had to repeatedly strenuously deny that Natural Selection by the Preservation of Favoured Races didn't mean that you should change "survival of the fittest" to "the weak shouldn't survive". Hegel's philosophy has become almost like air we breathe - we can't see it, but are constantly taking it in and spewing it out.

[Special K]

EDIT: Ironically, my 2001th post is about 9/11/2001.

"Coincidentally"

[bugo]

The Holocaust was committed by Hitler in the name of religion - namely Roman Catholicism.  Stalin was rumored to be an Eastern Orthodox.  The US committed atrocities in WWII, but not specifically in the name of religion.  The current "war on terror" is a religious war in all but name.