RufusYoungblood
Mr. MacPhisto's Whiney Wench
I lived close enough on 9/11, but I didn't go and help.
Guilty...
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Bbug
Acrobat
What do you mean by "help"? I mean, I got the impression from the news and everything that they were getting lots of help from doctors/police forces, etc, and that maybe civilians would've been in the way. Of course, I completely have no idea what you do for a living, or what your training is.
Look, I'm in Montreal and when it happened and at first they weren't sure who the perpetrators were and what their reasoning was, some of the businesses in big buildings downtown closed for the day. If you think objectively about it, everyone was in shock for the first few days. I was listening to the radio after the first but before the second plane hit, and at that time, they didn't even really know what was going on. They talked about something that happened in Chicago a few years ago, how a small plane hit some building and that was because of fog/weather conditions, and said it was such a clear morning and what was going on? When the planes went down in Pennsylvania and Washington, I think maybe there was a sense that this could happen in other cities, too, or maybe again in the same place.
Basically, don't fault yourself because you have healthy self-preservation instincts. I mean, I have cousins in DC (one could see the smoke from the Pentagon for days afterward, and he's working as a page or whatever for a senator so the anthrax thing was scary for him, too) and that's a freaky thing, to look out your window and see this going on. That's traumatizing. Anyone would be deeply affected by that. Again-- I don't know how close you were, exactly.
You can't go back in time and change what you did--don't let it eat away at you. If you feel really, really, badly about this, try to examine why exactly you didn't go, and try to get around what the obstacle was for you-- fear? selfishness? Were you needed at home for some reason? and think of what you WANT to do next time you see anyone in distress, no matter what the scale of the incident.
Really, please don't beat yourself up about this. The past is the past, and the 11 september thing is hard enough to deal with even without this kind of grief.
Look, I'm in Montreal and when it happened and at first they weren't sure who the perpetrators were and what their reasoning was, some of the businesses in big buildings downtown closed for the day. If you think objectively about it, everyone was in shock for the first few days. I was listening to the radio after the first but before the second plane hit, and at that time, they didn't even really know what was going on. They talked about something that happened in Chicago a few years ago, how a small plane hit some building and that was because of fog/weather conditions, and said it was such a clear morning and what was going on? When the planes went down in Pennsylvania and Washington, I think maybe there was a sense that this could happen in other cities, too, or maybe again in the same place.
Basically, don't fault yourself because you have healthy self-preservation instincts. I mean, I have cousins in DC (one could see the smoke from the Pentagon for days afterward, and he's working as a page or whatever for a senator so the anthrax thing was scary for him, too) and that's a freaky thing, to look out your window and see this going on. That's traumatizing. Anyone would be deeply affected by that. Again-- I don't know how close you were, exactly.
You can't go back in time and change what you did--don't let it eat away at you. If you feel really, really, badly about this, try to examine why exactly you didn't go, and try to get around what the obstacle was for you-- fear? selfishness? Were you needed at home for some reason? and think of what you WANT to do next time you see anyone in distress, no matter what the scale of the incident.
Really, please don't beat yourself up about this. The past is the past, and the 11 september thing is hard enough to deal with even without this kind of grief.
RufusYoungblood
Mr. MacPhisto's Whiney Wench
Just briefly...
I didn't go because I'm just a civilian.
I'm in CT, about 90 minutes away from ground zero.
Beating myself up is too strong a term. Call it "regret". I stayed home and helped my g/f feel safe.
No big deal. I was just watching the 9/11 thing on TV.
I didn't go because I'm just a civilian.
I'm in CT, about 90 minutes away from ground zero.
Beating myself up is too strong a term. Call it "regret". I stayed home and helped my g/f feel safe.
No big deal. I was just watching the 9/11 thing on TV.
ABEL
An Angel In Devil's Shoes
Rufus, I agree with what kobayashi said. Staying home to make youre g/f feel safe is a very important thing too.
I think on 9/11, the last thing that was needed was to have civilians going down into a dangerous area, which would only cause more chaos.
My brother and his wife, life just 2 miles from "ground zero" and didnt go either. There was not much that could really be done.
If you still feel guilty about it tho, perhaps you can still do something, like donate to the red cross, or another charity.
I think on 9/11, the last thing that was needed was to have civilians going down into a dangerous area, which would only cause more chaos.
My brother and his wife, life just 2 miles from "ground zero" and didnt go either. There was not much that could really be done.
If you still feel guilty about it tho, perhaps you can still do something, like donate to the red cross, or another charity.
Lilly
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
I was going to give blood, but then I got scared and chickened out. Instead I helped with a "spirit chain" campaign at school where kids bought a slip of paper for $1 and we put it all together in a big paper-link chain. We raised $2500+ dollars (roughly $2.50 a student).
That didn't make me feel so good as explaining what had happened to people. People know I'm a news junkie, so my peers would ask me what was going on, and that felt so good that they were asking me about it and that I could offer them some tidbit and they could take it and know what was going on. Selfish though it is, I liked it.
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Proud owner, maker and baker of THE U2 cookies.
That didn't make me feel so good as explaining what had happened to people. People know I'm a news junkie, so my peers would ask me what was going on, and that felt so good that they were asking me about it and that I could offer them some tidbit and they could take it and know what was going on. Selfish though it is, I liked it.
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Proud owner, maker and baker of THE U2 cookies.
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