Where were you? (WTC related)

[ABEL]

Originally posted by ouizy
I too am an architect, where does your brother work???

HLW

[anitram]

I was sleeping, since I didn't have any classes on tuesdays last year. Somebody woke me up once the second plane hit, and then I think I watched the news for the remainder of the day, in a sort of trance.

[daisybean]

I had just woken up and turned on the TV after the first plane hit. I was watching Good Morning America and they were saying that they believe a plane flew into the WTC. My initial thought was "Damn, someone sure got lost." As I was watching the second plane hit, I realized that they were not lost after all.

I immediately got on the phone to family members to make sure no one was in the area, thankfully they weren't.

I just sat there, numb watching the towers burn on TV, thinking to myself how are they gotta put this fire out being so high up.

Then news came in about some type of fire or bomb in Washington. I made another round of calls to make sure no family/friends were in the Washington area.


I had the day off from work, and I sat and watched the television coverage all day dumbstuck.

I remember it was a nice warm day, yet I still curled up in my blanket, freezing.

[Miss MacPhisto]

Fascinating thread.
I was asleep on a chair in my old abandoned house with my doggie next to me. Since there was no power I couldnt watch TV, and we had to get up shorty after dawn and get the hell outta there before anyone saw us.
So, we left, and after we got aways away, I turned on my walkman and the morning talk shows were on. I heard Mark & Brian tell everyone to stay calm, and that hopefully this is it, its over, there isnt going to be any more.
These guys are goofballs, and are always on with the gags. So I assumed thats what it was, a joke of some sort.
They just kept talking and I had no idea what the hell was going on, but as time wore on, I began to realize that this wasnt a joke, something serious had happened.
It was a very long time before they recapped, so i stayed confused for a while, but when they finally did mention what had just taken place, my only reaction was just sheer shock, confusion, disbelief, and horror.
I just talked to everyone I could about what had gone on.
Just so very surreal. It still is.

[BostonAnne]

I was on my way to Target when I heard about the first plane on the news. Then I heard about the 2nd plane as it happened and realized that what was going on was deliberate. I started bawling, but continued on my errand. It was strange to be in the store and while I thought it was so unimportant to get whatever it was that I went there for, I didn't know what else to do. Most of the people in the store were at the electonics department watching the tv's.

I got home and turned on the tv, but I didn't call anyone. I wasn't worried about anyone in particular and didn't feel like talking about it. I look back and think it strange that I didn't want to reach out to people (especially my husband) at the time.

[Discoteque]

Had just got to work about 8:30. A coworker was on tehphone w/her sister, when she jumped up and said, "You guys! A plane hit one of the Trade Center towers!" We were all like, woah....but we all assumed it was a small Cessna-type plane. Then a few minutes later, she jumps up again and yells, "OMG! Another plane hit the OTHER tower!"

By this time, people were in "scurry" mode - everyone is running around getting to their PCs trying to get some info, calling people, trying to locate radios....I was in back to back cubes with someone, and we both had radios. We must have had 20 people crammed into our cubes listening to the news. I finally got to CNN, and WOW. Was amazed, saddened and shaken....when I finally got the video clip to play, we all sat there with our mouths open, we could not believe what we were watching.

Our VP called an impromptu meeting, and sent us all home. I drove home in a complete fog, looking at the very FEW other people on the roads, also driving around in their own fogs....

I stayed absolutely glued to the TV the entire rest of the day. One of the eeriest things was when the local news showed vids of downtown Dallas - usually crammed with cars, buses, people.....and they were absolutely EMPTY.

I remember feeling very emotional, and I cried, but I could not tear myself from the television....really a weird sensation....absolutely surreal....

[pax]

New York is a difficult place to live. --my popular culture professor on 9/11, before anyone knew about the WTC

I was walking from one building to another on my school's campus after my 9:30 a.m. class, on my way to my 11:00 a.m. class. I had pretty much rolled out of bed and into class that morning, and I didn't own a TV at the time, so it was almost 11 a.m. and I still had no idea.

My 11 a.m. class was metaphysics, and it was a small class and everyone got along well. Usually before class, everyone would be talking and drawing on the board and stuff. But when I walked in, the radio was blaring and everyone was silent. And I heard about the towers, and the Pentagon, and everything. And I honestly thought it was the end of the world.

I go to a Catholic school, so the president of my college held a Mass at noon. After Mass, he found out that the campus had received bomb threats, so all the buildings were evacuated--even the res halls, which meant I couldn't go into what was for all intents and purposes my home all afternoon.

The chapel was cleared right away, and there's an auditorium built onto our campus ministry center, so a lot of people were in there watching CNN together. We had Taize prayer that evening, and I watched a lot of news.

[hiphop]

I was at work, surfing the internet, in another forum. There was a thread "Plane hits WTC", sth. like five minutes after the first attack. Inside, it was just written "This is no joke. Turn on the TV." I tried to reach the website of the White House, the C.I.A., the N.S.A.

No chance. All U.S. URL´s were not reachable from here for some time, possibly because a switch in NYC collapsed due to the attack (official version). Also the forum was down. No news in Europe yet. I went to one of our managers, said "I think there is happening a big tragedy."

Then, some internet sites started to function. Pictures of the second plane that had just hit the tower. I called my ex-girlfriend at home to tell her to turn on the T.V. She was shocked. I was relatively calm... there were rumours about a plane heading to Europe, rumours about the plane to Camp David, rumours about a mysterious fifth plane somewhere in U.S.

I didn´t get hysterical, but I had fear. I thought "If the third world war ever breaks out that´s it". I expected that news about missiles would soon come in. But they didn´t. I stayed at work, looking at the tragedy online.

Then, I got home... watching the T.V. with the same pictures always repeating, in disbelief. I wondered that they spoke of 5,000 deaths, thought "This is not possible. I´ve been there, I´ve seen the building... and if it collapsed...". I was surprised that the responsible person for this attack was found so fast, was surprised that the N.S.A. with all their techno couldn´t locate him. Lots of discussions with friends and family.

I felt like in a bad dream for some days... one of the things that kind of "woke me up", was the great concert. Wyclef Jean playing "Redemption Song" gave me hope. U2, Billy,... Jack was not joining the chorus in the last song. I thought to the movie "Wag the Dog". I was hoping U.S. citizens would engage more in civil society from then on to influence their country´s policy.

[JessicaAnn]

Originally posted by ouizy
I really did not mean to bring back bad memories, but whenever a plane flies over New York (I still do not understand why they are allowed to) I get really bad memories. When I hear a plane go over head that is the thing I think of first, and when I see one fly past a skyscraper (well beyond of course) I just remember the images...

All this and it happened about 10 months ago.

Not good, not good at all...

There is no time limit on the process of healing ... I think that there are many of us, whether we live in NYC of some small town in Montanna, we're looking at airplanes a lot diffeently than we did 10 months ago.

[Truly]

I was out shopping with my Mum - it was about 3 PM here. I remember I was flicking through the channels on the car radio on the way back, and I caught about two seconds of someone saying something about a plane crash, but I didn't catch where it was or anyhting. I think I must have turned the radio off after that.

When I got back home I came to interference, and there was this thread with lots of replies called "turn on your TV now!" or something. I distinctly remember thinking as I clicked on it that it was a bit stupid of whoever posted it not to say what channel or country. I read the first few replies and I couldn't work out what was going on, so I ran to turn on the TV. This was after both towers had fallen. I just couldn't believe it when I saw what had happened. That was the only time in my life I seriously thought I was dreaming.

[ouizy]

HLW is a couple of floors above the firm I used to work for...

[OzAurora]

Hmmmm- this is very interesting to hear all of your reports, my story goes like this...

I was watching the late night news here is Australia, which is something I usually do- it is gerally on at about 10.30pm and you just kinda sit there motion less and usually listen to all of the crap, generally about local politics and stuff that happened in the day- never expecting to hear what happened that night...so anyway at I guess about a quarter to eleven the news reader has a guy hand her a piece of paper and says we have some tragic news just come to hand and then they show the first plane and I am thinking what a horrible accident and then they cross to CNN and we are watching live as it happens the second plane go in and I start to think that this is no accident and the news reader on our telly says that they are going to stay with this story and I am watching all of this just in total awe and bewiderment and then I go into my bathroom to brush my teeth for bed and I hear that one had gone into the Pentagon and then I got really scared and all I could think of was where and when is the nuclear bomb going to go off- I was so scared as I live on my own and it was night time here in Australia and so I stayed up watching the news- and sending text messages on my mobile phone to friends of mine who were overseas at the time and then after smoking nearly a packet of cigarettes I finally went to bed at about 3am and then woke up and thought what a horrible dream I had had last night and then I put on the telly and every single station here was non-stop 'Attack on America'- you could not escape it, the radio, the tv everyone was talking about it- it was a pretty full on day!!!!!!

[rafmed]

I was at home, usually never watch the morning news, but on this day, I did it, weird, and there it was the fire on one of the towers, after that was hard to stop watching, I still can't believe that I saw a plane crash into the other tower, I don't want to make a recount of events, but it was a sad day, a day where we all feel vulnerable no matter the place on earth we were.

[Bonochick]

I was in my MS Office & Business systems class at the college...I had just left my Excel class and had that one right after. I was the first one in the room, and a few more people entered. Then a couple girls came in and asked if we'd heard about the plane crashing into the WTC. I tried going to CNN.com, but it was bogged down, so I came to Interference because I knew there'd be stuff about it. Since my class couldn't access any news sites at the time, I kept updating people with info from what the threads here said. I also emailed my dad at work right away to communicate with him back and forth. I felt sick and was in utter disbelief...it didn't hit me at first how major it was.

[dream wanderer]

Originally posted by ouizy
I really did not mean to bring back bad memories, but whenever a plane flies over New York (I still do not understand why they are allowed to) I get really bad memories. When I hear a plane go over head that is the thing I think of first, and when I see one fly past a skyscraper (well beyond of course) I just remember the images...

All this and it happened about 10 months ago.

Not good, not good at all...

Its not just you people in NYC. I live right outside of DC...and the planes reverse their engines as they prepare to descend to Dulles Airport right over my little town....I always say a little prayer that those people will land safely...

It was a beautiful day....

I got up to go to work and my brother had his radio on. He told me about the planes in NYC so I turned on the TV. It didn't seem real for some reason...like watching a movie. I was in a bit of shock...but then the tv went without a word of warning to the Pentagon. As I said I live outside of DC and I remember how that roughly brought me to reality. Seeing that building on fire was the most frightening thing in my life.. They were here...right here on my doorstep....

I stayed watching and saw the towers fall...then went to my part time work at a locale elementary school ... Virginia went into a state of emergency (the Pentagon is located in Arlington Virginia proper..not DC) and all the schools went into a lock down. We were not allowed to discuss it in front of the children (so many of them had parents and relatives who worked in the DC area and we didn't want hysteria and panic among the kids.)

The in-laws of my son's school's PTO president was on flight 77 that hit the Pentagon, Bud and Darlene Flagg...and their grandchildren go to school with my son. When I went to pick him up...I found at his school they had discussed it all day long and he was ready to talk about it...and we did.

My oldest son's best friend's step dad worked on the part of the Pentagon that was hit...but that day he was out of the building...he had a doctor's appointment.

Over Christmas we went past Shanksville PA...and I was surprised that it wasn't that far away from us. Someone commented that plane could have easily come down on Pittsburg...or any of the little towns between there and DC...including the small town where I live...

Thank you .....

dream wanderer

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I was just getting out of bed and about to hop in the shower when I turned on CBS. I remember hearing Bryant Gumble on the TV saying that they have a TV crew going over to the WTC because there seems to be a small fire. I didn't think anything about it. I went ahead and hopped in the shower and got ready for work.

I left the house and drove to the drycleaners to drop of some clothes that i needed for the next day, because I was suppose to fly to LA the following day for a conference. I didn't think much about it until my coworker called me on my cell phone and said with a shakey voice "where are you? do you know what is going on in NYC? OH MY GOD ANOTHER PLANE JUST HIT THE BUILDING!" I realized then that I was not going out of town... I turned my radio to the news channel and heard the DJ's giving the details of what they were seeing on the television. I began to tear up and get very scared, because I have family and friends who worked around the WTC, thankfully they survived but they did have to run for their lives... As soon as I made it to the office I saw people gathered in the lobby, people were crying, people were staring at the tv's in shock and people were mad. I took the elevator to my floor and heard a lady crying and yelling out to her co-workers that she cannot find her brother. Apparently her brother worked in the WTC. It was awful. I ran into the office and saw the somber faces on my coworkers. We had coworkers flying at that time. Some just took off from Boston to LA, so we were really concerned about their safety, thankfully they were fine, but one was supposed to be on one of the doomed flights...The day just seem to go numb. I instantly received phone calls from family and friends who wanted to make sure i was still in Atlanta and had not taken off for LA.

I remember thinking that I was a sitting duck for being in a office building. So i took off and ran down stairs, and that is when I heard the Pentagon was hit. My office is situated in between flight paths so i knew i had to leave, but i was hearing reports that the interstates were clogging up because of everyone leaving to go home. I didn't want to go anywhere, because i was scared that i was a sitting duck for sitting on the highway.

I guess the biggest dose of reality hit when i was driving home and i saw on the electronic billboard that normally reports traffic reports on the interstate the following message "DUE TO A NATIONAL EMERGANCY ALL AIRPORTS ARE CLOSED!" I was frightened and freaked out when I saw and heard the fighter jets taking off from the Air Force Base.

It was a scary day for us here in Atlanta. Like many I went to church and donated as much as I could possibly could to help those families who lost loved ones.

[Laura M]

I was at school when the planes hit i think- but i only found out about it on my way home- my aunt picked me up in her car and i havent seen her for 2 years (she only lives about 3 streets away)and she told me about it- the last time i saw her was the day princess diana died....she brings bad news I watched it on the news and was like WOW- that can't be real.

I have a question for ppl living near NY: Are you still afriad today of any more terroist attacks?

[Laura M]

Originally posted by MissVelvetDress_75


It was a scary day for us here in Atlanta. Like many I went to church and donated as much as I could possibly could to help those families who lost loved ones.

your story give me goosebumps- thats so scary!

[u2loopy]

To clarify before I begin, I work in Midtown Manhattan, though, I am no where near the WTC, I can't even see it from my builiding.

I had just walked into my office and one of the porters in my building came onto my floor to tell me that a plane had hit the WTC. Now, this guy is always fooling with me so, naturally I didn't believe him. So, we have a TV in the office but it's in one of the Principle's office so I had to ask him if I could turn the tv on. He actually giggled when I told him the situation because he imagined it was some idiot who flew a propeller plane into the building. *wishful thinking*

So we stood around watching the tv and realized , "Wow, what a terrible accident." Just as we're watching the news coverage we see LIVE footage of the second plane coming into the building. (I got chills just now as I typed that.)
So, we tried to start our workday, but then we heard about the plane into the Pentagon and the plane crashing outside PA. So, considering we are about 5 blocks from the United Nations, we evacuated the building.

After trying and trying many times over the phone to reach my friends and family I finally got thru and was able to get in touch with EVERYONE that I knew who worked nearby me in the city. Me, my sis, my mom, my cousin, and another cousin all met in front of my building and we made our journey home.....WALKING!!!

I live just about 12 miles from my job. We left Manhattan at 11 am. I got home at 3:30 PM!

But, it wasnt' just us, there was a mass EXodus out of the city. People everywhere were walking, some people had dust on them from when the buildings collapsed.

When my friend told me the towers collapsed, (I found out as we were walking) I didn't believe it. The severity of it didn't hit me until I saw it with my own eyes on tv.

For the next week, I was glued to the tv since I couldn't go back to work.

What a day in history.

[whiteflag]

10 months later and it is still so hard for me to talk about it. It just seems that whatever I can think to say about it seems so inadequate.

I was asleep. My sister came into my room and told me that something had happened and both WTC towers had collapsed. As long as I live, I know I'll never get a more awful wake up call than that. I remember thinking that it couldn't possibly be true. My sis had to have it wrong somehow as usual. As I got up to straighten things out, I remember being momentarily really angry at her for not waiting until later to tell me. Especially if somehow it was actually true. (My sis and Mom always get over emotional about dramatic news stories. They make lousy reporters and tend to exagerate and misunderstand things. Don't ask me why.)

I really can't say what I thought when I started watching the coverage. How can anyone convey emotions like that, anyway? Some events really do go beyond words. But one thing I will say is that I remember at first being convinced that I saw good portions of the towers still standing through all that smoke and dust. I kept telling myself that damage estimates are always really high at first in disasters, and if good portions were still standing that meant that there was that much more hope for the people who might have been trapped inside.

Does anyone else remember casualty estimates in the tens of thousands? How I still wish that damage to the towers could have been similarly downgraded with time. Then maybe we wouldnt have lost as many as we did.

That day in Dallas was exceptionally beautiful. The temp perfect. The blue sky full of fluffy white clouds. The sun was gentle. It was the nicest day I have ever seen in Dallas and I've been here 12 years. Anyone who lives here could tell you how rare a perfect day is here.

For me that day in Dallas was proof that God's Grace is real. Just as the day in New York finally slammed home the REALITY and horrifying depth of human evil and depravity. That day began an overall climb into a new plateau of my faith. It convinced me of the nature of sin as taught by the Christian church. It convinced me that Good is actually in an all out war with Evil. It convinced me that the Devil really exists in some shape or form. But at the same time it also convinced me that Good is too powerful to be overcome by evil because God stands behind it. I saw the face of God that day in the faces of the rescuers and later in the voices of a gospel choir singing God's praises on a street corner in New York, and still later in the story of the church that became a hospital and refuge for the people working at Ground Zero.

Did anyone ever see pictures of the insides of that church? Every inch of the inside was covered in colorful cards and drawings etc. It literally looked like a day care center. It shut down for months and months to minister to those people, to help them heal and keep them from falling apart. I think that never has any church so completely fulfilled its first mission to heal in the way of Jesus. The job was so huge and that church so readily and gladly gave excessive and abundant comfort, not caring how dirty the place got, not caring about maintaining some kind of sanctity or dignity for their sanctuary. All the great themes of our faith were on full display. They reached out and sacrificed the body of their church gladly, without limit, so that healing, comforting and befriending could happen. That's exactly what should be expected of a religion which follows a Being who was first and foremost a healer.

Just think, would 9/11 have ever happened if most people put healing first the way Jesus taught instead of putting first the struggle to make their religion #1?