<font color = lightgreen> This is a thread to post your thoughts, memories and condolences to those tragic events in New York that seems like yesterday. This is NOT a political discussion, maybe that will be discussed on the currant events forum. This a chance to express our concern and solidarity to those in the USA, and indeed the world who suffered at the hands of evil. </font>

It's two years now, and I really don't think about it that often anymore.. I do feel sorry for the people that had to die in that attack. But the memory fades away quicker and quicker nowadays...

Awesome thread Wellard! Thanks for posting it!

My clearest memory is of Cloudy. She was all I could think of as I sat in my living room, staring in blank shock at the tv. The very first thing I did, once I could tear myself away, was to get online and contact her. We spent the whole day 'together', talking and watching, and worrying. We both eventually made our way here to IW, to check in with friends. Yeah, things got a bit heated, but, what I'll always remember best is the sense of community, and shoulder-to-cry-on offering that the folks here did. It was a time of great pain, and everyone pulled together with, and for, everyone else.

I dont know Link...maybe it's because you're not American, but, for me, and for many people I know, we still remember, and part of us still rages, and part of us still weeps.

I think that, for the rest of my life, September 11th will be a day of anger and pain and sadness. I know that our society is pretty disposable nowadays, and that includes emotional issues...but some thing you just *cant* forget, or forgive!

Peace out to all those that died, as well as all those that survived the horror of 9/11. My thoughts will be with and on you!

[ 09-10-2003, 10:39 AM: Message edited by: Nachtrafe ]

Why would it be because Link is not American? Let's not make any of those assumptions, because as Wellard said let's leave the debates out of here.
I for one, as a non-American, do have a thought to spare for the victims of those attacks, same as I did last year.
It was a completely stupid and senseless loss of lives, of people of all kinds of nationalities dying for no reason, and I'm sorry for all their deaths.

Only day in my life when I was sure it was the end of the world...

Two years ago today, and I sat waiting on an airstrip at Aberdeen airport for 2 late passengers to arrive. Finally the two were located and took their seats next to me on the plane. The elderly American guy leaned over and said "A plane has flown into the world trade centre".

I relayed this news to my good friend Roy, who lives in Princeton and who's wife works in Manhattan. When we got into Gatwick we learned that both towers were alight. We sat and watched the coverage and Roy tried desperately to phone his wife. As we sat and watched we were stunned along with everyone else as the first tower collapsed.

Our tour party had just the day before said goodbye to "American Bob". He and two other guys from the US had joined our group of interpid Aussie golfers for the previous 2 weeks. We called him American Bob because we also had an Aussie Bob in the tour party. We knew that American Bob was due to go to work in the north tower that day. We found out 24 hours later that AB had been lucky in that his flight was delayed and that he had been on one of the planes that was refused permission to land. He joined the tour again 2 days later in Ireland - he was rudderless - he couldn't yet go back to Manhattan, or even the States at that stage. We spent the next 2 weeks trying to help him through a difficult period when he was deperately trying to find out what was happening to his friends down at ground zero.

I came home and my brother told me: "They've blown up WTC" I didn't believe him and just replied: "Get out"
After having confirmed over the web and TV news I was stunned. I still think that this was a tragically important moment in history and may be my generations equivalent to events as: "Where have you been during the moon landing?" or "What did you do when the Berlin wall came down"
My kids will one day ask me: "What did you do when the WTC was blown up?" and I'm sad that there's not good milestones I can think of right now :(

I remember...I was still pregnant, and having problems, my mom called me crying, telling me to turn on the tv, I saw that, and freaked out, my husband was asleep at the time, and I woke him in a panic, see Arkansas is not a good place to live in an attack either, we are surrounded bye chemical weapons, and biological warfare that is still in the process of being "distroyed". the first thing we tought was that we would be next, if anyone who knows military, this is one of the most "active" states around. and we also have the TCBY building, which house alot of goverment officials, and it has had alot of bomb threats in the past, ,so everyone here was worried aout New York, as well as us, and we had recived some un offical threats in the mail about it, so yeah, we are still worried, until all the chemical and biological stuff is removed, we are concerened, ten we still have the nuclear plant to contend with

I was asleep, and my dad woke me up to say that a plane has flown into the WTC. I thought it was a freak accident, but he advised me to turn on the TV and watch the replays. It was right about the time that I realised that there was *no* chance this was an accident (it takes me a while to wake up), that I saw the second plane hit.

Horrific. I remember the way the death toll just kept going up and up ... and then they collapsed.

If *anything* good could come out of sucha thing, it was the collective and individual acts of heroism of the normal guys and gals trapped inside helping each other out, and the actions of the emergency services who willingly went into conditions akin to a warzone to do their jobs and save lives.

Those are the aspects I prefer to remember.

[ 09-10-2003, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: Bardan the Slayer ]

For those who were not here at Ironworks or those who want to revisit the original threads, look here:

http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/cg...;f=24;t=002855

And here:

http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/cg...;f=24;t=002869

I can remember calling my Mom and a just about crying over it. A very sad day, indeed.


Mark

[EDIT] Just reading through these thread fills me with such grief, I'd almost forgotten how horrible it was almost 2 years ago. These threads were a snapshot of the tragedy as it happened. They are so hard to read through again.

[ 09-10-2003, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: skywalker ]

I had gotten up early to play BGII before I went to work - pretty trivial it looks, now. When I quit and went to get some breakfast before work, the televisions and radios were on at the little cafe I went to. The owner informed me that "they" had flown two airliners into the WTC. Stupidly, I asked, "Was anyone killed?" She just looked at me incredulously and nodded, "yes." Between patients, Galadria and I watched a portable TV, and she had to go home to watch it there. I alternated between tears and anger for weeks afterwards.

Don't really want to Skywalker...

I was about to go to work that day when my sister came to my room and told me that a plane had crahsed into some towers in New York, the night before I had been watching the Simpsons when Homer goes to New York to get his car... from the plaza in front of WTC... I know immedetly that was it, went down and turned on the tv and sure enough... one of the towers was on fire... (and one thing I found very weird from the beginning: they were already talking about this was done by Osama Bin Laden) then I saw the second plane hit it and thought "Okey now its serious". Then even though I didn't want to I went to work and got a message on my cellphone from my friend "They just hit the Pentagon too". I didn't get much work done that day I had a small radio and there was almost constant feed from there... when the towers fell I thought, "oh no, what about all the firefighters!"... I was also very concerned because I had a friend from ICQ in New York, after 8 very hard hours I went home turned on my computer and was very reliefed to see her there... She was very upset and simply exhausted, she told me she hadn't heard from 2 of her friends who worked close to the towers. She didn't know what to do and was so worried... I tried my best to console her but somehow it sounded so insignificant... What can words do in times like that.

Well her friends were okey.

But ugh it was a sad horrible day...

<font color='white'> I cant believe its been almost two years. I had so many mixed emotions that day and the following days, its hard too say which was the strongest.

I will never forget some of the pictures and videos that we all saw on the news that day. One that is particularly rememberable was a video of a Fire man running back into the blaze after carrying a person out of it. I will never forget that.

Through all the misery that occured on that day, one thing you have to admit, the unity we experinced after that is something also to be remember. </font>

[ 09-10-2003, 07:02 PM: Message edited by: Iron_Ranger ]

As of tomorrow, it will be September 11th, and two years ago from that day I remember how it happened.

I was in my class talking with my friends right after we finished our vocals. The bell just rang at 9:30 when we were hurrying out and I was heading to get to my Drafting class. Right when I picked up my book, I saw that my music teacher turned it on CNN, and it showed smoke plumming from a building. I thought, "Whoa, what's going on?" So I go to my locker, grabbed my book and when I was heading to my class, I saw my gym teacher running out with a very serious look on his face. At the time, I couldn't see what the buildings were, but then I sat with my friends and watched the tv for the next two blocks (I had the same teacher back to back). They said two planes had struck the World Trade Centers, and replaying the footage, I kept thinking this was impossible and I sat in disbelief when I saw the buildings collapse. It was horrifying to say the least watching people jump from the windows, and watching the reporters run as fast as they could because they were so close to the buildings.

Even when they show it on Discovery, it still makes me watch in awe as to what happened. So sad this day had to take place in the history books...

http://fla.fg-a.com/0_flageagle1d.gif

now I am back to crying again, thinking of all those people who lost their lives for some one who thinks their way is the best way, I get so sad thinking about war and stuff, it just pisses me off that ayone would do such a thing to other human beings, and the little ones who lost their mom, dad ,uncle, aunts and or grandparents, kills me :(

I also remember the horrible feeling when my mother-in-law called panicked, because one of my husbands cousins was working at the pentagon, we did not hear anything for weeks, then we finnaly found out that she had gone on an assinment, and was not there, and I remember the feeling of sadness as the operator told her story of the guy calling her, and had no one else to talk to, so he asked her to stay on until the end :( man, now I am realy crying, in my mind, she is also a hero, for staying brave, and being able to listen to that

[ 09-10-2003, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: Stormymystic ]

<font color="orange">I can remember hearing about it on the radio before school. The station DJ just blurted out, "two planes have crashed into the twin towers." I told my parents, and then prepared for school, just thinking they were like single-pilot Cessnas or something. As I came upstairs, I saw the footage on TV, and I realised this was a lot bigger than that.

At school, all kinds of rumors were swirling around, from the Pentagon being hit (established to be true later) and such things as Parliament and the CN tower, and upwards of 10 planes hijacked and nuclear explosions. Luckily, these were later proven not to be true.

Right before class started, a friend who got a ride came up to me and my friends and told us that the towers had collapsed. Ironically, a few days before I saw a program about how the twin towers were designed to withstand a hit from a 747. Unfortunately, it didn't account for the intense fires. I learned of the truth a few moments later.

When we normally had our morning school announcements over the loudspeaker system, the grim voice of our principal spelled out for us what had happened that morning. We spent an entire moment of silence shocked. Afterwards, the day was just touch-and-go. We didn't have any reliable information, except from the students, like me, who had access to the internet. The true nature of what had happened only started to be revealed that night, with accusations of terrorism and horrible body counts.

My brother was in school, in grade six, and his school was given a complete gag order. Carry on as usual. His teacher, however smuggled in a radio, and led to a complete discussion, and surprising comprehension of the gravity of the situation for a group of 12-year olds.

I have only the deepest respect for the heroes and survivors of the horrible events of 9/11. To the families of the dead: you have a permanent place in my heart. I am proud to say that my uncle was in D.C. helping at the Pentagon, and to everyone else who helped: you are truly heroes, in the deepest sense of the words.</font>

I remember I was in school, 3rd period, in the middle of spanish when someone came into class and told my spanish teacher. As soon as that happened, we did nothing until the period ended. They didn't tell us what had happened, rumors were buzzing about the whole day. I thought there was a massive prison break, because every teacher was saying to get home right away, lock your doors, if no one is home go to a neighboors.

When I came home, my mom was in tears, everyone was watching the T.V. THe first image I saw were the trade centers burning, and then I learned. Lots of people had gone up to Turkey mountain and watch the Trade Centers burned down, you could see them from their. My mom saw it with her own eyes. I was devastated.

Every time we pass by the city when going to vacation, I always miss the trade centers, I remember looking for them, it was the first landmark i'd look for, then the empire state building. Miss them :(

<font color=orange>I don't reckon, I'll ever forget it. Perhaps one of the blackest days in American History. I think about it almost everyday. I work on the 24th floor in a high rise tower in Knoxville (well maybe not high rise by New York Standards, but it's the tallest building in Knoxville, 27 stories). We hard it on the radio first, then we went and got the TV and spent the whole day watching the towers burn and then collapse. We were actually watching when the second plane hit.

To me, it's what my Grandparents experienced with Pearl Harbor... in fact I have a anit that remembers Pearl Harbor and she says the WTC was worse for her, because she was able to see it.

The thing I remember most after the actual attack, was how quite it was afterwards, because there were no planes in the sky. We live under a flight approach path for McGhee Tyson Airport.

edit for spelling.

[ 09-11-2003, 01:06 AM: Message edited by: Sir Taliesin ]

I found out at work. My boss called from a meeting with a guy from the NY office. Rumors were flying about all these attacks and I didn't know what was what and the stupid radio wouldn't work. We closed the store and went down to radio shack.

I remember standing in radio shack as one of the towers fell, there must have been ten TVs on and a crowd of maybe 20 people. Not a dry eye in the place, a bunch of "strangers" crying and hugging each other, standing in shock and horror. I was numb...I vaguely recall saying I needed to get home...I vaguely recall the traffic on the Mass pike being terrible and state troopers were zipping around everywhere it seemed. I recall clearly getting home and calling everyone and finding everyone was safe and in shock as well. My mom was alone in a hotel in St. Louis so I talked to her off and on while surfing on the web for news and emails. I do recall visiting IW as well. I recall yelling at the TV later that night and turning it off, they just kept showing it over and over and over and over.

I remember praying for survivors to be found in the rubble and praying for those who lost loved ones. I also prayed for a peaceful world, a practice I still do everyday since then.

On a kinda funny note my girlfriend found out because the weather channel that morning showed a map of airport closures and they were all closed, but it didn't say why at the moment she turned on the TV. She said it was one of those strange moments that last forever..Standing there thinking "why are ALL the airports closed?" but then turned the channel and quickly found out.

It took 11 soldiers to raise the garrison flag to full staff, then back to half staff this morning. Instead of the "Big Red One Song", Taps was played, even after 20+ years that tune still puts a lump in my throat.

Two years ago we were doing billets inspection, when AFN did a live broadcast from the states. Since that time, life in Germany has not been the same. Today FP level is at a + stage, and all QRF vehicles are on the road, manned and armed. Training continues, and the upcoming deployment is on our minds. Our hearts are with are brethern down in the sand, as there's will be with us next Spring. Today will be FP, a sunrise chapel service was held, and a moment of silence is set for 1500 Hrs.


Felix

i actually got a vcd of the real live pictures of the sept 11. there was a camera man inside the WTC with all the other firemen. it was a journalist who got caught in all the action. i saw the film where they were inside when the building fell. wierd and scary moment just watching it. more scary if your in it. i give my wishes and well being to all those who lost thier love ones.

Indeed they are. I can't read them without tearing up.

I was home, asleep, and Donna came home before she had to go to the dentist, and in a very shaken voice, she said 'the world trade center is on fire!! a plane...' I got up, thinking ah, just a little plane, but we sat down, turned on the TV, and EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL was covering this. Even MTV, BBC, every channel. and I saw the huge hole in the buildings and gasped. "oh my god" was all I could say.. then, LIVE we see a second plane dive into the other one, and I think I was horror struck. OMG..OMG.. Instantly crying and lost it.

When they fell, I was shocked to the core. Same goes for the Pentagon.
All of this, and on top of that, my mom was with cancer in a hospital getting out of surgery/biopsy. She died Feb 22, at 2.22am. (weird timing) :(

But, in 2001, we got married, minus that, 2001 was the worst year of my entire life.. I KNOW people that worked in there, (they got out) but I've drawn those towers when I was little, and always loved them.

About a year later, I pulled out all my comic books that I drew, and one of them, from "Intruders on Earth" (about aliens invading earth), but I drew a picture of a large mothership shooting at the WTC and breaking it in half, and OMG, I turned a few pages, and I have a scene of 'Connie chung' reporting, and drew a TV in the background that said "World Trade center disaster - 214 dead" I got goose-bumps looking at this. VERY scary.. I'll NEVER draw something like that again.. I really made me feel guilty. :( in a weird way.. even though I drew it in 8th grade..

I have that as well, but I bought the DVD, and the CNN and others for historical reasons-for my future children to witness what evil is, and what heroes are.

I think about it once a day or more.. mainly because we have local NY channels, and they show the skyline on Channel 4, NBC, and I close my eyes, and think how empty Manhattan is without our Two Towers.

I will never forget.

I would like to offer my thoughts and a prayer of Peace to this thread.

2 years ago the morning was just as cool and nice. Little did I know what was to come that terrible morning. To come out of my workplace and see the Pentagon billowing black smoke and the horrible feeling of the Towers reality.

People walking aimlessly wondering what was going on. It is still fresh in my mind also, a very sad open spot in my heart.

Conan

I admire the bravery of those who fought so hard against the terrorists, and am sorry for the deaths of those who had to die so senselessly.

It was indeed a terrible day, and this thread has reminded me not to take the simple things in life, for granted.

Nice idea, Wellard. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I was at work when the chair of the department came in and told us he was on the cellphone with his wife, who had just heard the first plane hit the tower. :( Not long after that he was telling us the first one had collapsed.... :(

My fiance was in Idaho and frantically trying to reach me, not knowing exactly how far the terrorism was spread out on the East coast. It was a very very sad day for all of us.

It was a horrific day for me. I have a paper my younger cousin wrote about that day, I'll post it after I get home.
First off, reading all these posts have me crying again. Good thing I'm in a cube, so none of my co-workers can see me.

It started when a co-worker told me a plane had hit the WTC. I blew her off thinking she must be mistaken. I went off to a phone conference, no one in Minn. office knew about it since no one mentioned it. By the time I got out, it was obvious something big was going on. There were about 150 people stuffed in our office library (meant to hold maybe 20 people) watching the TV. I called my mom to make sure we didn't know anyone in the buildings. She told me my Aunt was frantic trying to reach my uncle, who works at the UN building. (he was ok, but she didn't get through to him until late in the afternoon)

Next call was to my boyfriend. He had no idea any of this was going on, and before I could even tell him, I started crying as I was getting out the words, "They've attacked the WTC and the Pentagon".
He picked me up at work, since I couldn't stop crying. I went home, snuggled with my cat and my then 2 week old kitten (even though mama cat was not happy about me holding her baby, I didn't care, needed the little one then). I spent the rest of the day watching the TV in horror.
The next week was painful as no one had been able to track down my cousin Karl, who's a NY Police officer. After a week, word finally got out that he was ok, and had been too busy with the rescue effort to contact us. He was lucky, when the attack happened, he had been off duty, had he been on duty, we probably would have lost him since his station was the closest to the WTC and they lost many men that day.

I grew up on Long Island, and the Twin Towers (WTC) were a big deal to me. They were always the first thing from NYC you could see when driving up the LIE (Long Island Expressway) to the city. They were the tallest, which immeadiately makes them cool when you're a kid. Everytime I went to the city, including a few years ago, I had to make sure I saw them, even if not go in. In fact, my last time there before the attack I was with a now ex-bf who had never been to NYC. He wanted to go to the top of the WTC and the Empire State Bldg. We went to Empire State, but not WTC, and I said "Don't worry, we'll go next time". Guess I took it forgranted they'd always be there. Even now, 2 years later, I still can't fully believe they're not there anymore.

I worked for a software company as the only employee in this city. The news came in on the radio, and I dialed in to news sites to find out what was going on. By 10AM, I'd packed things up and headed home for the day to watch on TV in stunned horror.

Two side notes.

First, my experience has been that the closer you are to ground zero, the more impact it still has on you. Six months later, people in the western US that I interacted with were treating it as a piece of history. For people in the eastern US, it was still a part of current news.

Second, I was scheduled to give a technical presentation at a conference put on by a California company in May of 2002. They took my presentation and someone decided to flippantly add "Let's Roll" as a title slide for one section. I told them it was a make-or-break decision -- if they put that in there, I wasn't presenting. They didn't see the big deal -- it was a cool marketing phrase to them. For me, even midway across the country, it was more of a dagger in the heart.

They took it out. Sometimes decency wins.

Peace.

*B*
Minister, etc. (ret.)

[ 09-11-2003, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

Yeah, I too cannot believe those towers are gone.. BTW, for people that see images on TV of the twin Towers, the TV does NOT do them justice at ALL. They are 300 times larger in person, and take up 4 blocks each way!!

I was living in CA with my wife and kids on a one year assignment, got in my car to drive to work as normal, flipped to KROQ as normal, and started to listen to Kevin & Bean as normal. They were talking about something happeing in NYC, but I assumed it was just one of their usual poor taste skits (which are usually pretty darn funny)... but then I realized they weren't goofing or trying to be funny. By the time I passed John Wayne Airport in Irvine I knew something bad had happened. By the time I got to work in Garden Grove I had the details, Towers hit, terrorists, fire in Washington. I went to my desk and called my wife... told her to turn on the TV... she did and said something along the lines of "Oh my God". I tried to call home (Upstate NY) where my sister was watching our house while we were gone... circuits busy. I tried to call my folks in Western NY... circuits busy. I went to talk to a buddy who grew up in Manhatten and went to school very near the WTC, he was gone home already, and after staring numbly at my computer screen for a while I did the same.

-rant mode on-
How many have died... from 9/11 when people from so many countries died, to the retribution... where maybe 10 died for every life lost on that horrible day, maybe 50, maybe 100... who knows. Afghani's, Iraqi's, US and British soldiers. And I doubt it's over yet. I watch the news from Israel and wonder if the radical muslims want to put the world in that situation, where they lauch a terrorist attack that kills our people, and we retailiate by killing 10x of thiers. They so happily sacrifice the lives... for what? To insure that their children will know no peace? To continue a cycle of violence that will eventually lead to their eradication? Is that what they want... to have their countries bombed into the stone age and their people treated with distrust whereever they go? I just don't get it.

I don't think I really got over what happened for weeks, everything felt somehow DIFFERENT... work didn't seem to matter after so many had died needlessly. In fact I don't think I've ever really gotten over it, I still feel a sadness. But life goes on, the Pentagon is restored to the point where it's hard to see anything ever happened, the WTC site is ready and will hopefully host the tallest building in the world, the planes are flying. The signs of the damage are fading... but there are still children missing their parents, and parents missing their children. Crisis hotlines are still getting calls from people who are having trouble holding it together, and the US is a different place. We (in general) don't have much sympathy for the Palestinians anymore. We supported wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that 2 years and 1 day ago would have been unthinkable. Bush asks for more and more money to fight the "War on Terror" and we think "well if it'll kill one more of those bastards it's well worth it". The news talks about how Al Qaeda may be concentrating on Iraq and we say "good, the more we kill there the less we'll have to deal with elsewhere". We don't have much compassion for them, we don't see their cause... we only see people who need killin. Bush IS a cowboy, and the US IS a big stupid puppy... with big teeth and a desire for some payback. The arab radicals are too used to the well behaved Israeli's, who use the tactic of measured response, you hurt us, we'll hurt you back about the same amount. The big stupid puppy gets a nosebleed and he squashes a country or two, and the arabs don't have many to spare.

Ok... angry rant over, it just pisses me off that those idiots think violence will beget anything but more violence. How do you deal with such a mentality, you can't ignore them, they'll just keep coming... you can't give them what they want, because they'll just want more... and then they'll know that violence will get it for them. What happens when these people get a nuclear weapon... IMO it's just a matter of time.

OK... angry rant now REALLY over, I guess I didn't realize how mad I still am about 9/11... even two years later.

[ 09-11-2003, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: Thoran ]

*SIGH* How did I know that someone was going to take that statement and make it something it's not. [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

What I meant by that statement is 'Link doesn't live in America, 9/11 isn't something that is part of his national conscious, isn't something that he lives with every day. For him, and for anyone else not in America(or someone from another country that's personally involved due to a loved one dying that day), it's not as *immediate*. It's at a distance, in another country.'

I did not mean, in any way, to disrespect or denigrate Link, or his opinion. I was just reacting to his statement that the memory faded quickly, and was trying to point out that for those of us that live with it daily, it hasn't faded a bit. My statement doesn't have a thing to do with Nationality, it has to do with Geography.

My Grandma said the same thing. For her, the attack on Pearl was pretty horrible, but, since she didn't hear about it til later in the afternoon, by radio, it wasn't as immediate. For her(and most, if not all of us) 9/11 was so much more...intimate, I guess is the only word I can think of. Right there on our TV's, in our living rooms, in technicolor, we had to bear witness to one of the most tragic events of the modern era.

Horrid and horrible dont even begin to cover it.

But, I also have to agree with IR...the strength, unity, and togetherness of the whole nation, the whole civilized world, in those first few awful days was truly amazing and awe-inspiring!

Me too buddy, me too.

I'm just grateful my grandfather had already passed when 9/11 came. He did nothing the last few years of his life but sit around and watch TV. It would have brought back many painful memories of WWII (which he fought in) I'm sure. My grandmother has avoided much of the 9/11 news because having lost her only son (my step-uncle) in Vietnam, it was too painful for her.

I thought I could handle this today, but I guess not, I am crying while reading everyones memories of that day :( and remembering everything thatr happened, I remember...the gas station where I worked had set up a meeting for that day, so we could try ad get things worked out, I called my boss, she said it was ok, to come on in for the meeting. I got there, and the wole road was blocked due to people trying to get in and buy gas, rumors were flying that gas was going up to $7.00 a gallon, so we had to cancle the meeting, and although I was told to go home, I stayed and helped her, I was still in shock, and needed to do something productive, I remember standing there, watching the scene over and over again :( and watching as they fell. it was excactly one month before my daughters first birthday, and a month and one week before my third child was born, I felt when she was born, tha I did not deserve the happiness, to many people had more right to getting such a gift than I did, after 9\11

It's hard to believe it's already been two years since it happened. That will always be a bad memory that will seem to stick out in my mind, to think it happened because someone else thought we're weren't fit to be here and innocents had to suffer because of it.

I just read this, and it made me tear again, so I'm sharing (from msnbc):

Selected readings between the silence and names included a poem written by the mother of a fallen firefighter. Joan Molinaro began her poem to her son, Carl Molinaro, with these words:
“In the quiet of my heart
I hold your hand
Little boy of mine.”

[ 09-11-2003, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: harleyquinn ]

I wish I could express the sorrow, disbelief, and anger I felt that day -- and still. I remember watching it on the conference room TV at my Syracuse firm. I kept running back & forth, as I was busy. I was stopping by to take a peek when the first footage of the second plane hitting was aired. That was unreal. That moment of epiphany: DAMN, it really IS terrorism. You think something can't get any worse, then you realize what had been on your mind as the unthinkable is actual -- someone intentionally did this thing.

Then the news comes in about the Pentagon. Then a tower falls. All of a sudden, you're calling loved ones. Not just to share the most incredible news of your life, but to hear their voice and know they're okay. And, it just... keeps... getting... worse. A plane is down in PA -- no one knows why. Air Force I has gone incommunicado and is looping around the country to protect our head of state. Government is running for an underground bunker. You realize no matter how busy you are, you aren't getting anything done today -- your head's not in it. It's 1 p.m. and the office is empty. Go home. Watch news. It lingers into the night -- they aren't FINDING survivors. The bodies and the bulding have become the same dust-stuff. A finger here, an arm there. A 40-story building falls as an afterthought. Pictures appear on online news of jumpers -- then those pictures disappear. But they're glued in your mind and you can never forget what kind of horror causes one to jump rather than burn to death.

Watch more news. For a week - glued. Why, who, how, how much, how bad, what to do, where to go, how to help? Ashley Banfield becomes your link to the world.

Then I realize I'm getting married on the 22nd. All those relatives who called to check on us because they have no real idea where Syracuse and NYC sit in geographical relation to each other are now refusing to fly. Ugh.... personal crisis. As if I needed that.

Anyway, it was a weird time for me. For us all. I can still feel shadows of the uncertainty that entered my world during that time. Though I've been in car wrecks and nearly fallen to my death, death was no more palpable during those occurrences than it was following 9/11. I try to hang onto those shadows, to remember how that felt, and understand why we are where we are today.

My happy thought for the day: what if Al-Queda had of had the foresight to ALSO send 2 dozen or so suicide bombers into the commuter/rail/bus systems that day, to catch the city as it emptied out? Or all major cities as they emptied out? Happy thought for tomorrow: our commuter system is still a huge issue, and even MORE vulnerable that Israel's -- and we know how often THAT is a target.

I remember I went out in the kitchen to make some coffee when my mom mentioned that there had been a plane crash in NY. I didn't take much notice of it right away but turned on the TV a few minutes later and found what it was really about when I saw a plane crashing into WTC. I don't recall the exact time but it was before the news channel got the clip of the second plane crashing.

I also remember the moment of silence we had at work the day after when they dimmed the light and stopped all work to honour the victims.

It's nothing I think about daily, but yes I do remember it.

Not sure how to make a link here...cut and paste if you want to...

http://www.cantcryhardenough.com/