A rememberance: So where were you when...

[Attalus]

I was up early, playing BGII. Played till I was almost late for work, so dashed into a local restaurant for a take-out breakfast. They were all listening to the radio, talking about the first plane hitting the tower. I asked, stupidly, was anybody killed? The manager looked at me in wonderment and just said, "lots." When I got to work, Galadria was on the phone, frantically. Her mother had called and told her about it. From then on, we had a portable TV on, and watched, between patients. My billing clerk screamed when the towers collapsed. I was just numbed with shock and rage, and kept remembering my late father, who, at the time of Pearl Harbor, had been stationed on board the battleship U.S.S. Washington. He said that, when they heard, they all went out and readied their guns. I wished that I had a battleship with guns.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

I was right here at work when a co-worker stuck his head in the door and said something about a terrorist attack against the World Trade Center. I asked him what he meant, and he said he had heard on the radio that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

Like everyone else, neither of us could really imagine that it was a jumbo jet line. Still, memories of April 19 and the attack in Oklahoma City sprang to mind - so I immediately tried to check out the story on CNN.com. I could NOT get into the website at all!!!

Finally, I went down the hallway looking for an empty room so I could turn on the TV (I work in a hospital). I found 3 more of my coworkers in the first room I came to. We all just stared at the TV in numb silence. The rest of the day was spent browsing Ironworks, repeatedly trying to get into CNN for updates (never did manage to access their site that day), and making more trips down the hall to learn the latest news.

It was truly a day of National Tragedy and Mourning. [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img]

I was in the break room at work, as were all 125 other people who work in this building watching as the second plane hit the tower.

I htink Im just going to stop for now and rember all those who died and those who have to live on missing someone from their lives

See you all tomorrow.

[Sharpedge]

I was here at Ironworks when Skywalker posted the thread that was to become such an outpouring of grief and anger. I remember switching on the TV and becoming gradually more horrified as the events unfolded.

Never have I felt such anguish, never have I witnessed such a monumental tragedy.

I would like to thank the members of Ironworks present at that time for helping me to share the emotions I felt, and to try and make sense of what had happened.

It is a day I will never forget.

[Leonis]

I had gone to bed for the night but couldn't get to sleep - really restless. So I got up but didn't turn on any lights for some reason, just wandered round my unit and kept feeling like someone was around, or watching. Getting the creeps, I turned on the TV for 'company' to watch the first tower fall... My wife then walked out saying she couldn't sleep and felt nervy.
As I said in the Lest We Forget thread it was then a frantic number of hours on the phone after that.

[250]

I was going to my classes (which was a rare occasion). My second best friend Tae-Ming told me about the "bombing" of world trade towers. I had no idea what world trade towers were, and wasnt worried because after all, "bombing" couldnt do much dmg. Then at abt after noon, I heard the full report on the radio, which was playing on my school campus. I heard the number of casualties and the true description. I was shocked. but the terror did not hit home until I read every report I came by, and talked to everyone abt it, and watched the scene on tv.

to those who suffered greatly, I do not claim to suffer the same kind of pain you felt, but my heart, as well many others here, grief with you nevertheless.

Leo

[ 09-11-2002, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: 250 ]

[Horatio]

Hm, it was around afternoon time here when I heard about it (this was after the towers had fallen). I'd been at the track all day, and suddenly one of the workers came out and shouted something. We all ran to her and she told us, and we went inside and watched the news. People were getting really emotional (myself included) and some were swearing and shouting and hitting the walls. Some were holding their heads in their hands, and others were just staring blankly. I lost a few friends in the incident, and I knew at the time that at least one of them was dead. So after a while, after the same images of the planes crashing and the buildings falling had become too much to bare, some people went home. However, one hell of a lot of people went out onto the track and ran as much as they could. I'm usually a sprinter, but I still cannot recall the number of laps I did before I went inside and slept on the sofa.
I remember the day EXTREMELY vividly, and I wish I didn't.

I was on my way to the dentist's office after attending my first class at school when it started.

I walked into the dentist's office and saw the two towers on fire and thought they were smoke stacks and that there had been some kind of industrial accident (small telly up in one corner of the waiting room and the muffled voice of the announcer was obviously sober).

It wasn't until I was closer to the telly, signing in that I heard Peter Jennings say "Again, two jet airliners full of passengers have crashed into the World Trade Center towers, setting them on fire..." and everything he said after that went unheard as I whirled around to look at the telly again and it was plain as day, those weren't smoke stacks and this was really happening.
The first collapse happened while I was still in the waiting room and people were asking what's that?, what's happening? as it started to shake. I was the only one (apparently) who recognized a building about to come down so I was the one to tell them all just before it fell. I still feel horrible about it but there is comfort in knowing that SO MANY people were able to get out.

I was in my dentist's chair when the second collapse occured and didn't look to see what was happening when I left the office, I just knew I had to get home to Grandpa. Grandpa watches television from the time he gets up until he goes to bed at night and although he usually watches oldies on cable channels, I knew somehow, he had seen it from the beginning. I was right. He was fairly upset and confused for quite some time.

[ 09-11-2002, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: Moni ]

[Yorick]

I was walking/running north along sixth avenue to go and do a vocal session further uptown from my apartment. I was late so I was hurrying. I noticed abnormally large crowds on the street, with some huddled around a radio.

I walked over and asked a gentleman what was going on. He looked me in the eye and calmly stated.

"Two planes just flew into the World Trade Centre. Terrorists they say."

I paused dumfounded and then turned around to see the nightmare before my eyes.

Never did I think that they would fall.

When the first one went I was then near a park, and had turned to keep walking after having another disturbed look.

I'll never forget the screams of pure panic and distress from men and women alike. I was confused and from the fear in the voices thought perhaps another plane was going to hit us.
I then heard "The tower's falling".

Such a..

All I could do was put my hand to my mouth and whisper the word "No" as I sickeningly watched human lives destroyed as the first tower went down in a billow of smoke.

Then.... chaos. The city shut down. Phones, banks, subways. Masses walked north. Masses. Some covered in dust in a daze.

All history now.

That night I rode around on a bike. The city was a ghost town. The nightly sickening smell of death, dust, rubble and asbestos began floating north that night.

And we readjusted. The nights following were incredible displays of human connection. Strength in unity. Hugs, conversation, music, prayers.

It's typified by the story of our churches bassist, who walked out of the WTC subway stop just as the first plane hit.

He ended up being caught in the cloud and ran, blinded, into a brick wall.

Dazed, surrounded by dust, he flailed around blindly. His hands touched someone, so he just held on. He held on!

Someone touched his belt and grabbed it. Another touched him and held on. There ended up being a group of humans huddled together, simply gaining comfort and strength by CONNECTING.

What a microcosmic example of the human existence. Right there. Ordinarily strangers who because of a disaster connected with each other and strengthened each other in an unbelievable way.

That gives reason to madness.

What we do with a negative situation is so important. We can use pain to connect deaper with each other. By healing each other we can know each other on such a deep level, in a depth usually glossed over when all's o.k.

Human need.

Find hope in this. Hope is the road forward.

Thank God for life, love, hope and an interesting ride...and that we're still on it - for it can end at any time.

[ 09-11-2002, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Yorick ]

[250]

and thank god for pain, in many ways it is a gift man can feel the loss rather than going numb and unconcious. you do like New Yorkers, Hugh [img]smile.gif[/img]