Four Years Ago Today (Dare Not Forget)

[Lynch]

Where were you when our sense of security crumbled to the ground?

It's been 4 years. It seems like the memory of this has faded with some
and I am NOT looking for any sort of political discussion or arguements.


Just remember what happened, the tragedy of it all and don't forget
where you were and/or what you were doing at the time. Don't forget
how you felt (fear, anger, sadness, whatever).


If you'd like to share where you were and what you were doing when you
first found out, by all means, please share with us.



(again, keep your personal political views out of this thread, it's a rememberence
thread .... nothing more)

[Providence A's]

It was senior year of my undergrad and I was in Microbiology class. It was 9 - 10:15 IIRC...we were there the whole time, too as we had no way of knowing what happened. I remember then walking back down to the bottom of campus where our major department was with some of my friends from the same major. When we got down there someone we ran into was like "Did you hear? Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day." I don't remember how the rest of the conversation went...just that we then huddled around a TV in the Janitor's break room and saw the coverage. I soon went back home after that because classes were cancelled. I'd say I was feeling shock and disbelief. The rest of the day was spent watching all the coverage of it.

The following summer I got the opportunity to see ground zero as I met a girl from Staten Island during student teaching and we started dating. When I would visit, we'd go into the city and I got to see, which just made me sad to see all the flowers, shirts, and other various things people had put up around the fence enclosing the area.

[Lynch]

I'll never ever forget where I was or what I was doing. It was early in the morning and I was just getting the kids ready for school. My son was in 2nd grade, my daughter in 1st. My son was ready for school and went out to the living room to watch cartoons while I was getting my daughter ready. Then he came into the bedroom and said something like "dad, the cable is busted". I asked why he thought that, and he said "because every channel is the same". I asked what he meant... was it all fuzzy (ie: when the cable goes out for a minute or two) and he said "no, there's a building burning and it's on every channel".

I went with him out to the living room and saw the first tower burning. Within moments, I saw the second tower get slammed into on live TV. No repeat, no "this is what we just saw".... I saw it happen live. I sat on the couch holding both of my kids in horror. I couldn't believe what I saw. I knew it was no accident. THe first tower being hit was no accident but the second tower.... that proved it. I remember listening to someone on CNN or Fox news (can't recall which) who was broadcasting from the Pentagon. All you could hear was his voice as we watched the Twin Towers smoldering. Suddenly he said soemthing to the effect of he had just heard a loud booming bang and the whole building shook. At that point, he wasn't aware yet that the Pentagon had been slammed into.

After I dropped the kids off at school, I went up to see my parents, about 20 miles away. On the way there, I drive not too far from the Minneapolis International Airport and I watched a plane flying really really low going in the direction of the airport. It was too far away to be flying that low and scared the hell out of me. I thought it was going to happen here too. Obviously that never happened, but being up at my parents place and watching the second tower fall (was in the car when the first one fell), I can't describe what I felt. Horror, fear and hate. All I could think about was what's going to happen next and will our nation be here for my children to grow up in. Thankfully that day was the last we saw of this sort of terror (so far).


Scary..... I'll never forget.

[Lynch]

The following summer I got the opportunity to see ground zero .

That had to be something. I don't know if I could take it. I'm not a very emotional person (outside of anything to do with my kids), but I gotta believe that if I went to ground zero, I'd be an emotional wreck. Same with going to visit that field in Pennsylvania where some very brave people helped take down that other plane before it could hit a major city/building. That too would just turn me into a puddle.

[HuskerFan2002]

I was in the 9th grade-Internet/Multimedia class. A teacher gave a note to my teacher and she told us to stop at whatever we were doing and she stated that the twin towers collapsed.

I went to my next class, Government, and my teacher wouldn't let us watch the coverage. I don't recall why they wouldn't let us watch television because we watched CNN Student News everyday for 10-15 minutes.

After lunch, I decided to head up to the library. I was able to listen to the radio coverage for just a little bit, but the head librarian turned it off.

When my dad picked me up from school, I said "What happened?" and he let out a huge groan and sped on home.

[General]

I was in 7th grade in St. George's, down at 6th street in Manhattan (walking distance from the towers). We were going through attendance when I heard what sounded like a tire pop outside. I then heard numerous fire engines racing downtown, where countless numbers of their men would perish. At around 9:30, the principal entered and told us of planes crashing into the Twin Towers. Around the time the towers collapsed, I heard what sounded like a ruckus, but which I later found out was the North Tower collapsing. I had to stay in the school until 5:30, because Manhattan was locked down and I could not be picked up. At that time, my mom came and picked me up. Instead of taking the 6, we had to take a bus to 42nd (all transportation was free). Along the way, I saw National Guardsmen and military vehicles (mostly Humvees). At Grand Central, four National Guardsmen, armed, were inspecting people. I got on a train, whose schedule was completely messed up and got home a few hours later. I got home, turned on the TV, and marveled and cried at the devastation.

[Lynch]

Wow, you were right down the street. That must have been incredibly frightening.

[777rak]

I was sleeping and I heard the tv on (first off let me tell you my mom is an air traffic- controller, I believe her work called here) so I come down, and she tells me what happened. Then I go walk my dog, which is like a 15 min walk, then I come back she tells me both of the towers were destryoed. I have heard of thease towers before, becasue in the game Sim City, they have them as landmarks.

If you guys want I can make you a screen shot of the sky scrappers from the game let me know. (Hope that didnt sound to rude, if it did sorry)

God bless America!!

[General]

Wow, you were right down the street. That must have been incredibly frightening.

It wasn't frightening till I got home and saw the devastation with my own eyes. I knew literally nothing until I got home. I heard a rumour that a tower collapsed, that came up around 3 o'clock. They closed off all the streets below 14th street for a week after the disaster, so I didn't have school or the chance to go there and witness it myself. There was non-stop coverage though.

[ghettochild]

i was in the 8th grade...i heard some commotion around school that something happened in NY, but in 8th grade i was banned from using computers in the school so i couldn't find out what. i got home and as soon as i got off the bus my dad was driving home and thats when i found out...it didn't really sink in until about 2-3 days later.

[Killah Sith]

This is one of those things that you'll always remember, like when JFK or MLK was shot for so many. I remember driving the few blocks to work and listening to sports radio. As they went commericial they mentioned something about a horrible accident at the World Trade Center. I put on some tunes for the final couple of blocks and thought nothing more about it at that time. When I got to work me and my boss were yapping about sports or whatever, totally ignorant to what had happened. As it got closer to the time for the store to open someone came down to the office and told us about it. We went down to the breakroom and watched it on CNN for a while. Everyone was shocked, especially my boss, even me though I knew it was eventually coming. My wife soon called and asked me about it because she was at school and little info about it. So I recorded about an hour or so and took it to her, which I still have the tape.

[ATLien]

Was a sophomore in HS.

First period, Physical Science, heard some kids talking about a plane crashed in New York City. I brushed it off as some stupid stunt gone wrong. Second period, Geometry. I saw what happened on TV, and like everyone in the world, I was stunned. Everyone was loud and panicing, and the ***** teacher told everyone to shut up, nobody did, so she turned off the TV! Third period, World History. I saw the replay of the 2nd plane crashing after the first one. Realized this was on some real ass shit. Then I heard that there were more planes crashing into the Pentagon. Then we heard that another plane that was heading towards The White House crashed. I was pretty scared, man but thankfully there were no more attacks on that day. You pretty much knew immediately that it was a day that nobody would ever forget. I didn't really feel any anger at all. Just so sad that such a tragedy had occured on USA soil.

[realmofotalk]

For those who were listening to sports radio, did your local sports stations switched to the news coverage from their sister stations? I didn't turn on the radio that day.

[Lynch]

I was listening to sports radio and they flipped to national news coverage. Fox radio I think (since their sister station carries it at a much weaker signal).

[Hmark6]

I was a sophmore at Siena College. Woke up for class and popped on SportsCenter like I did every morning. They had already gone to ABC's coverage. The first plane had hit and at this point they thought it was just a freak accident. Two minutes later I watched the second plane hit and it became abundantly clear. I got in the shower before class and just cried because (as an 18-year-old) I was convinced I was going to get drafted and go to war. When I got to class, my professor had the TV on (he was not in the room) and it was clear we we're having class.

Siena has a lot of kids from downstate and the city, and the saddest thing I saw happened on the way out of class. As we were leaving, a girl from class was coming in late. One of her friends says "OHMYGOD, Rachel, I'm so sorry, I dont know what to say...!" The girl's like "The hell are you talking about?" As she walks into the classroom where the TV is on. A second later she come sprinting out of the classroom with her had over her mouth. I'm standing in awe and her friend says "Both her parents and brother work there..."

Here's a link we should all visit from time to time. I wish we were still as united as the article at the end might suggest.