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Where were you when you heard the news 6 years ago today?
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right were i am today, but i just started my job on the 4th
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i was getting ready for my last day of community service (washing & waxing service vehicles @ george mason university) here in fairfax, va. i was in a good mood, it was a beautiful day, when all of a sudden my mother called, completely freaked out.
"are you watching tv?!?!?!" she freaked.
"yep, weather channel says its gonna be gorgeous today...." i lightly replied.
"is that all you\'re watching?
" lie i was somehow the dumbest guy around...
"yep... well, i had hbo on for a minute."
"jason, try any. other. channel."
well, needless to say, my mood switched pretty quick. she had gotten a call from another of her offices who had seen the plane that hit the pentagon (sorry conspiracy buffs) and they were all in lockdown. not allowed to leave their building for multiple reasons. of course, one of the main fears was that they\'d try crashing into any largely populated areas, like a large university situated 16 miles from downtown dc, next so the school was shut down, too. i didn\'t know how that would affect my community service, but i was pretty sure that this was an unplanned-for probationary contingent and so maybe they\'d let me make up the hours on some day when the country wasn\'t being attacked. turns out, they told me not to even worry about making up the time (i was a model service truck washer/waxer, apparently).
anyway, i sat at home and watched every news channel there was until around nine at night when i just couldn\'t process anymore. i went outside for a cigarette and, just like all day long, sirens were everywhere. what freaked me out the most, though, were the planes flying above. every plane was supposed to be grounded, but i heard planes. most of them, after the initial shock of hearing anything in the sky - which, living near dulles and national airports is normally a very common thing- i realized that most of them were military jets. there was one, however, that definitely sounded like a commercial airliner. much later, it turned out that it was part of the bin laden family leaving from dulles airport. but all i knew at the time was that i heard aplane that shouldn\'t be up there and it scared me. that was when i realized just how deeply this was going to affect the psyche of this country. because i knew i wasn\'t the only one scared shitless by the sound of something usually so mundane. and fear was going to cause reactionism and reactionism only ends badly. i started hoping for a calming influence and rational voice, but in those first few days/week there was none to be found.
my brother, on the other hand, was stuck in amsterdam (returning from a post-college trip to europe) and had no idea what was going on, other than "the united states is being attacked". needless to say, once he got himself to a cyber-cafe and got through to me, he was freaked out, too. i told him what had actually happened (the reports he was hearing were sensational at best and inflammatory at worst), told him our friends and family were almost entirely accounted for (and we weren\'t really worried about the missing ones) and that things would be ok. maybe not right away, but it wasn\'t like we were under siege or anything. no red army marching down main street. nothing like that. we had joked about it before, but the one piece of advice i implored him to take seriously now, was to somehow, some way find a canadian flag and put it on his backpack. whether it was a patch, a sticker or hand drawn, make it visible and make it big. also, start saying \'eh?!\' a lot. seriously. so, he hunkered down in amsterdam (on the 12th, our im\'s had much more to do with which kush he should try) got in touch with some distant relatives in london, just in case, and waited for the airports to open again. -
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I was a senior at St. Bernard High School in Uncasville walking to my second period Theology class. My theology teacher was the school priest and when we all walked in and sat down he told us that he had to go make a very important announcement to the whole school and that we would remember this day for the rest of our lives. It was creepy
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I was living at home with my family in east haven. My grandmother came and woke me up. And i was arguing with her that it was too early....and she demanded I come downstairs right now. And when we walked down the staircase, the second plane had hit the tower on tv right in front of us. We both started crying.
One of things that will stay in my mind forever is that night and the following night. My childhood street was dark...except for candles that everyone had placed on their front steps. The only sound was the American Flags being caught by the wind. It was sadly beautiful. -
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I was on 91 north driving into hartford for work, heard it all happen live on npr, had to wait until I got to work to see the video.
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I remember it like it was yesterday. I was away at school at Temple University, in the bed of a fine young Korean woman who just returned from the shower to wake me up and show me what was on the news.
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I was in my third year at SUNY Cortland and was eating breakfast before one of my early classes. For some reason I mistakenly hit 23 (CNN) instead of 24 (Sportscenter) and saw one of the towers ablaze. It didn\'t really register as I was still a little messed up from the night before. It initially seemed like a bad movie. I couldn\'t watch this by myself so I woke up my roommates. We just sat there in disbelief as to what had just happened. Then the second plane hit. I was filled with so much anger and sadness, I felt helpless. I experienced the same feelings 2 months later when I was told my younger brother died in a car accident. I never want to feel that way again.
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Quote from: Igziabeher;158110
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was away at school at Temple University, in the bed of a fine young Korean woman who just returned from the shower to wake me up and show me what was on the news.
Wins Thread.
I was on The Mass Pike driving from 495 to 84 listening to Howard Stern of all things. I listened to him the entire time glued to the radio for news. I called My GF from the road and told her to turn on the news. I drove straight to work and when I got here the phones were ringing off the hook. We were one of the only ISPs who still had connectivity. Underneath the towers housed 1 of the east coast largest switching stations and colo facilities. So when that went so did most of the internet and phones of people trying to get calls and e-mails through etc.
We signed up so many people that day trying to get in touch with loved ones. We simply just gave accounts out so folks could try and tell people they were OK etc. I dreaded making the accounting calls for months afterward. I would always come across company addresses in the towers or husbands/wives who had been killed etc etc.
Here in Westchester there were so many funerals. -
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i was a senior in high school at that point, and we had open campus during free periods. so i was returning from a burn ride during morning break and came back to second period to find this, the ultimate buzz kill.
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Quote from: peaches626;158094
I was a senior at St. Bernard High School in Uncasville walking to my second period Theology class. My theology teacher was the school priest and when we all walked in and sat down he told us that he had to go make a very important announcement to the whole school and that we would remember this day for the rest of our lives. It was creepy
I was basically in the same boat, walking from my computer class to my second period theology class, weird. My theology teacher was a nun, and she refused to let us watch the TV. Weak! -
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A beautiful Tuesday morning... I left my middle school to run an errand before my first class. I was driving in the car listening to Howard Stern when the first plane hit...no one thought much about except that it was a horrible accident. They actually joked that Pam Anderson was late because she was on the plane...bad joke but it shows how no one suspected anything until the second plane hit. Then things got serious in a hurry. I raced back to my school and they already heard. Since it\'s a middle school we decided not to frighten the kids so we didn\'t tell them much at first...no one knew what was going on so less said the better. But then the intercom started...student after atudents was being called down to leave school. I left my class with another teacher watching them and headed to the teachers room...when I arrived the first tower was collapsing....an unbelieveable sight. The rest of the day was one of the scariest days ever.
A day later the donations started.. we decided to donate bottles of water and deliver them to ground zero. Each student (all 600) wrote messages on the bottles. "God Bless you!" "You are real heros" "USA!!!" "Thank you for risking your life to save others" ...on and on the messages went. On Saturday September 15th. we loaded the car with the bottles and drove to the city. They were going to turn us away because there was more donations then was needed...but I pleaded my case that this was more then water. It was hope, praise, respect. appreciation, and respect. They let us through and we delivered our messages. We asked the kids not to put their addresses on the bottles but of course one did....about 18 months later he got a letter from NYC police officer. He wrote that it was particuarly tough night about 3AM when he took a break from digging and they we passed water bottles. One after another the messages were read filling the rescue workers with the boost they neded to continue....he thanked the student for his words of encouragement. It was beautiful thing.
Let\'s hope we never have to do that again........ -
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Myself, Genc\'s and 4 other friends were in the Aruba Marriott. We were preparing to leave after 7 days in paradise when all hell broke loose.
It was scary being out of the country when it\'s getting attacked. When the 4th plane crashed, all you can think of are the family members that you can\'t get ahold of and wondering when the attacks are going to end.
Took us 7 more days to get home, there are definitely worse places to be stuck. -
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I was at work in the lab at the Mystic Aquarium, my first job out of college.
Between reading .info threads, Let\'s all take the time to be silent and pray for the comfort of those who lost someone on this day. -