9/11... how did it effect you?

[mrhnau]

I still vividly recall the occurances of 9/11, watching it on the news, listening to the talking heads...

I always enjoyed going out to lunch with one of my best friends. we were diametrically opposed on everything political. never saw eye to eye on anything. I was incredibly conservative and he incredibly liberal. Shortly after 9/11, he had a change of heart. He signed up for the Army a few days later. His political views have changed quite dramatically too. We see eye to eye on almost all topics now (of course a few still remain). so, for him, 9/11 was quite a dramatic life changing event.

For myself, I've not been changed too much. My political views have not changed very much and I personally did not know anyone directly involved.

How about you? Have your views on things? Become more liberal, more conservative? How was your life affected in other ways?

 

[Martial Tucker]

9/11 affected me (and still does) profoundly. It didn't change my politics (see my signature line below), but it affected how I look at life and relationships, not only with family, but with friends and even strangers I meet.

First, a bit of background....In a previous career, I worked for a major investment bank. As such, I have worked, dined, and slept in the WTC towers countless hours over the years. Being a big part of my career, those buildings were, in a small way, a part of me. When I look at the NY skyline, and they're not there, I get the same sensation an amputee gets when he first realizes a limb is missing.
Total disbelief that it's gone. It feels like it's still there, but it's gone.
In addition, I lost 3 friends that day. Not close buddies, but friends nonetheless.

So now, I am more conscious of those who matter to me on a daily basis.
I make sure I take time every day to remind the important people in my life how I feel about them.

Secondly, I feel a sense of sadness that the spontaneous compassion and caring that everyone seemed to extend to each other in the initial days after the attack has largely, if not totally faded away into a distant memory. We have seemingly gone back to our daily routines, and forgotten
that 9/11 was a brutal reminder that we are all connected.

I fear what it will take to remind us of this yet again, someday.

 

[stickarts]

I was at home and saw the 2nd plane hit on television.
There was a feeling that the world had just changed and would never be the same again.
The horror of what happened, and a reality shock that we, or anyone, are not safe on our own soil.
It definately puts your life's values in perspective.

 

[terryl965]

My life changed for I lost a family member so I will never forget what happened. I hold no grudges toward anybody here, some over there yes.
Terry

 

[elder999]

When I was 6 years old, we lived in Manhattan; it was 1966, and I can remember looking from down West Side Drive into the excavation that would become the World Trade Center, and being told that it would be taller than the Empire State Building, then the world’s tallest building.

We moved out of the city. In later years though, I would visit the World Trade Center with my class on field trips, propose to my kids’ mom at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top floor, and, after the 1993 bombing, advise the Port Authority and the City of New York on emergency operations, and the functions of the emergency operations center at 7 World Trade Center. I came to know quite a few people that worked there, as well as having gone to school or been neighbors with more than a few of the firemen and police officers that were lost there.

On the morning of the attack, I was home asleep, after a long night of research, and was awakened with a phone call from my wife. I didn’t have television then, so I didn’t actually see the attack until afterward.

Funny, it’s gone now, and my kid’s mom is gone too. It’s a hole in the ground again. I never expected to outlive my wife, let alone a building……..

 

[Lisa]

Oh wow, what a question.

The night before the planes hit the towers on 9/11 I was at the hospital while my father underwent major surgery. They were not expecting him to make it through the surgery and after they wheeled him to recovery they told me they had to resuscitate him twice while he was under. I remember driving home that night, by myself and feeling that I was surely going to lose a parent that night.

When morning came and there was no phone call from the hospital, I sent the children off to school and sat down to have a morning cup of coffee before heading for the hospital. I was tired from lack of sleep and numb from all the crying and sadness I was feeling. It was when I was flipping through the channels that I saw an image of the first building burning and it made me stop. A few second later, the second plane hit. I don’t’ remember what channel I was watching, perhaps CNN. What I do remember is the report yelling “Oh my god, another plane just hit the other tower! Oh my god!” I think I will remember those words and the sheer terror in his voice the rest of my life.

I found that I spent many evenings subsequently watching TV and weeping for those lost in this terrible tragedy and for the children left behind without a parent or parents. All I could think of was those poor little babies, no young child should have to lose a parent in such a manner. In some ways I think it made me see that things in my life with my father’s illness were not so bad. If he passed, he would do so living a full life and do so surrounded by those that loved him. It made me realise how lucky I actually was.

And just so you know… my father recently celebrated his 77th birthday with us.

 

[Makalakumu]

Of course 9/11 has affected me. Increased security, increased scrutiny, war, uncertainty, etc...

When the towers came down and the Pentagon was hit, I remember thinking alot of things. Mostly, I was horrified for the victims. But I also couldn't help but think that this would be the incident that catalyzed a new movement of the military industrial congressional complex. When the Soviet Union fell, there really was no excuse for the amount that our country spent on the military. After 9/11, there was.

After 9/11 I became a lot more cynical. I knew how these political types rolled because my mother rubbed elbows with them frequently. Yet, I was surprised at how low they would actually go. At the very least, people used this tragedy to justify social, political, economic, and geopolitical agendas that were in the works long before 9/11 was even conceived by the terrorists. It was realpolitik at its best and in many ways I feel a lot of shame because of the actions of those who are supposedly representing me...I feel this especially when I leave the borders of this country.

In summation, I believe that 9/11 was the opening event for one of the darker chapters of American History. The happy ending is a long way off because I have no doubt that this zietgeist is going to spiral down for a while longer. Either way, the America that emerges, when all is said and done, is going to be nothing like that which I grew up with. I can't tell you whether or not it will be better or worse...

 

[Martial Tucker]

And just so you know… my father recently celebrated his 77th birthday with us.

That's terrific! I'm sure the extra years that you've been given with him have been extra-sweet in retrospect. May you have many more!

 

[Makalakumu]

It was when I was flipping through the channels that I saw an image of the first building burning and it made me stop. A few second later, the second plane hit. I don’t’ remember what channel I was watching, perhaps CNN. What I do remember is the report yelling “Oh my god, another plane just hit the other tower! Oh my god!” I think I will remember those words and the sheer terror in his voice the rest of my life.

My wife called me from work. I was outside enjoying the nice morning and practicing Tang Soo Do. When I went inside and turned on the TV, I watched the second plane hit. I didn't say a thing and I think I was stunned into a moment of prescience. I felt a great concern for everyone who would die. My heart went out to the terrified people in the towers and in my mind whither from the images of bombs falling on little brown babies halfway around the world. I knew then that THAT would be our (the US) response. I remember turning the TV off after the Pentagon was hit. The media was already showing pictures of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam. Tom Brokaw was already speculating as to a connection between the two. "How could they know anything?" I thought, "People were still dying..."

I went back outside to contemplate what I was feeling on the beach. Our apartment was only a block away from the shores of Lake Superior and I needed to walk in order to clear my mind. I met my neighbors on the way. They were crying and praying very loudly and they invited me over to pray with them. I joined them, despite my recent conversion to atheism, old habits were hard to break. Besides, they were good friends.

Cindy's prayers are still clear in my mind...

"Lord Jesus, deliver those in need into your arms. Protect them from evil and bring them home safely, whether it is to your breast or to their families."

As a group, "Amen."

"Lord Jesus, help our leaders find who did this. Punish the evil men and women who have forsaken your name."

Two voices, "Amen."

"Cindy, we don't know who is responsible yet. We can't let Satan twist our hearts against an entire people."

"In my heart, I know it is true. They aren't like us, John. Besides, the TV is already saying it was them."

I gave them both big hugs and departed, continuing my walk down to the beach. I remember laying in the sand and staring at the clouds. The peace of nature contrasted with the power of hatred in the human heart. My heart was heavy with all of this manipulation and I resolved myself to hold out at all costs.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

i was living overseas at the time. i remember being shocked and horrified. i remember for weeks random strangers would offer my american self condolences. i remember being contacted by the u.s. consulate about the threat level to americans living in japan at the time (virtually none).

what really sticks in my mind, though, was coming home to visit the following december. armed soldiers in the airports. being told i couldn't sit around at the 'airport' if i didn't have a boarding pass. large posters everywhere about patriotism, reporting suspicious acts and supporting the administration.

it was like stepping into a bad dystopian sci fi movie. shades of george orwell.

more than anything, that's what hurt me about 9/11. literally millions of americans have died for freedom. the victims of 9/11 are in danger of having died for the opposite.

 

[Ceicei]

My youngest daughter was sick, so I stayed home from work that morning. We were watching her favorite TV show. I went to get some clothes for her and switched to CNN while helping her. It was in the midst of that when I realized something big was going on. I had to stop....and watch. What a terrible accident (with first WTC tower). Running live, seeing the next plane crash into that second WTC building was shocking. I had a hard time believing in my mind that this was actually happening, right now, yet there it was. So incomprehensible.... Definitely no accident. And a third... (Pentagon). I wondered whether there would be more. The fourth in a field. I felt myself go numb.

The worst part was watching the people fall/jump from the WTC windows... and how desperate they were, with the cameras running live on them. That image forever etched into my mind....

I hugged my family tightly and kept them close. It was as if a huge chuck of my heart got ripped out. I felt so disillusioned with humanity. Have people got so low as to try destroying scores and scores of innocent people all at once? Why?

- Ceicei

 

[elder999]

Funny, it’s gone now, and my kid’s mom is gone too. It’s a hole in the ground again. I never expected to outlive my wife, let alone a building……..

I guess I should clarify that my first wife died the same year as the first World Trade Center bombing, and that it was my second wife calling me from the lab at Los Alamos (she wasn't my wife, yet, either....)......

Naturally, I'm not going to say anything about how it's affected both of our work lives; you can use your imagination.....

 

[Wes Tasker]

Besides just the shock, horror, disbelief, outrage of the day and the following days and weeks of the event - it has effected me and friends of mine in other ways. I am a student of classical Arabic and have studied Arabic/Islamic religion, philosophy, etc. for well over a decade. I worked in an Arabic book and music store for about a year as well. Friends of mine won't speak Arabic to me in public anymore. Most of my friends from Morocco only speak French amongst themselves in public. Two of my friends from Egypt sent their pregnant wives back home because they were assaulted - one with boiling water. And I've constantly had people that know of my interests ask me how I could associate with "them" and how could I be interested in what "they" think etc. etc.

-wes tasker

 

[Cujo]

I guess, other than the initial shock, I haven't been affected all that much. I didn't know anyone who died, I live in a small community etc. The threat of terrorist violence in my area is very remote and so other than being glued to the t.v. in the beginning not much has changed for me.
Pax
Cujo

 

[Hand Sword]

Anger.

 

[still learning]

Hello, Like the attack on Pearl Harbor? ....this 9/11 will past but always remember.

History 101.....this course in school will always be taught to students....never learn from those who took it?

Everyone was impacted by this attack on the Trade World Center. Our lives are not same. Some more personal than others.

One cannot help but think "What is it going to be like for the future of our children? and the children of the world too? .....Aloha

 

[Hand Sword]

Hopefully a world of peace is in store for them.

 

[FearlessFreep]

SImilar to Cujo, it didn't really affect my much. I've never been to New Yor and I didn'y know anyone involved. I think I was at home when they talked about a plane having flown into one of the towers and then I headed for work and it's an hour drive, so much of it all happened either before I heard about it or while I was driving and listening a bit on the radio.

In a lot of ways ot was to me just another event that happened far off that didn't really effect me much on a personal level; like the first launch of t he shuttle or the shooting of Reagan or the explosion of the Challenger or the death of Princess Di or...

 

[MA-Caver]

After a few days of contemplation ... I'm still finding it difficult to put my feelings into words on the subject. I re-read my journal entry, it was full of sorrow and anger. I remember the day and shall remember it well always. The following day I remember feeling relieved at the number of the fallen.
Relieved because it wasn't as high as it could've been. Remember that on an average business day the WTC (both towers and surrounding buildings) would (could've) housed 50-70,000 individuals. True many got out after the planes hit, but still... it's a miracle that the numbers didn't ascend into the 5 digit range. We should be mindful and thankful for that I think.