Ten

[Pete]

It's been ten years since the worst attack on American soil took place. We all remember exactly where we were and what was racing through our minds.

My question is simple:

Where were you? What were you thinking? What did you feel and experience?

[Yoko]

I remember exactly where I was that day. I came from from school (I was in grade 7, 12 years old) and the TV was on. I went to the kitchen to see what I could find and came out with a plate of pickles (I like pickles...) I looked at what was on the TV and I was stunned. The scene of what had happened earlier in the day was basically on repeat on the News. I didn't quite understand it at first. I had no idea what the twin towers were. But when they played the scene and described what was going on, I began to quickly understand. A plane was hijacked and many many people died.

The days after that were pretty memorable too. We talked about in class for a few days afterwards. I was also when I got the idea to get into Aviation. I wanted to be able to do something about it. I look back now and see that it was a day that changed the lives of many in more ways then one. I'm not sure if I would be where I am if it weren't for that day, but I definitely see it as a turning point in my life.

It is devastating what had happened that day, but if it weren't for that day, the rules that are in place now in the Aviation Industry may not be there. We have grown since then. And we are making changes for the better. The stories that I hear behind the scenes (The ones that I'm not allowed to tell), are a very good indicator of that.

[Xanatos]

I was fast asleep when the attack occurred, my brother woke me up saying I should see something on TV. I was too young back then to comprehend full import of that attack, but I felt uneasy watching those building collapse. It's really sad how many civilians died that day, then again civilians are always ones to suffer and all due to stupid moves/decisions few men on royal chair make.

[The Dark Crystal]

I was in the 5th grade the day that it happened, and we had all just came back from the gym/P.E. class when we heard the news. My teacher Ms. Young told us to get out of our desk and sit in a group on the floor, she kind of stumbled on her words trying to explain to us what had just happened to the Twin Tower.

I think we all pretty much were thinking the same thing in my class. How did it happen, how could we let that happen without knowing something fishy was going on when a plane was that low in elevation, heading out of direction from it's previous destination & when they had lost contact with the planes pilots.

I felt all kinds of emotions, and I really don't know were to begin with them. I did feel a sudden urge to destroy those involved in the plot, who were not already dead though.

[Alpha]

I remember waking up for school on the morning of September 12, and my brothers were already up and watching the TV. Mum had the radio on louder than usual. I came down the stairs and looked at the TV. One of the towers had been hit and we all thought it was am accident. Everything we were getting was a little late and confused, so even though it had happened probably half an hour earlier, I was there when the first showed the footage of the second tower getting hit, and we knew it wasn't an accident.

I was 11, so biked to primary school. My teacher was huddled over the radio. I didn't know what the World Trade Centre Towers were, but got a rapid lesson in terrorism at too young an age.

I don't remember anymore of that day.

My next memory in the sequence was when th US invaded Afghanistan. It happened about lunchtime NZ time, and we all thought it was going to start WW3, and were pretty scared then, too.

[Taco-Calamitous]

The TV wasn't even on that morning, I don't think. The first I heard about it was from this kid on the bus, saying that some "small country had attacked the US," and that "we were gonna kick their asses." There wasn't really that much talk about it during school that day, either; there was like an announcement maybe, midway through school. Then, our drama teacher talked about it at length at the end of the day, finally; what happened, who did it, and why. That put it into perspective. And then I went home and saw the footage on TV finally.

Some kids had family that it directly effected. It didn't have anywhere near the impact here as it did on the East Coast, obviously, but there was a real sadness, and a sympathy for all you out there on the East Coast, especially in New York. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[loaf]

I must have been asked this question the most in my ****ing life. It's really annoying, but I understand the reason.

I was sleeping, in my bed, I woke up to go to school, my mom says omg WTC has been attacked, whats the WTC? Then all day at school it was about that. Really didn't know much or cared till maybe a couple days later.

[Tallulah]

I am in the UK, so it must have been about 1.30pm our time. I was due to enrol in college the next day, so it was my last day off before it started. My parents and I had been food shopping and for the rest of the moring I was upstairs playing video games. My mum kept interrupting me for inane things all afternoon so when she called up to me to tell me that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York. My parents had finished watching some programmes which they had taped from the day before, and turned off the VCR to the news. They thought it was a film, and was a few moments before they realised it was a newsflash about the atrocities. Despite the fact that my mum had been disturbing me all afternoon, I knew this was big, even though I wasn't sure what the Twin Towers were, and I thought it might have been an accident in heavy fog (you know what New York weather's like!) and a similar thing happened years and years previous (pre WW2 I think) with a small plane into the Empire State building. When I saw the clear blue sky on the news I knew this was not the case, but was still praying that this was some sort of horrible accident.

My parents were in the kitchen when I saw the second plane come in, and then I saw the second plane come curving in from absolutely nowhere and crash into the second tower (I can't remember which was hit first). I kept watching the news, hoping in vain that they could control the fire and save the buildings. It wasn't to be, and I watched in horror as the towers came down. It was such a surreal day. I later went to bed and had a dream about a similar thing happening with trains. Of course four years later on 7th July, there were a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks on London (my hometown, although I had moved out by then). I have a diary entry for the next day which conveys my horror and details the dream I had. When I read it back after the attacks in London, I shocked myself.

Anyway, we spent the rest of the day (aside from an episode of Emmerdale, one of the lamer UK soaps) glued to the news following the events of that terrible day. Another scary thing is that video game I was playing. Ever since September 11th, it never worked quite right again; it would randomly reset in the middle of a minigame.

The next day I went into college and tried to put the incident out of my mind, but it was everywhere. College was a 12 mile train ride and I had to change trains twice. Everyone's paper had big black headlines, and the picture of the towers aflame. I picked up a copy of the Daily Mail someone had left behind. I could hardly bear to read through it. I had a giant lump on my throat all the way to college.

After I enrolled I walked back to the train station, but realising I had 45 minutes to wait for a train, I popped into a bar to pass the time. Sky News was on, and I clearly remember seeing footage of people jumping out of the building and falling. It doesn't even bear thinking about. They knew they weren't going to get out so they chose to jump rather than be burnt, choked or crushed to death beneath the rubble. It was chilling.

[Elise]

I was 10 years old, just started 5th grade. I think I was watching after-school cartoons when my mom came in and asked us to turn it to the news channel because something important has happened. All I saw was a plane crashing into a building. I was too young to comprehend the significance of the event, all I understood was that something bad has happened and it is very serious. I was asking myself: who would do this? and why?

That tragic day was the day when we became 'us' and 'them'. As a Muslim I was shoved into the spotlight in a way I couldn't avoid, I became very defensive and even 10 years later I always have to prove that I am normal, who I am and where I stand. It's such a strange way to exist. I stand by all the innocent people that lost their lives to a terrorist attack! My thoughts on this day are with them and their families. I hold great hate for those horrible terrorists, they did not only kill innocent civilians, and continue to do so, but they also ruined the reputation of my religion, that is about beauty and truth, and the lives of over a billion Muslim worldwide.

It's impossible to forget 9/11, I grew up with the social implications of it, in the different countries I moved to, east and west, and it shaped the way I understand myself in response to the way the world understands me. I think the way it changed the world pushed me to be more concerned about human rights issues and appreciating cultural differences, never judge anyone before getting to know them. And really appreciate the friends who love me for who I am with all our differences.

[Unknown Entity]

I must have been asked this question the most in my ****ing life. It's really annoying, but I understand the reason.

Someone asks every single year on TFF. >>;

I saw it on the news and in the papers on the way to school. I think school started later than usual or something because I don't know how I would have on the day because of the time difference otherwise.

I remember being shocked when I saw. But it wasn't really talked about much at school because we were so young, and none of us were directly affected by it. My teacher was upset because I think she was (she probably just understood it more than a bunch of nine year-olds would have), but she soldiered through the day.

[The_Dream_Recluse]

I was the first one in my family to see the attack on the news. I had woken up, and gone to put on the early morning cartoons (i was ten at the time) and i remember the first thing on the tv screen being an image of the twin towers with one of them on fire and smoking. After having listened to the report for about thirty seconds, i ran into my parents' bedroom and woke my dad up, saying 'There's been an attack in New York!'

I'll never forget that day, it was quite a sombre atmosphere as we just watched helplessly as the second tower was hit and then as they both came crashing down. It was scary stuff.

[Pete]

Someone asks every single year on TFF. >>;

Yeah, that person is me. I don't give a **** who gets annoyed by it or if it seems repetitive. It's important to me, and I think it's good to remember the day and to honor those who lost their lives. It's a major life altering and world altering event, and I feel that it has had some impact on everyone's life.

As most of you know, I live in New York, so it affects me a lot more than most others here.

I had just turned 15, and had laid my grandfather to rest on the 3rd, so I was still kind of depressed about that whole ordeal. I remember thinking that the new school year would be good for me, and different, seeing as I would be involved with classes and friends and girls and all that fun shit. On the 11th, we started the day with Chemistry, and it was a typical introductory day. I think we learned the very basics of what atoms were, and how everything was composed of them.

My second class was homeroom, but we had a scheduled sophomore assembly, where they handed out the school calendars and gave us a little speech on how we were to set an example for the incoming freshmen. I remember the news was broken by the assistant principal that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I have no idea why, but the first image in my head was of a little prop bi-plane hitting the towers, like the one that hit the Empire State Building decades ago. I figured it was a little nothing incident.

The cafeteria we were all seated in rang silent for a split second, and then exploded with conversation. Students with parents or relatives working in the towers were given the chance to call them to see if they were ok, since this was right before cell phones were popular, and they weren't really allowed in the school.

My next class was history. Our teacher was blunt with us. Once we all sat down, he told us "The World Trade Center is no more. It's just a pile of steel, concrete and bodies." I just remember being stunned and in disbelief. He told us of the second plane, and that they weren't little prop planes. The rest of the school day, friends and acquaintances all tried to make sense of it all.

Later in the day, I came home, which was a very hurried five block walk from the school to my house. The air had a strange quality to it, like it was heavy without being humid. There was extra dust and paper blowing in the streets, moreso than the usual type of garbage. When I got home, the first thing I did was put on the tv, and check the answering machine. There were four messages. My hand trembled as I pressed play.

The first was my moms mom, asking if we were all accounted for and ok, and to call her back.

The second was one of my dad's cousins, asking the same thing.

The third was my mom, telling me that my aunt was ok.

I can't remember the fourth, probably because I was too busy just bawling to make it through the message. My aunt worked on the 95th floor of the second tower that was hit. As soon as she felt the rumble from the first strike, she gathered all of her coworkers and they booked it, despite all safety personnel telling them to remain at their desks. Now, I had no idea that she was working; I had figured that since she had taken my grandpas death the hardest, she'd be taking extra time to relax and get her head straight.

My mom came home later, from working maybe a mile from the towers. I just remember hugging her and watching the news coverage with her and my brother.

Maybe around 6pm or so, my dad came home. I just remember giving him the biggest hug I've ever given anyone. He was working downtown by the federal courts, and had watched the second tower get hit, from the steps outside. I remember him telling us that he had to get a car wash because of all of the dust coating our sad little Taurus.

The rest of the night, I just sat awake, almost in a trance. I went up to the roof with a bottle of vodka, and I sat there, half hammered and watching the night sky glow a very smoky shade of orange.

[Alpha]

I'm with Pete here.

Never, never, never, never forget. So what someone brings it up every year? It needs to be brought up. It deserves to be brought up. Especially on the anniversary.

I got teary eyed watching the news just then, which is a special commemorative screening (during the Rugby World Cup, that's a feat), and they discussed the firefighters climbing the stairs as everyone else (who could) descended. They knew they were probably going to die, but performed their duty in the face of it, and didn't give off panic to the workers. They saved lives, and lost their own. I'm not going to get sick of thinking and talking about such bravery and heroism.

9/11 hasn't had any impact on my life at all. Well, nearly. I lost a friend who was in the military, who died in an accident whilst training here, in preparation for Afghanistan. Point is, it had no personal implications for me, but the event needs commemorating. Today more than any day is for that.

Never, never, never, never forget.

[loaf]

I never said it was a bad thing to mention it every year....

another reason why I don't talk about it often.

[Alpha]

That's not what I'm implying. But you wouldn't believe the number of people saying that Americans should "move on" on my Facebook feed, and in the comments of NZ news articles commemorating the events.

[loaf]

That's like saying we should move on from Pearl Harbor. An Attack on our soil just wont get moved on lol.

[sayian]

I still have the newspaper from September 12, 2001.. Fort Smith, Arkansas edition.. you clearly see pictures of the crash and even a body of a man in MID AIR that had jumped out of a smoking room, people crying, and terrified. its horrible. i dont even remember how many people were killed and that number is growing with the heroes and people near by becoming ill from the atmospheric conditions. not only that, it was at the expense of razorblades and a few hellbound mideasterns. but, whats worse than that, is ten years later how anyone can think of jus "moving on". this is a war we clearly lost but because we approached the matter in a unique way.

IMO 9/11 is as significant as the holocaust, pearl harbor, the civil war, ww1 etc.. im sure the people who lived through those events werent suggesting "move on"

[RamesesII]

I agree with Pete I think it is good to talk about it, like Australians and Kiwis having ANZAC day.
I remember I was getting ready for school not sure what grade, and I went to turn my daily morning cartoons on which was my daily ritual and instead there was the coverage on the WTC etc on every channel before that day I had never heard of the towers.

Anyway it was an eye opener and I don't care what country you were from I think everyone was affected by it.
I know for the whole day that was what everyone was talking about it, and being me I hungered for knowledge on what happened why and how I had butterflies in my stomach the whole day just wondering, not so much on what was going to happen next but mainly the rescue efforts and all the selfless people helping out etc.

[Unknown Entity]

I meant no offence with that comment, and I agree that it's something to be talked about. I'm not someone who'd say "American's should get over it, it happened ten years ago."

Admittedly, I see a little truth to that statement though, but not in the way you'd think (as most of you know, I'm strongly against patriotism, and I think calling it a wound against your own country is only rubbing the salt in deeper). The only thing that irks me about disasters like that is when you get someone who was completely unattached to this terrible disaster acting as if it'd killed their whole family. I've heard of people actually lying that they had relatives in the twin towers to get news coverage and money out of it.

I get teary-eyed watching documentaries on it. I watched a really horrible one which actually had the sounds of the bodies of the "jumpers" thumping into the ground. As a nine/ten year old, that's not really something my mother would have let me watch if she was in the room. The sounds still disturb me. I was also really worried about war after Bush declared it after all the stories my nan told me of WWII. ><

But yeah. No offence was meant. I apologise.

[Rowan]

It will be remembered on the 100th anniversary too. Its a testament to the bravery and perseverance of those that risks their lives to save others. Its a day to remember those who gave their lives protecting their citizens and made the ultimate sacrifice. Of course this is something people would wish too glorify.

As for Anzacs and other such occasion, I really dont feel any sort of remorse. Call me cold hearted but I've yet to find a reason why I should. All i know is that the british forced the australians to march to their deaths. They had no chance, only orders. I find some things in history to be absolutley dispicable.

[OnOneRyder]

Yeah, that person is me. I don't give a **** who gets annoyed by it or if it seems repetitive. It's important to me, and I think it's good to remember the day and to honor those who lost their lives. It's a major life altering and world altering event, and I feel that it has had some impact on everyone's life.

Only because we let it impact our lives...bare with me here! Loss of life on this scale is nothing to forget, I'm not saying it should be. I am however going to step up and say regardless of it being a loss of life at the hands of evil, it's relatively small in the scale of things. Tens of millions of lives have been lost in the past century to genocide, and most Americans will never even learn that these events took place. Why you may ask? Because it doesn't hit home, it doesn't register with them on the same scale as something happening to their own people. Since 9/11 about 18.25 million people died from aids worldwide, and just shy of 100 million died from starvation around the world in the same time...yet how many of us actually do something to stop this?

Most Americans will say 9/11 changed their lives significantly...and it most certainly has. The country reacted to it in a manner which exhausted vast amounts of resources, resources which could have been applied elsewhere. I'm not saying nothing should have been done, but perhaps that too much attention is being given to fight wars to avenge the few when the many need your help more. Since that day your country has spend $1.28 trillion on their war on terror, that is an astronomical figure which instead of doing good was spent to fuel wars....that is a sad sad figure.

I for one would feel ashamed to give so much attention to a relatively small group and virtually ignore the overwhelming majority of those who lost their lives in the same time frame.