Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11/01 Memories... Where were you on that day, and how did you and your community react?

Here are several pieces of live footage from various news networks showing the 2nd plane crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and live footage of both towers collapsing, with the corresponding  journalist's shocked reactions. They serve as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed that morning. Watching them again rejuvenated my rage and sadness on that fateful day:




The purpose of this post is to get feedback from all of my readers, whether a U.S. citizen, or a citizen of any  country outside of the United States . These are my questions...

Question #1: Where were you on 9/11/01?
 
I was in my senior year of high school in Spanish class. Got sent home early. Spent the rest of the day watching CNN and talking to people. People in the States were clearly very angry, upset and patriotically-unified following these surprise terrorist attacks.

I, myself, knew that we had, by far, the most powerful military in the world, and I was eagerly-awaiting a swift and comprehensive retaliation for these reprehensible attacks that happened only an hour's drive away from my home. This knee-jerk, emotional reaction was probably shared by many Americans, which made it so easy for President Bush to get Americans to give our full support to a war in Iraq, unfortunately.

Question #2: For people outside of the United States during 9/11/01... How was the news received in your particular country? Were you or your community affected emotionally? Please explain in the comment section.

I'm sure that some of the responses on here might vary. Please be very honest, as I'd like an accurate reading of your nation's initial reactions. Please identify the country/community you are reporting from as well. I very much look forward to hearing from you all.

In remembrance of those who lost their lives as a result of the 9/11 attacks, and all the brave individuals who risked their lives to help their fellow man... I am affectionately and respectfully your humble servant,
  Publius

51 comments:

  1. I was very young when this happened, I remember I was in 6th grade, and the teacher brought a radio and we were listening to the news about this. It was a dark day

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  2. I was pretty young when it happened, and my memory isn't the best anymore, but I remember I was in grade school. We were in class and the principal walked in and talked to the teacher. the teacher didn't really tell us what happened, but said we were going home. after a little while, my grandparents came to pick me up and we sat around the TV looking for updates. I remember being more curious than scared.

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  3. German class, 11th grade. Weird day.

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  4. I was at work when that happend. Was just arriving there when it happend, ended up going back home. It's truely sad.

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  5. 10 years has just gone by so fast :/ rip

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  6. I was in school when it all happened. Teachers told us to randomly go home. I was 20blocks away. Memory that will NEVER be forgotten.

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  7. i was in my 2nd grade classroom when my teacher turned on the news. i didnt really know what was going on but i was pretty scared since my teacher seemed really shaken up.

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  8. I remember that day. I was asleep when I heard my roommate talking on the phone about how America was under attack. I watched the news ALL day.

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  9. I was in 3rd grade and I really couldnt quite grasp what happened

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  10. I was still living with my grandparents when this happened. It seemed so long ago

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  11. I was delevering news papers and heard about it on my walkman radio.

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  12. School hadn't started yet for September. I was watching tv, baywatch on rerun just like everyone in my neighborhood. Program was interupt by breaking news about the attacks on Pentagon and World Trade Center. I watched the second plane crashed live, as well as the towers going down. The anchorman was raged and shocked on a national channel! I believe we kept one moment of silence first day of school. All of this happened in my hometown in Greece.

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  13. I remember I was in elementary school at the time- all the teachers piled into our room and turned on the tv. Horrible day...

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  14. Rest in Peace did you ever watched zeitgeist documentary?

    take a look at my blog =D

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  15. I just got sent home when I was in school, I got back home and I just saw everyone watching the TV intently but I didn't understand what was going on since I was young. My community didn't act that surprised by it and it was only a matter of time, and they've been through worse with the wars and disasters. UK by the way.

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  16. I was just waking up. It happened fairly early in the morning for the West Coast..

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  17. I have no memories of that day as I was pretty young.

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  18. 3rd grade I think. I was at home, school hadn't started yet. I was still living in Turkey, and I was playing Scrabble with my parents, my aunt, and my grandmother. The TV was on in the background, and we hear "BREAKING NEWS" etc, and yeah, we like freaked out.

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  19. I remember I was in my living room, with my mom. She called me to say some plane had crashed and when I arrived the second one was hitting the towers. It was also her sister's birthday D:

    I was 11 years old.

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  20. I was woken up and told to watch the TV. I didn't understand what was happening at that point as I was only 11 years old. But the events since that day have transformed me. My whole family is pretty conservative so that made me understand their values, but they really just didn't jive with me. So 9/11 basically made me an even stronger proponent of freedom in the face of violence. You don't defeat terrorism with the PATRIOT act, you defeat it by laughing at the attempts at intimidation.

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  21. I was in 4th grade, and I actually stayed home sick that day and was at the doctors office at the time I heard.

    Never forgot.

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  22. i was in 7th grade and my school thought it best not to tell me

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  23. I was at work.. we went to the cafeteria, I just went down and drove back home and started calling everyone I knew in the city. It was both stunning and upsetting

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  24. I had more or less just woken up. I was only 11 so I didn't really understand concepts like nationalism or what the WTC did or represented, and i hadn't even learned anything about Islam or the motivations of the men that had did this. All I really understood was planes were crashing into buildings and shit had just gotten real, so to speak.

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  25. when this happened i was 11 years old, sittin in the kitchen when my mother shouted for me when she saw the crash in TV. First i thought its a movie...

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  26. i was in 4th grade and could see from my school window, the towers on fire and smoke plowing out of them. Went to lunch at around 11 and came back around 12pm and then didnt see the towers anymore and the entire city in smoke. I was amazed and speechless and my teachers were hysterical. Day after everyone could smell the smoke still from the towers.... it was a day unlike anything i have ever experienced

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  27. I was quite young, I tihnk I was in 6th or 7th grade. I remember getting picked up and the driver talking with older students about "have they fallen yet or not". I had no idea what was going on. Once I got home my parents were both glued to the TV and I could see at once the now infamous images, both towers burning. Both parents came from work to lunch together and they had to go again to work, but neither wanted to stop watching the news.

    I also remember that I didn't study or make any homework that afternoon, I watched the news until my parents came again in the night.

    The biggest repercusion was that of security in the airports and the difficulties in getting to the US or anywhere elseee. I think we're feeling such effects even today.

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  28. history class, had a kid come down and say EVERYONES TURNIN THE TV ON so we did too it said FIRST TOWER WAS HIT then the 2nd tower got hit and we saw that in real time as they reported the 2nd tower was hit.

    i feel bad that it happened but its a scandal from george bush hes soulless and should be charged as a war criminal

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  29. I remember I was woken up by my sister, and I saw the TV and it was just... devastating. I was in grade 5 too.
    Come check me out =) alphabetalife.blogspot.com

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  30. 4th grade. Nobody told us at school, but you could tell all the teachers were worried. Came home and saw it on tv. Totally didn't get how big a deal it was at the time, it was kind of numbing watching it over and over on the news.

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  31. It was my pals birthday and I was at the pup having lunch when reports started to come in. I'll never forget the feeling of non-comprehesion, It felt surreal watching the second plane hit live on T.V. From that point on I was glued to the screen.

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  32. I was young on the day this append, i was in my PC playing a game and then my father called me saying that the world trade center was being attacked
    i am from coimbra, portugal

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  33. I was only young when this happened, Mad to think it happened so long ago though! thoughts go out to all the victims of the 9/11. Was a tragic event

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  34. I think I was in the third or second grade back then, did not have much of an impact on my country, but it was all over the news.

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  35. Was just done playing on my playstation. Checked some channels and then suddenly a plane crashed into the bulding was insane and unreal.

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  36. Back then I was like 10 or so. All I know is that my parents freaked out, and I was thinking it's something I did :D

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  37. I was on vacation, on this little island in Denmark called Bornholm. We were visiting grand parents, i remember it vagly. We saw it on the tv. I remember i though it was awfully boring, because my parents wouldn't allow me to say anything, while they watched it on the television. I was a little boy at that time. Didn't get wtf was going on.

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  38. i came home from school to watch it on tv

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  39. i was working at home and there wasn't anything else in tv other than the memorial at ground zero. People in Denmark have deep compassion for the americans.. I also saw that movie "102 minutes that something something" and i had no idea of the size of the impact when the towers collapsed! It was crazy to see the smoke running through the streets of manhattan like that.. it was unbelievable

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  40. Great stories in here. I was at work, having lunch when the first plane hit. We were devastated ofcourse.

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  41. It was insane. I was 11 and I'm not even american...

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  42. I was entering my friend's dad store, and people were all staring at the tv watching the airplanes crashing. I was about 12yo at the time, so i wasn't really understanding what was going on, but i knew it was serious.

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  43. I remember that day clearly, even if I was just 8 years old. I was in my mom's job to help her and then, her one of her friend has come to her and told that something happens in US, So I've came back to home and saw it all, It was approx 3-4PM in Poland. R.I.P. to all of victims...

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  44. I was in math class when a jewish man made tons of insurance money off of the destruction of the third tower that was hundreds of feet away from the actual destruction site but had equal damage done to it even though all other surrounding buildings were undamage--I mean TERRORISM IS BAD! FAKE TITS ARE AWESOME!

    USA!
    USA!
    USA!

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  45. Out of most of the comments I read this is the most honest:

    "Was just done playing on my playstation. Checked some channels and then suddenly a plane crashed into the bulding was insane and unreal."

    everyone else was just lying about how sad they were and whatnot to appear concerned and whatnot.
    reality? you don't give a fuck. if you did care, you would have PROVEN it by supporting the victims' families, helped clean up, or something that actually takes EFFORT and is actually HELPFUL.

    how is this any worse than a tsunami/earthquake/hurricane? oh wait. IT'S NOT. BECAUSE THEY KILL A LOT MORE PEOPLE.

    and to those saying it made them sad... why are you discussing this? isn't sadness a BAD thing, regardless of the reason? if I was killed, I wouldn't want my survivors to be sad...

    then they are double-damaged. not only did they lose someone they care about... but now they are ALSO sad.

    fuck that. move on, be happy... you only live once people. why spend that time being sad? makes about ZERO sense, as far as I'm concerned. but we didn't think about that, did we?

    why? probably because you don't think. EVER.

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