Where were you 8 years ago when you heard the news about the terrorist attacks? Just watched a show on it and it still seems so surreal. It seems like it came straight from a movie, yet nearly 3,000 people died as a result of it.
Never forget
In my car, on my way to work...I had just crossed Bluemound road, heading south on Barker...Truly like it was yesterday. It was just being reported, so as bad as it sounded, I didn't have full appreciation of what had happened, until I called my wife who was watching TV, a few minutes later.
My wife was in New York City the night before as she was attending the US Open and pregnant with our daughter. She landed in L.A. around midnight...the weather had delayed her flight.
The next morning, about 7 hours later, she woke me up with the news she had just heard. It was unbelievable that she was right there just hours before hand. We lived at the time just north of the furthest northern runway at LAX in the village of Westchester (home of Loyola Marymount). We were used to planes landing and taking off about every 2 minutes. When they suspended all air travel it was the most bizarre thing I had gone through....total silence for the next few days. We had become so accustomed to the planes landing and taking off that we didn't notice them anymore until they actually stopped.
2 members of the Hughes family (they owned DIRECTV at the time) were on one of the flights and perished.
RIP
Camping in the Badlands in SD. Planned on being totally disconnected from the world for a week. An older guy (with an RV & TV) walked up to us and asked if we had heard the news sometime mid-morning, about 3 days into the trip. We obviously hadn't heard anything, he tells us and we can't believe it. Carried on with our trip, listening to the radio as we drove from campground to trail-head and back for the rest of the week. Didn't see videos of the attacks until about a week later, on our way home. Couldn't believe what we saw, despite the fact that we had been hearing about it for a week.
Fortunately, felt completely safe in SD. Nobody would attack the badlands.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on September 11, 2009, 11:37:33 PM
My wife was in New York City the night before as she was attending the US Open and pregnant with our daughter. She landed in L.A. around midnight...the weather had delayed her flight.
Same thing happened to a buddy and me.
We had just wrapped up a weekend at a wedding and were heading home the night of 9/10.
It must've been 7ish. We were stranded on the tarmac behind other planes because a thunderstorm was passing through NYC at the time. The pilot said he was given the choice to stay here, wait it out and possibly leave...or return to the terminal and we may not be able to leave until the next day.
Luckily, he waited it out and we departed an hour or so later. We didn't get into San Jose until well past midnight.
The next morning, I decided to get a head start and leave early (~ 5:45 am) for my classroom (because I had a sub take my class while I was away). On my way, I was listening to the news about a plane hitting one of the twin towers. I thought it was a Cessna and found it a not-so-hard structure to avoid.
But on my way to my class, I heard more details and rushed to turn on the tv. Instead of setting up for my class, I was engrossed in the developments as they were "en vivo." My class and I watched for the first 30 minutes of the school day and discussed what was going on.
My students were additionally amazed from the postcards - which I sent from NY - they later received that week which featured the twin towers.
Like Chico...it was surreal to not see planes overhead for many days. That, I believe, helped add to the gravity of the situation.
Groggy, waking up in my condo on Prospect and Brady getting ready for work. Had gone to a show in Evanston, IL to see my guy JUICE perform the night before... after I caught wind of the first plane, I was memorized and obviously after the second glued... to the TV. Our 'company' shut down shortly thereafter, instructing everyone to go home and be with their families.
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on September 12, 2009, 12:26:47 AM
Same thing happened to a buddy and me.
We had just wrapped up a weekend at a wedding and were heading home the night of 9/10.
It must've been 7ish. We were stranded on the tarmac behind other planes because a thunderstorm was passing through NYC at the time. The pilot said he was given the choice to stay here, wait it out and possibly leave...or return to the terminal and we may not be able to leave until the next day.
Luckily, he waited it out and we departed an hour or so later. We didn't get into San Jose until well past midnight.
The next morning, I decided to get a head start and leave early (~ 5:45 am) for my classroom (because I had a sub take my class while I was away). On my way, I was listening to the news about a plane hitting one of the twin towers. I thought it was a Cessna and found it a not-so-hard structure to avoid.
But on my way to my class, I heard more details and rushed to turn on the tv. Instead of setting up for my class, I was engrossed in the developments as they were "en vivo." My class and I watched for the first 30 minutes of the school day and discussed what was going on.
My students were additionally amazed from the postcards - which I sent from NY - they later received that week which featured the twin towers.
Like Chico...it was surreal to not see planes overhead for many days. That, I believe, helped add to the gravity of the situation.
Back then we didn't have a digital camera, I remember developing some of the pictures from my wife's camera about 2 weeks after 9-11....one of them with her and the towers in the background. Absolutely surreal.
I've been watching the coverage tonight on the news with my 10 year old son. I still can't believe it 8 years later. Totally surreal.
I was in between classes Junior year in high school going to my U.S. History class--I remember it like yesterday--and my buddy Nick comes up to me shaking his head, "crashed into the WTC". My first reaction was what the hell? How did they miss the runway that much, then I went into my class and watched what had happened on the t.v. in the room.
We watched the t.v. as the second plane hit. I stayed in the same classroom after the bell. The tv continued to show what was going on. I remember the first tower falling and thinking this isn't real. That was when it hit me. I thought of my cousin (who I watched graduate from Georgetown two years earlier in D.C.) who was working in part of the Trade Center buildings (not of the ones that fell).
A few minutes later the second tower fell and I just sat on the teachers desk and watched. He sat at his chair. I remember my brother and my name's being called to the office. My uncle was on the phone telling us my cousin Johann was safe.
I was relieved but I remember the rest of the day I was sick.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on September 12, 2009, 01:30:47 AM
I've been watching the coverage tonight on the news with my 10 year old son. I still can't believe it 8 years later. Totally surreal.
Amen.
History channel "102 minutes".
I can't watch it when they show bodies falling. I'm a man, but I get choked up seeing that. It's as if it were this morning seeing the specific faces and the specific stories.
Golfing with three other firefighters. Just before we teed off at 9, one of them came up to the first tee and said that a plane had just hit the WTC. We assumed it was a small private plane that had made a mistake and went and played. By the time we finished, all the buildings were down. We went in to the clubhouse and had a beer (including one guy who has a beer about once a decade) and discussed what our lives were going to be like and what we were going to have to be looking for in our job. I got home and my wife was in tears, telling me that a bunch of firefighters were reportedly in the towers when they came down and asking me what would happen if it something like that happened here. I had to tell her that I would be in the building and if it collapsed then I would perish like the rest. Oddly, this did not stop her crying.
In the office at Universal Studios early and working, lived only two blocks away and didnt have any radio or TV on. When people started to arrive I heard what happened, my Son called my cell wondering where I was since I traveled the US. They basically closed the office since it was the tallest building in the area. Was a sad feeling with all the uncertainty of what was going on.
I was between first and second period my sophomore year of high school. My second period was history so when I walked into class, our teacher already had a tv on in front of the room. At this point the first tower had been hit but the second hadn't yet. She sat down at her desk in the back of the classroom and our class that day consisted of watching the events unfold in front of us. I was in complete shock the entire time we were watching and couldn't comprehend how this could have happened.
Quote from: pillardean on September 12, 2009, 05:31:20 AM
Amen.
History channel "102 minutes".
I can't watch it when they show bodies falling. I'm a man, but I get choked up seeing that. It's as if it were this morning seeing the specific faces and the specific stories.
The thought of having to make that choice, that things were that bad, is just too much for me as well.
Was at my desk when the first plane hit. Being a supervisor with a federal law enforcement agency outside of Washington, DC, we gathered around the squad room watching the news and saw plane #2 hit the second tower. Realized at that point it was not an accident and then reports started coming in that the State Department got hit (was in fact the Pentagon) and another plane was headed for DC. Additional information came through advising aircraft had indeed been hijacked and I recall the reports stated there were two still in the air. The White House and Capital started evacuation procedures and then got word a plane went down by Pittsburgh. There was not a second plane in the air. Later that day, we determined four of the subjects had stayed at a mosque in our territory in Laurel, Maryland, leaving all their belonging in suitcases. For the next six weeks, it was 18 hour days, seven days a week tracking down leads.
Being originally from New York, my brother had worked at a stock firm named Cantor Fitzgerald. He had left Cantor a month prior to the attacks to take a position at another Wall Street firm. Cantor was located on the top four or five floors of one of the towers, above where the plane hit hit. Many of those employees are the ones who jumped off to escape the intense heat of the fire. My brother had just gotten married a year earlier and lost his best man and all his wedding party buddies. Seven in all and he has not been the same since. But at least he is alive. Not known to many is the fact 2,900 people lost their lives on that day, 685 of them were from Cantor Fitzgerald.
First off, thanks for sharing everyone. Truly a day that I will never forget.
I was a senior at MU, at Campus Town West 409, I remember getting a call from a friend about the first plane. I proceeded to to wake up all my other roomies and we were glued to the TV for hours. Just surreal.
I also remember being at the MU memorial held at Gesu, and seeing my dad cry for the first time in front of me.
I was a senior at MU when it happened...I was in my ROTC class when we were interrupted by one of the ladies up front. Rest of the day's classes were cancelled and I too spent the rest of the day in Campus town glued to the TV. The next dose of reality was learning that we had invaded Afghanistan about 1 month later...that meant my "new job" was about to be started in the Middle East.
Quote from: muarmy81 on September 12, 2009, 04:50:56 PM
I was a senior at MU when it happened...I was in my ROTC class when we were interrupted by one of the ladies up front. Rest of the day's classes were cancelled and I too spent the rest of the day in Campus town glued to the TV. The next dose of reality was learning that we had invaded Afghanistan about 1 month later...that meant my "new job" was about to be started in the Middle East.
Did you end up serving in Afghanistan?
I was just arriving at work. As I walked to my office, my secretary told me that a plane just hit the WTC. It was early enough that I actually got on cnn.com and saw the first report (cnn was swamped after that and couldn't get any information).
One odd thing about my experience that morning was that I got online and contacted my mom in Phoenix. She was just very chatty and I asked her, "you don't have the television turned on, do you." She said no and asked what was up. I told her to go turn the tv on. That's how she found out.
God bless everyone who perished that day. God bless our soldiers. God bless the USA.
I was a junior at MU and I was the first one waking in our Campus Town West apartment to get ready for class. I was hopping out of the shower and the phone was ringing. It was my dad calling... and I'll never forget his voice that day. He was relieved to the point of tears that I was at MU (I had a bad habit of leaving the state without telling my parents) and he told me to turn on my TV. The 2nd plane had just hit... so... not understanding the gravity of the situation I finished getting ready for class and headed off to my Digital Electronics class at Olin.
When I got to Olin my whole class was there (Computer/Electrical Engineering wasn't a huge program, so I'd spent the past 3 years with all these people) and everyone was in a daze. Nobody really talked a whole bunch besides the, "Dude, did you see the news this morning." and, "Yeah, that was crazy." Thankfully we had a professor that had a bit more perspective on the situation. He came into the classroom a bit late and told us to go home and call our families to let them know we're okay and to stay out of downtown for the day. (While it's funny looking back, all that we heard that day is that we needed to stay away from the US Bank tower because it's a terrorist target. Definitely scary at the time).
I headed back to Campus Town and went to a buddy's place. We made the mistake of watching Telemundo for a bit... they were showing, live, the people jumping out of the building and cratering on the sidewalks. That still haunts me to this day, but I don't regret seeing it. That really drove home how serious this situation was and how many people were stuck in those towers... and then the towers fell.
The buddy I was drinking with worked at Murphy's at the time, so we went over there and opened it up and spent the rest of the day somewhere social and familiar. I didn't know what else to do besides go and drink a bunch of beers and watch the news and hash out what just happened with the rest of the people wandering into the bar. I figure it was cheaper than therapy, and probably more effective too.
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on September 12, 2009, 11:02:45 PM
Did you end up serving in Afghanistan?
No,
2- tours in Iraq (03-04 then again from 05-06)
I was a freshman in High School. I was in first hour Communications. My teacher was a big joker and so towards the end of class he turned on the radio (which I thought he just put in a cassette) and the way they were talking it sounded like an old tape of some fictional event. I did not really think he was telling the truth nor did the rest of the class. I went to my next class Biology and my teacher had the news on and that is when I believed my teacher. I saw the second plane hit and then watched the buildings collapse and the fear in people's eyes. Being a freshman in High School I was old enough to understand but young enough to be scared and confused for what was going to happen next.
The year before I went on a band trip with my sister and family. We tagged along with the band and the last meal I had before we left New York was on the top of the one of the World Trade Center buildings. I will never forget what I saw when I was up at the top of the building. It was such an amazing sight and is something I will cherish. Most people haven't and will never experience what it feels like to be at the top of one of those buildings.
I hope all that perished will rest in peace. God Bless America.
Quote from: sellit07 on September 14, 2009, 03:10:28 PM
Being a freshman in High School I was old enough to understand but young enough to be scared and confused for what was going to happen next.
Even as a 32 year old husband and father of three, I felt pretty much the same way.
I can remember exactly where I was, and exactly where I was standing at 8:50am when I heard. I was right between the science building and the nursing building. I had just walked out of my Anatomy and Physiology lecture in the nursing building. One of my classmates came running up to me and my friends and said, "We are under attack". Everyone was just sort of surprised and we weren't exactly sure what was going on. We then walked from our lecture to my A&P lab that followed. If you have been in the room in the Health Science building lab you know there are TV's everywhere hanging from the ceiling... but oddly, none of them were on. Our professor, (Dr. Cullinan) was nowhere to be found, and it was already 10 minutes past 9. Eventually, he burst into the lab and told us that both of WTC buildings had been hit by airplanes and that one had collapsed. The room went silent, and he told us that lab would be cancelled for the day, and that we should go home.
I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV, shocked like everyone else.
I was a sophomore in high-school just finishing up second hour English when our prinicipal came on the PA and told us what had happened. At that point the towers had fallen and there were unconfirmed reports of what exactly happened in DC.
While some teachers did have tv's on in their classrooms none of my teachers did so I didn't get a glimpse of what had happened until I got home that night. I don't think I fully realized the magnatude until I saw the pictures and video that night.
I still remember when Congress sang God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol.
I was at Home watching Tv. Just had back Surgery and i couldn't do anything for a whole year.
In Campus Town West (402 I think) sleeping through my finance class. Roommate yelled into my room that a plane hit a building or something in NYC. Either not realizing what he said, or believing him, went back to sleep. Woke up just in time to see the second plane and proceeded to sit on the couch watching the news for what seemed like 4 days.
McCormick 11th floor shower, guy next door walked in and said he thought he heard a small plane flew into the world trade center but couldn't be sure it wasn't part of his dream. Finished up the shower got dressed and was glued to the TV the rest of the day.
I was going to work on an absolutely beautiful September day. I watched all day but continued to work in a bit of a haze.
I remember that night trying to put my 10 year old son to bed but he was crying because he thought someone was going to get him. That's what made me most angry - those bastards took away his security. After I talked to him for awhile, I went upstairs and started to cry.
That night, I woke up and heard a fighter jet in the sky and it made me feel better...as did the soldiers with machine guns at O'Hare when I flew 10 days later.
Sultan that message really touched me. I worked with kids for 5 years, starting as a junior in HS, and if I would have worked with them during that time period it would have killed me and made me the most angry to see kids feel scared and confused for their security. I don't want to make it about the war because that it is a totally different topic but one of the main reasons we needed to go was to protect the kids/future of our nation.
It was my day to sleep in, since I didn't have class until 10:30. I was in McCormick on the 12th floor and our phone rang. Since I was on the bottom bunk I had to answer it, and it was my roommate's mother. I remember being slightly annoyed...woke her up and gave her the phone and tried to go back to sleep. Next thing I know she's turning on the tv (one of those tiny ones) and I was even more annoyed until I heard "plane crashed into WTC." I sat up in bed and was glued to the tv the rest of the day.
I still have pictures from the gathering MU had in the mall between the Union and McCormick (unfortunately not digital versions. Never seen so many people cram into that space since then.
I've heard many people talk about where they were when they heard that someone shot Kennedy... it's amazing that everyone that experienced that can tell you every detail of what they were doing before and after they heard the news. I was always blown away how people could recount so clearly what had happened 40 years ago.
The 9/11 attack was something that helped me understand how this was possible. I'm sure most would agree that while this occurred eight years ago, it seems like "just yesterday" and we know what we were doing before and after hearing the news.
I was in a meeting in our building a block north of the Sears Tower when my managing director came into the conference room and told us that a prop plane had hit the WTC. We turned on Good Morning America just in time to see the second plane hit. As you can imagine, most office buildings started clearing out soon after the news that there were many other planes that were unaccounted for. I, on the other hand, was glued to the TV until 2:00. When I was walking back to my train, the streets in Chicago's Loop were eerily quiet and resembled a ghost town.
To me 9-11 is a day for me to reflect on how lucky I am to have great family and friends in the greatest nation on this earth and to never take a day for granted.
Quote from: jutaw22mu on September 16, 2009, 10:11:16 AM
I still have pictures from the gathering MU had in the mall between the Union and McCormick (unfortunately not digital versions. Never seen so many people cram into that space since then.
I too recall how crystal clear the day here in Milwaukee was. I work on the 23rd floor of the US Bank Building, and was a little later into work than usual that morning. We had our conference room full of my partners meeting on something when the news started to spread. The Bank didn't close the office tower, but most folks left to go home--it was simply too hard to concentrate on work anyway.
I had two kids in college at the time, all in different states, and felt an overwhelming need to make sure they both were OK. Cell phones traffic was tremendous that late morning.
Gesu had a special church service, I want to say at 5:00 p.m., that I tried to attend. By the time I arrived, you could not even get inside the side entrances. I've never seen that many bodies in that building.
Sophmore year of high school in Spanish class. Someone came past the door adn said there was an attack on the World Trade Center. We turned on the TV and no one said a word for the rest of class. When the bell rang to change classes... noone knew if we should go to our next class or stay where we were.
I too remember what a beautiful day in Milwaukee it was. I was at the Clark gas station on prospect when someone came in and said that a plane hit the WTC. In my mind, I couldn't even picture what that would even look like. I was working for Frito Lay at the time, and was training a new hire. Our next stop was Sendiks on Downer, where they had a TV on and we watched it all happen. I almost punched the pie in the sky, middle aged "intellectual" that was just hanging out in Sendiks for no good reason when he made the statement that "none of this would have happened if Al Gore was president." Spent the rest of the day making deliveries to a lot of Middle Eastern owned small groceries and gas stations. Those guys were really nervous, people were standing outside some stores blocking the doors, etc.
Woke up for my Advanced Financial Principles class during my 2nd Senior year at my apartment at the Reeves to my friend calling saying we we're under attack. Went and turned in my assignment told Pruceck (I think that was his name) that I wasn't sticking around. Met some buddy's at Heg's and watched tv all day. We had no idea what to do - but Heg's seemed right. Went to go watch W talk at Caffery's later in the day.
Surreal.
I remember waking up and my roommate was watching the news (different from sportscenter) After the first plane had crashed, everybody was thinking is was an accident. Nobody knew the size of the plane yet, or what had happened.
Utter confusion on the news as the tower sat there an smoked. We had more of a WOW, that's weird feeling, (rather than WOW, that's scary)
Then I watched live as the second plane hit. It became apparent that it wasn't an freak accident anymore (although people were still wondering if there was something wrong with radar or maybe the computers on the planes were freaking out).
Nobody could really believe that it had been premeditated (just too weird to imagine) until there were rumors about a plane that hit the Pentegon, and then it obviously all part of a big plan and hysteria started to set in.
The next step (probably that afternoon?) was speculating out who did it. I remember hoping it wasn't a Tim McVeigh type of thing. I feared that if a US citizen had been behind all of this that it would rip the country into pieces.
The rest of the day/week I was pretty numb. We watched a lot of TV, but after couple of days, it just became noise. We really didn't know what it all meant.
Also, I will always remember the world series that year. I hate the yankees, but I was so happy for all of the New Yorkers when they won those games in NYC.
I was just getting out of my first period English class my freshman year of high school when I overheard a friend of mine in the hallway talking about a plane crash. I went to my religion class where my teacher broke the news. For whatever reason, we didn't watch the footage on television, but she let us listen to the radio reports. Our assignment for the period was to write letters to the families of the victims, which was hard to do not knowing exactly what was unfolding and having very little time to process it all.
After second period, we were all escorted to the auditorium, where another of my teachers, a Navy captain, reassured us that we were safe and nobody would want to attack a little nothing town in Georgia. Then he told us that we'd be dismissing school early so we could be with our loved ones. I remember many of my friends being distraught because a lot of them had fathers who were pilots, and they weren't sure if/where they were flying that day. My mother wasn't able to pick me up from school until the normal time, so I waited around with a couple of other kids for a few hours. It was very quiet; nobody really knew what to say or if it was even okay to talk about anything else.
When my mother finally picked me up, she had my two younger siblings with her. Apparently there were wild rumors spreading around at their school (Kindergarten-8th grade). My sister asked, "Mom, is it true that New York just declared war on Mexico?" It was apparent that the administration had no idea how to explain what had happened to the younger kids. We went to my grandmother's house and were glued to the television for the rest of the day. And pretty much every day after that for at least the next week. It makes me wonder how many times we all watched the crashes and the collapses over that time period.
For those of you who were at Marquette then, what did the school do on that day? I was still in high-school at the time.
As I recall, classes were cancelled after 11 or noon-ish (just for that day), and as someone mentioned above there were some special services later on. I don't remember much in terms of emergency warnings of any sort, but I might've been out of the loop.
While MU held a candlelight vigil on the 14th to mourn at Westown Mall (http://www.marquette.edu/news/prayer.html), there was a pretty big deal on the afternoon of 9/11/2001 when MU refused to let MU's college republicans have a moment of silence around the American flag. A number of reasons were given for it, but I recall the university trying to keep that on the DL after the whole country turned uber-patriotic. Definitely a messed up and tense week for everyone.
From John McAdams, the academic advisor for the college repubs at the time (stolen from a thread on freep (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/522316/posts)).
QuoteI'm the faculty advisor of the Marquette College Republicans. The proposed memorial was indeed denied. At least a large *part* of the denial (but not the entire story) was the unhappiness of staffers in the Student Affairs office with the display of the American flag. For example: 1.) Lonnie Leitner, President of the College Rebublicans was told that "this is not a day for nationalism." 2.) A staffer reportedly stated that the display of the flag would be "offensive" to foreign students. I say "reportedly," but the Student Affairs staff themselves told this to me. 3.) A staffer for Student Affairs advised Marquette Student Government officials not to display the flag in the Student Government offices. The other part of the story is the fact that Marquette administrators had held a meeting and had an elaborate plan as to what "Marquette's response" should be. When the College Republicans came in with a proposal that wasn't included in their plan, they reacted negatively. In sum: partly ideological bias, and partly bureaucracy. John McAdams
I was trying to get my almost 2 yr old son ready so I could take him to daycare before I went to work. He was being awful that morning and when I turned on TV and saw a fire, I thought that might distract him so I could get ready. I had it on for a few minutes and then looked to see the 2nd plane hit the WTC. Matt Lauer immediately recognized it as terrorism, which left me dumbfounded. The rest of the day was filled with horror, fear and tremendous sadness at what had occurred. It was an unbelievable day.
Not to be political here, but McAdams is being a little bit of a prick here.
A classmate of mine, a Republican, who worked in the International Education office at MU at the time told me that a number of student groups, not only the College Republicans, wanted to have some sort of Memorial. What the administration didn't want is a bunch of groups doing their own thing because it might cause tension. For instance, the Islamic group wanted to do something too...as did the Students for Peace...or whatever it was called.
The administration then decided that they were going to sponsor a memorial event...and not have a bunch of separate ones. Remember, this was a confusing time - they had no idea what the reaction would be if everyone was on their own.
I was a freshman the year after, and I remember the 1 year anniversary memorial MU did.
It was touching, its amazing how every year makes 9/11 more and more distant in our hearts...discussions like this are good to help us remember.
Quote from: The Sultan of South Wayne on September 16, 2009, 05:38:24 PM
Not to be political here, but McAdams is being a little bit of a prick here.
A classmate of mine, a Republican, who worked in the International Education office at MU at the time told me that a number of student groups, not only the College Republicans, wanted to have some sort of Memorial. What the administration didn't want is a bunch of groups doing their own thing because it might cause tension. For instance, the Islamic group wanted to do something too...as did the Students for Peace...or whatever it was called.
The administration then decided that they were going to sponsor a memorial event...and not have a bunch of separate ones. Remember, this was a confusing time - they had no idea what the reaction would be if everyone was on their own.
That's a great point.
I'm sure MU didn't like playing the "bad guy", but it was really needed to get everything organized.
Sometimes grassroots/spontaneous stuff is great, but it is also risky because having 4-5 different (and diverse) groups trying to "honor America" in their own way might not have gone so well. Tensions were running high, especially for people with family members in NYC, in the military, or in the middle east.
MU had to play the bad guy to minimize the risk.
Quote from: 4everwarriors' hedge trimmers on September 16, 2009, 12:19:08 PM
people were standing outside some stores blocking the doors, etc.
Man what the hell is wrong with people... that was the one thing I hated about 9/11, is that for a short period of time it really seemed to bring out some bigotry in a lot of Americans. If you were from the middle east, or even had brown skin, you were associated with terrorism or a Bin Laden sympathizer. That's so messed up.
As for what I was doing, I was eating some cereal at the living room table, watching Good Morning America getting ready for school (I was in 8th Grade). My dad gave me a call, but had no idea what had happened, he was just checking in. When I told him, he thought it was a joke. Got to school just as the second plane hit. Watched the towers fall and then our teacher shut off the TV for the day, and we spent hours talking about the reasons for the attack and the political situation behind it. Now that I think about it, it was that day that made me start to pay attention to the news on a regular basis. Made me realize how important it was to do so.
Quote from: chuncken on September 18, 2009, 02:01:58 AM
Man what the hell is wrong with people... that was the one thing I hated about 9/11, is that for a short period of time it really seemed to bring out some bigotry in a lot of Americans. If you were from the middle east, or even had brown skin, you were associated with terrorism or a Bin Laden sympathizer. That's so messed up.
Bigotry and racism exist all sides, left and right, blacks and whites, Asians and Germans, Catholics and Protestants, etc.
I worked with several Muslims at the time and they were on edge as you can imagine. They totally understood how some people felt but they were caught in a wave of anger. Out here in L.A. we have ethnic violence all the time. If you're white or Hispanic and walk into the wrong neighborhood, pray. If you're African American and walk into the wrong Hispanic neighborhood, pray. It's everywhere, no group is immune to it, though I do see a lot of white guilt by some people which I never understood. It exists to some extent in all ethnic groups, all peoples (that doesn't mean all people are racist....nor am I saying that) so some of the holier than thou comments by some groups pinning these claims on others is hypocritical at best.