9/11, 20 years later

[tower912]

Break out Springsteen's 'The Rising'.     Where were you?    Did you lose anyone close to you?    Did it change you?

[Galway Eagle]

Watched the second plane hit live on good morning America. I have three uncles that went out to help with the cleanup, one was the first fire engine to leave to help. they've all since had lung issues. Nobody personally lost in the towers.

It did change me. It made me realize that America wasn't loved across the world (I was 11) and realized wars don't get fought only on battle fields.

[Uncle Rico]

Break out Springsteen's 'The Rising'.     Where were you?    Did you lose anyone close to you?    Did it change you?

I was at home getting ready for work.  Tuesday was a later start back then.  Usually had the tv on as background noise but not that day for some reason.  Left at about quarter to nine and turned on the radio and that’s how I found out.   

[GB Warrior]

I think it'll hit differently this year than others, with the loss from the pandemic these past 18 months, with the war in Afghanistan done. I think there's just a lot of slow, collective trauma we've had to endure as individuals and a country. I was in 8th grade and really have not known an adolescence or adulthood without it.

I'll admit that I'd grown a bit numb to it. Never forgetting where I was or what I was doing, but not sitting in the feeling of it.

I listened to the NPR segment Sacred Ground about Flight 93 over the weekend, and that hit me harder than any of these over the last several years.

[wadesworld]

I was in my home room in 7th grade and our computer teacher came into our classroom and whispered something to our home room teacher.  She then turned on the TV and we saw the second plane hit the Tower.  From there, some classrooms we went to had the TV on and others did not.  They originally announced indoor recess for that day even though it was beautiful outside, saying there was construction on the playground, but then changed that decision.  I was hooked to the TV when I got home from school.  It is the first time in my life that I realized there was pure evil out there in the world.

Did not know anyone.

Have been to the Memorial and Museum in NY twice now.  So well done.

[Goose]

It changed my life big time. Sept 2001 was the worst month of my life and the events of 9/11 forever changed my thinking and outlook on life.

[Jockey]

I think it'll hit differently this year than others, with the loss from the pandemic these past 18 months, with the war in Afghanistan done. I think there's just a lot of slow, collective trauma we've had to endure as individuals and a country. I was in 8th grade and really have not known an adolescence or adulthood without it.

I'll admit that I'd grown a bit numb to it. Never forgetting where I was or what I was doing, but not sitting in the feeling of it.

I listened to the NPR segment Sacred Ground about Flight 93 over the weekend, and that hit me harder than any of these over the last several years.

Visited the crash site of PanAm 93 a couple years ago. It was as sobering as the first time I visited the Vietnam Memorial in DC.

I knew guys whose names were on the wall. Didn't know anyone from 9/11 although a co=workers daughter was presumed dead - body never recovered.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

It makes me sad and mad on many different levels, and honestly I am looking forward to this weekend being over because I don't like feeling sad and mad.

[jesmu84]

As another said, it demonstrated to me (junior in high school) that the US wasn't loved across the globe.

Then went on to demonstrate how screwed up everything was with our government, politics and military...Iraq, war on terror, patriot act, homeland security, tsa, Afghanistan,
hate for others, BS patriotism, torture, etc etc.

Really led me down a path of pessimism and fatalism that I still don't think I've overcome.

[MU82]

I was in my home office working that morning, and I saw the bulletin come over the AP wire. Like most everybody, I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first. Not until the second plane hit did I really know what was going on. I called my wife downstairs and we cried as we embraced. It was a horrible feeling of sadness, helplessness and anger.

Beyond the tragedy of lives lost and fellow Americans injured, and beyond the feelings of vulnerability and anger, 9/11 changed American society -- and certainly not for the better.

It led us to be ever more suspicious of "others"; it led to multiple wars on false pretenses at a cost of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars; it led to the executive branch getting far too much power in the guise of defending our nation; it led to our political leaders making far too many decisions in the name of "security" that have had little to do with it; it has led to fake "security" measures that have endured for 20 years, such as not being able to bring bottled water past airport check-points; it has distracted America from the much bigger threat of domestic terrorism, which has grown exponentially the last several years.

At first, it looked like the tragedy might bring us together, and maybe it did for a few weeks or months. Unfortunately, if there ever was a chance for enduring togetherness, the last few years -- capped by 1/6/21 and its aftermath -- might have ended it.

1/6/21 was the saddest day in America since 9/11/01 ... and an argument could be made that 1/6/21 was sadder, because it was Americans attacking other Americans, as well as the very soul of our democratic republic.

[Jockey]

As another said, it demonstrated to me (junior in high school) that the US wasn't loved across the globe.

Then went on to demonstrate how screwed up everything was with our government, politics and military...Iraq, war on terror, patriot act, homeland security, tsa, Afghanistan,
hate for others, BS patriotism, torture, etc etc.

Really led me down a path of pessimism and fatalism that I still don't think I've overcome.

Basically, the same as all of my feelings about Vietnam, which changed and shaped my feelings on life much as 9/11 did for you.

[Jockey]

1/6/21 was the saddest day in America since 9/11/01 ... and an argument could be made that 1/6/21 was sadder, because it was Americans attacking other Americans, as well as the very soul of our democratic republic.

I differ in that 1/6/21 was the absolute angriest day of my life. I was literally yelling at the TV to shoot the terrorists in real time.

[JWags85]

I was a sophomore in HS.  I remember hearing in the halls that someone flew a plane into a building in NY and being like "wow, thats dumb".  Then as second period turned into us glued to the TV, it became surreal.  This was pre-Twitter, pre endless social media, so its not like everyone was plugged in.  I remember people clamoring for more action, which was gross, but also kind of illuminates how out of body it was.  It felt like a movie.

Tangentially related, our business was still in early stages at the time and we were about 9 months away from being super tied to NYC.  We rented a business apartment there for the first time in early 2002.  And it had a direct south facing view.  The towers would have been dead center.  It had stopped but a few months earlier we would have seen the eerie smoke rising.

I knew nobody personally at the time, but through my work and network, I know multiple people who lost loved ones.  Crazy enough, I have an associate who left NYC shortly after 9/11.  Lost a cousin and some friends and just needed a fresh start.  He started a business in South Florida after moving to Miami.  He's been fairly successful, but one of his best saleswomen actually passed away in the apartment collapse in Miami a few months ago.  Just unreal.

EDIT: Can we please not turn this into yet another political clusterf***

[DegenerateDish]

I was 22 at the time and getting ready for work when I was making breakfast and the tv was on, and turned around and saw the second plane hit. I luckily worked only 5 minutes from home, and remember telling someone to turn on a radio so we could hear what was going on. Weird to think how different a world it was back then (no social media, flip phones).

If you live in the west burbs of Chicago, my work was about 15 miles due west of O'Hare, and the flight path to land from the west, or take off to go west, was over my work. I'll never forget at around 10am or so (maybe it was earlier), planes literally doing u turns in the air over my work to go back and land. For everything that was happening on tv, it was surreal to see that, and to wonder if any of those planes going to/from ORD was in danger.

[MUfan12]

I was a sophomore in HS.  I remember hearing in the halls that someone flew a plane into a building in NY and being like "wow, thats dumb".  Then as second period turned into us glued to the TV, it became surreal.  This was pre-Twitter, pre endless social media, so its not like everyone was plugged in. 

Was a junior, and had a pretty similar experience. I do remember one teacher deciding to turn the TV off after footage of the jumpers was aired.

To this day I struggle with those images, and how unimaginably awful it had to be to make that choice.

[jsglow]

I was in my office initially believing that the first plane was some kind of small private aircraft.  'That really sucks', I thought.  When I learned shortly thereafter that it had been a commercial jet I immediately went down to the lunch commissary in our office building to watch still hoping it was some kind of terrible, terrible accident.  I saw the second plane hit and instantly knew we were at war.

I don't remember exactly when I left the office that day but 3p is a good guess.  It was positively surreal to see multiple fighter jets overhead in Chicago and nothing else.  I remember getting home and comforting my then 9 and 7 year old kids.  They were, not surprisingly, confused and frightened.

There's evil in the world.  That's always been true.  Good has to work hard to combat it. We've made numerous mistakes since then.  What we can all hope for is that men and women of good conscience make the best decisions possible given the facts at hand.  Sadly, I've lost a lot of faith in that over 20 years.

[MU82]

I was in my office initially believing that the first plane was some kind of small private aircraft.  'That really sucks', I thought.  When I learned shortly thereafter that it had been a commercial jet I immediately went down to the lunch commissary in our office building to watch still hoping it was some kind of terrible, terrible accident.  I saw the second plane hit and instantly knew we were at war.

I don't remember exactly when I left the office that day but 3p is a good guess.  It was positively surreal to see multiple fighter jets overhead in Chicago and nothing else.  I remember getting home and comforting my then 9 and 7 year old kids.  They were, not surprisingly, confused and frightened.

There's evil in the world.  That's always been true.  Good has to work hard to combat it. We've made numerous mistakes since then.  What we can all hope for is that men and women of good conscience make the best decisions possible given the facts at hand.  Sadly, I've lost a lot of faith in that over 20 years.

Me too, glow. And it is very sad.

[Macallan 18]

I was a junior at Marquette and getting ready before my 9 am class, turned on the TV to see the second plane hit and being in total shock.

I worked on the Marquette Tribune that year and recall the chaos of the newsroom as the staff stayed up late into the night to get a special edition ready for the next day. Our editor in chief worked part time at the AP and was able to get permission for the Tribune to use one of the AP photos of the towers on fire for the cover.

During Spring Break that year I was in NYC and recall walking around Battery Park and coming across a wall of photos of missing individuals. It was a surreal and deeply moving experience.

[Billy Hoyle]

I was having breakfast and watching Today when the reports were that a private plane had hit the WTC. I left for work around 8am and made the walk 1.25 mile walk to the Capitol building. Upon walking in I said to my co-worker "did you see a private plane hit the WTC" and then I saw his face and it was white. He said "it was a jet, and another one just hit." We were one of the few offices that had a TV and my buddy who had been in Naval Intelligence (he did recon for the bombing of Libya) called to ask if he could come down and watch. Upon seeing what was going on he said "it's Bin Laden."

Shortly thereafter a lobbyist who was coming to meet my boss called me from the Pittsburgh airport to say her plane was delayed and would be late. I told here "you're not flying out today." She said "no, it's just a delay, I'll be there." I asked her if she knew was as going on and had seeing anything on TV and she said all of the TV's in the airport were off. I told her "terrorists hijacked two planes and crashed them into the WTC" and she started screaming. Soon all others around her were screaming. Oops...

My then GF (now wife) called. It was her first day of work in Chicago. She said they were being evacuated and nobody knew why. They walked down the stairs of the tower. I told her what had happened. She was speechless.

I sat down on my desk and my coworker yelled "it's coming down" and I ran in to see Tower 1 collapse.  We left the office, since the Capitol was on lockdown, and went to my coworker's condo for the day, watching the coverage.

At the end of the day I left his condo and the city was dead quiet, it was eerie. I went to my gym to workout then home. I called my cousin in Westchester and he told me his best friend, Larry, who was on NYPD and I had hung out with when he visited (he got me out of MIP), had switched beats with a colleague to do a bust out in Long Island since it was closer to his home. The guy he switched with died in the towers.

[Billy Hoyle]

I differ in that 1/6/21 was the absolute angriest day of my life. I was literally yelling at the TV to shoot the terrorists in real time.

That's how I felt on 5/29/2020 watching my city get smashed (including my wife's office, a non-profit), looted, and set on fire by "peaceful protesters," and hearing so-called leaders going on TV encouraging and praising the rampant destruction.

[Babybluejeans]

So anyway, back to the topic. I was in high school in DC and we could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon, and had to lock down because Flight 93 was still in the air and en route to the Capitol (at least that was our understanding at the time).

It forever changed all of us. Of course it set off the Age of Terrorism, or Age of Anxiety. But it also changed the way we travel, the way we look at geopolitics, the way we thought we existed, as Americans, in a protected cocoon before that day. In that sense, the impossible became possible, and the culture changed irrevocably along with it. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

So anyway, back to the topic. I was in high school in DC and we could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon, and had to lock down because Flight 93 was still in the air and en route to the Capitol (at least that was our understanding at the time).

It forever changed all of us. Of course it set off the Age of Terrorism, or Age of Anxiety. But it also changed the way we travel, the way we look at geopolitics, the way we thought we existed, as Americans, in a protected cocoon before that day. In that sense, the impossible became possible, and the culture changed irrevocably along with it. 

I was reading an article just a few minutes ago, and it had this line:  "To walk through Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock today is to marvel at how low-stakes everything in the 1990s seemed."

As someone who came of age in the late stages of the Cold War, and who graduated from Marquette in 1990, the 90s were really a grand time.  The economy was rolling, we had no foreign enemies in the traditional sense, the budget was balanced and the political fights of the day seemed so tame and inconsequential in retrospect.

9/11 changed all of that. Glow said it best when he said  "What we can all hope for is that men and women of good conscience make the best decisions possible given the facts at hand.  Sadly, I've lost a lot of faith in that over 20 years."

Yeah, I gotta agree.  I think we made a lot of bad decisions since then - both during blue and red administrations.  And its going to take us a long time to recover from that.

[MU82]

That's how I felt on 5/29/2020 watching my city get smashed (including my wife's office, a non-profit), looted, and set on fire by "peaceful protesters," and hearing so-called leaders going on TV encouraging and praising the rampant destruction.

Ridiculous comparison to the mob of armed terrorists who were whipped into a frenzy by the President of the United States. On his behalf, they marched to the seat of American democracy, injured 100+ cops, chanted "Hang Mike Pence," threatened numerous other elected officials, destroyed government property, and delayed the carrying out of the peaceful transfer of power that has been a bedrock part of our republic. There is no equivalent to that, no matter how hard you try to make one.

Here's a nice contrast, though: The current president of the United States, then a candidate, repeatedly and strongly condemned looting and violence in your city and others. He challenged the then president to similarly condemn the violence that the Proud Boys and others were committing on his behalf, and the then president declined.

[Galway Eagle]

Ridiculous comparison to the mob of armed terrorists who were whipped into a frenzy by the President of the United States. On his behalf, they marched to the seat of American democracy, injured 100+ cops, chanted "Hang Mike Pence," threatened numerous other elected officials, destroyed government property, and delayed the carrying out of the peaceful transfer of power that has been a bedrock part of our republic. There is no equivalent to that, no matter how hard you try to make one.

Here's a nice contrast, though: The current president of the United States, then a candidate, repeatedly and strongly condemned looting and violence in your city and others. He challenged the then president to similarly condemn the violence that the Proud Boys and others were committing on his behalf, and the then president declined.

To be fair police were injured in the riots, and government property was destroyed. Now it wasn't an insurrection against the very tenants of democracy, it was an out of control protest that sick heads took advantage of, and comparing the two is a gross false equivalency. Though if you're going to argue it may as well give him his due for where they matchup.

[wadesworld]

1/6 has nothing to do with the 20th anniversary of 9/11, nor do riots in America.