September 11, 2007

[termyt]

Do you know where you were at this time 6 years ago?

I remember being at work. I was writting a Visual Basic script. The timestamp of the file was between the airplane strikes on the WTC towers.

Some events – almost always disasters – seem to stick in our memories and shape our lives.

My grandparents remember Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941).

Many baby boomers (like my mother) remember vividly the Day the Music Died (February 3, 1959) when the plane carrying Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bobber crashed killing all on board. Their parents don’t remember this one, though.

Boomers also remember (and their parents as well) what they were doing when they found out JFK had been assassinated. (Very few remember that CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley also died on the same day – November 22, 1963).

My mother (as well as anyone over 40, I’m sure) also vividly remembers when Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981.

I remember exactly what I was doing when I saw the Challenger space shuttle disintegrate during take off on January 28, 1986. (But, I don’t remember Columbia – do you? Seems like the second time something happens, it is not as shocking, not as memorable.)

And then there is September 11, 2001. What were you doing when you found out?

[creed4]

I was subbing a third grade class, when one of the teacher came and said turn on the radio. I did and when I heard the plane crashed into the first tower I quickly turned it off. Third graders didn't need to hear that, so I remained Ignorant of the fullness of the evens until I got home. Man that was a day

I remember the Challenger as well, hard to forget when It happens on your birthday

[EricTheFred]

I was on my way to work, listening to the morning guys on the local sports talk radio as they watched the TV feed. They reported the second plane hitting the tower as it happened, and one of them was the first person I heard mention the possibility of terrorism. I saw the towers come down on Fox in the cafeteria at work.

First significant event I truly noticed growing up was MLK Jr.'s assassination, which we heard about in school. I was already aware of the Vietnam war, but that wasn't a singular event.

A random sampling of other things that stand out in my mind. Eisenhower's funeral (don't know why. It just seemed terribly sad to me.) Watched it in my parents living room. I only vaguely recall other presidential funerals.

The Apollo 11 landing. We got to stay up to see them take the first moon walk.

The Apollo 13 return. I was in the classroom as we watched it on TV.

Nixon's resignation speech. Watched it at a friend's house.

John Lennon's assassination. I was at my job as a security guard.

The first lift-off of Columbia. Watched it at home.

The Challenger explosion. I was at work, heard about it on the radio.

The assassination attempt on Reagan. I had just arrived home from work.

The Columbia disaster. The wife and I were sleeping in late when my brother called to ask if we had seen it from where we were (it went across Texas and came close to Dallas at one point. A local fire that happened at the same time was being reported for a while as possibly started by falling debris.)

[Okami]

That day...September Eleventh...
I was in the Fifth Grade, next to my best friend (and still current holder of my best friendmanship, "Kit") talking to her those few early hours. I remember it was a normal day, but our teacher, Mr. Hoye, had been talking to some of the students about some plane crash; I just figured they were talking about history from years past, ya know? I remember the radio being on, but I wasn't paying attention to it, distracted by friends and work...
And I also remember many parents taking kids out of class,at the time I didn't understand, but I do now...I think a lot of people were fearing an attack on the school. HULLO, WE'RE A SMALL TOWN IN MICHIGAN. No one is going to fly a plane into some unknown elementary school, honestly.
I was so clueless to it all, and it wasn't until the schoolday was over and I got home that I realised what was happening. Mom was in tears. I never shed any...I didn't understand what the fuss was about. It wasn't until a year or two later that what had happened that day finally sunk in, and I remember crying about the issue for the first time. It's still hard to believe.

[Alexander]

I still regret how I treated the situation on the first anniversary.

I was 11 when it happened, just a few weeks after my birthday. I woke up, ate breakfast, turned on the television to watch cartoons on IPTV. Turned it off, went to my computer and started school for the day. My mom woke up and did her normal things when the phone rang. It was my grandmother telling my mom about something, I had no idea what it was so I felt concerned. I then heard there had been a plane crash in the Twin Towers and we rushed to the television to see.

I don't think I'll ever take any disaster with immense fear or a feeling of sadness at first. But with just a blank stare of curiosity. My mind at the time though was flooded with one question: "Why didn't they hit the Statue of Liberty? It was more magnificent then two box buildings". I was also sad because I had wanted to see those two buildings up close and never would be able to.

It took me a long time to understand just how devastating it was. Because the day after, and over a year, I treated it as a small situation. One that people really needed to forget and just continue living. I didn't realize just how immense the disaster had been.

[ADXC]

I was in the fifth grade as Okami was, and we were doing something I can't remember what. But then we heard on the intercom at like 9:15 or 9:30(Our school is a little slow when announcing stuff like this. And I was shocked, I didn't quite realize how horrible it was until I saw on the news. But I think we took a moment of silence for it. This was a trully horrific day, but I believe God had a purpose for it.

I think God was trying to wake us up that we aren't an invincible country that we can be broght to our knee in just a matter of minutes. We must never forget our place in God's world, because God deems pride to be the worst sin or one of the worst sins. Why? Because it leads to all other type of sins. And we need to avoid pride, because thats what got Satan(Lucifer at the time) cast out of heaven.

[Danderson]

My family and I were at a campground, and we noticed it in the newspaper and my parents listened to the stories on the radio all day long...I was 11 at the time, and really did not understand the whole situation, and really was not very serious then (if I was, I wouldn't have joked about another attack aloud when I spotted an airplane in the sky that day....Thankfully, I was shortly thereafter reprimanded)...