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9/11 - Where were you 20 years ago?

dadika13

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Oct 20, 2007
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Where were you when you heard about our country being under attack?

I was in my first or second week of freshman year of college. We were in the dining hall eating breakfast before our 9:30am class. We noticed that the dining hall was playing the radio on the speakers, something they hadn’t done in the previous days there. We thought it was like Howard Stern or something, we couldn’t make out what they were saying since it was loud in there.

Walked to our 9:30am class and our professor told us to go back to our dorms. Walked back to the dorm and turned on the TV. My dad was working in the city at the time so called my mom to make sure he was ok. He was stuck in traffic and never made it into the city thankfully. A girl in the room across in my dorm lost her brother, who was a NYC firefighter.

Crazy to think it’s been 20 years.
 
Was watching Rolli Polli Olie on Disney Channel holding my 5 month old daughter after getting home from 3rd shift job with UPS!! Wife was working from home that day when she came out from her “office” and said turn the news on!!! That is one of those things that no matter how much time goes by I don’t think you’ll ever forget where you were!!
 
was on the phone with an adjuster in florida as he was describing some storm damage to area homes.

he asked me if i had a tv in our office, i said no…the ceo found a tv, turned it on in a lounge area and there we all watched…we missed the first plane, but saw the second.

i stayed around and tried to close some files, but then just went home around lunch.
 
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12th grade horticulture class when it first started and was watching on TV. Switched over to a business class in the middle of it. Our school district sent out a message telling the teachers not to let us watch, so they turned off the TV. I immediately told my teacher that wasn't going to work and turned the TV back on.
 
was on the phone with an adjuster in florida as he was describing some storm damage to area homes.

he asked me if i had a tv in our office, i said no…the ceo found a tv, turned it on in a lounge area and there we all watched…we missed the first plane, but saw the second.

i stayed around and tried to close some files, but then just went home around lunch.
I was at home doing something on the computer when the lady who ran my office called me. She had stepped out for something and heard about it on the radio. She just told me I better turn on a TV. I did and I also caught the second plane. When I hear the word surreal, that vision comes to mind. There are things we witness that our brain tries to deny, and that was definitely one of those.
 
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Glacier National Park, a stop on a drive out west. Most people camping were not aware of what happened for quite a while since this was pre-internet on your cell phone.

A high school classmate was killed in the Pentagon.
 
Working on a beach home screening a deck. Heard the report of the 1st plane strike and was in shock. The announcer was amazed that a plane lost track and flew into a building. I was thinking how horrible that had to be. We switched it to Howard Stern because he was the only one talking about it. In the meantime, all the other events followed. I was devastated to say the least. Also saw a water spout make landfall a few miles away. After that, I went home.

Needless to say, I finally understood the call the men and women had after pearl harbor, to go and fight for our country. It still makes my blood boil to this day watching anything involving those events. To see those people jumping out of the towers to escape the fires did something to me. Naturally seeing people fall off the planes a few weeks ago reminded me of that.
 
Working on a beach home screening a deck. Heard the report of the 1st plane strike and was in shock. The announcer was amazed that a plane lost track and flew into a building. I was thinking how horrible that had to be. We switched it to Howard Stern because he was the only one talking about it. In the meantime, all the other events followed. I was devastated to say the least. Also saw a water spout make landfall a few miles away. After that, I went home.

Needless to say, I finally understood the call the men and women had after pearl harbor, to go and fight for our country. It still makes my blood boil to this day watching anything involving those events. To see those people jumping out of the towers to escape the fires did something to me. Naturally seeing people fall off the planes a few weeks ago reminded me of that.
I've listened to the Howard Stern show coverage probably a dozen times. It was great coverage and hearing their reaction, since they were in Manhattan, and people were calling in from other boroughs, and some people were giving firsthand accounts after running home from being close to the WTC area. It was better than any news channel.
 
I've listened to the Howard Stern show coverage probably a dozen times. It was great coverage and hearing their reaction, since they were in Manhattan, and people were calling in from other boroughs, and some people were giving firsthand accounts after running home from being close to the WTC area. It was better than any news channel.
I don’t particularly like Stern but I agree - his coverage was incredible that day. His 9/12 show is also very good.
 
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Don’t mean to hijack the thread but do you think American would come together as a nation now like it did then? Heck, I remember Bush speaking at a mosque a day or so after 9/11. I don’t know if that would happen now.
 
Don’t mean to hijack the thread but do you think American would come together as a nation now like it did then? Heck, I remember Bush speaking at a mosque a day or so after 9/11. I don’t know if that would happen now.
imma say no
 
Don’t mean to hijack the thread but do you think American would come together as a nation now like it did then? Heck, I remember Bush speaking at a mosque a day or so after 9/11. I don’t know if that would happen now.
I often think about this.

Is part of the reason we are so divided because we no longer have a common enemy? Hell it used to be universal that the PLO are awful terrorists but now you see idiots on social media saying to “free Palestine.”

Post 9/11 was pretty remarkable. I remember all of the interviews after Bush’s first pitch where lots of NYers said “I didn’t vote for him, but that’s MY guy. We are American. That’s MY President.” That type of unity was refreshing.

For most of the 20th century we had an enemy. I sorta think we need one now and not make each other our enemies. Maybe Iran needs to start being shitty.
 
I often think about this.

Is part of the reason we are so divided because we no longer have a common enemy? Hell it used to be universal that the PLO are awful terrorists but now you see idiots on social media saying to “free Palestine.”

Post 9/11 was pretty remarkable. I remember all of the interviews after Bush’s first pitch where lots of NYers said “I didn’t vote for him, but that’s MY guy. We are American. That’s MY President.” That type of unity was refreshing.

For most of the 20th century we had an enemy. I sorta think we need one now and not make each other our enemies. Maybe Iran needs to start being shitty.
If Covid isn’t a common emeny, I don’t know what is….
 
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Don’t mean to hijack the thread but do you think American would come together as a nation now like it did then? Heck, I remember Bush speaking at a mosque a day or so after 9/11. I don’t know if that would happen now.

Well to be fair Joe Biden would not be able to pronounce Terror attack.
 
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I often think about this.

Is part of the reason we are so divided because we no longer have a common enemy? Hell it used to be universal that the PLO are awful terrorists but now you see idiots on social media saying to “free Palestine.”

Post 9/11 was pretty remarkable. I remember all of the interviews after Bush’s first pitch where lots of NYers said “I didn’t vote for him, but that’s MY guy. We are American. That’s MY President.” That type of unity was refreshing.

For most of the 20th century we had an enemy. I sorta think we need one now and not make each other our enemies. Maybe Iran needs to start being shitty.

I think that’s probably got a lot to do with it. The enemy at the gates mentality is rooted deep in human psychology. It’s a big part of how we survived long enough to develop civilization in the first place.

When there isn’t a common enemy outside of the US, we find enemies inside of it. People have always disagreed, but there’s currently a level of vilification in politics that makes it completely unappealing for lots of people. This board is a nice little microcosm of that.

We’ve combined that polarization with manipulative information sources that constantly reinforce confirmation biases, which only widens the gap even further. Most of the time people can’t even begin a discussion from any kind of shared basis of fact.

I think we could all use a break from trying to change each other’s minds. Just STFU about political stuff for awhile and find the common ground that will remind us that most of the people who disagree with us politically still have good intentions. They may have a different view of what direction the country should be moving, but nobody wants to see the ideas they support fail. People generally advocate for policies and ideas that they think will make the country better. And at the very least, we should be able to respect that even if we think they are misguided.
 
I was in first grade. The teachers were crying and none of us knew why, they just told us we had to go home. My mom picked me up and when I got home, the TV was on and I remember clear as day the burning images of the towers. Didn't understand the full meaning at the time but knew it was horrible either way.

People born in my year might be the last group left someday to remember what happened. Crazy to think.
 
I was young enough on 9/11 that they didn’t tell us what had happened at school. We got a letter to take home that let our parents know that we all had no clue what was happening.

I remember walking into the living room and both of my parents were just staring at the tv. The image of the smoking towers probably didn’t mean much to me at the time, but it was clear that something really awful had happened and it definitely stuck with me.
 
People born in my year might be the last group left someday to remember what happened. Crazy to think..
There's no "might be." That's a definite outcome... if there's still "us" around.
That had to have been an interesting time to be in first grade. That was pretty unprecedented aside from Pearl Harbor, which was 60 years before, but no TV. I guess it was sorta like being a little kid when JFK was shot, maybe.
It made me think of my grandfather talking about being in grammar school and remembering the 1918 Spanish Flu. They didn't go to school much! He remembered coffins stacked-up outside of a hospital. His mother and 2 of his uncles died, and everyone had been sick from it. No TV back then!
 
We got a letter to take home that let our parents know that we all had no clue what was happening.
What??? That sounds weird! lol

"Your son has not been made aware of what has taken place today. We're leaving that to you!"
 
What??? That sounds weird! lol

"Your son has not been made aware of what has taken place today. We're leaving that to you!"

That’s basically the short version of exactly what it said. Reading that letter was the first vivid memory I had from that day. You could tell something was off though and we got sent home early.
 
I posed the question some time back in the political thread that it would take another travesty like 911 to bring this country together again. We had all of congress sing God bless America on the steps of the capitol building a few days afterwards. Many backed Bush in his pursuit on the WOT up till Iraq 2.0. But now that all these years have past, I don't think it would change much today. This country is horribly divided. It's hard not to be pessimistic, considering how the younger generations are coming up. I would have literally fought and died for my country after that day if I was still allowed. It's hard to see the same age group as I was or younger to answer that call. As for some of the younger men on this board, that is something you have never faced. Reading about it is one thing. But watching it live is altering. You may never see unification. This virus backs up my feelings.

That's my 2 cents
 
That’s basically the short version of exactly what it said. Reading that letter was the first vivid memory I had from that day. You could tell something was off though and we got sent home early.
That just seems odd. And, you could read the letter! Well, it was a unique situation, I guess.
 
I often think about this.

Is part of the reason we are so divided because we no longer have a common enemy? Hell it used to be universal that the PLO are awful terrorists but now you see idiots on social media saying to “free Palestine.”

Post 9/11 was pretty remarkable. I remember all of the interviews after Bush’s first pitch where lots of NYers said “I didn’t vote for him, but that’s MY guy. We are American. That’s MY President.” That type of unity was refreshing.

For most of the 20th century we had an enemy. I sorta think we need one now and not make each other our enemies. Maybe Iran needs to start being shitty.
an idea I have pushed since the fall of the Soviet Union is that it might have been the worst thing that could have happened. Almost overnight, it seems, without having that extreme foil to work in opposition to,, we began to move naively away from our normal values and toward that former extreme opposite. And so far, we have found nothing to take its place.

We are currently so divided because many of us are clinging to those former values while the rest of us, not surprisingly the younger in particular, continue to move closer and closer to the thinking that spawns socialism and communism. With a two-party setup, you practically have the recipe for a stark divide. Accordingly, 9/11 provided a mere blip of unitedness.

And of course, the media plays its insidious role. When we were jousting with the Soviets, and while most people thought of them as a dire threat, the media was only too happy to blow up any incident or clash and keep the cold war on the burner. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Now that the media is effectively playing to the slide into socialism, they aren't likely to start making villains out of entities like Islam or China, for example, or phenomena like illegals crashing the gates. Entities that report the news from the older standpoint, like Fox for example, are now ridiculed and labeled extreme.
 
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We are currently so divided because many of us are clinging to those former values while the rest of us, not surprisingly the younger in particular, continue to move closer and closer to the thinking that spawns socialism and communism. With a two-party setup, you practically have the recipe for a stark divide. Accordingly, 9/11 provided a mere blip of unitedness.

A small, weird contingent of younger people on college campuses might believe that. But have you actually talked to people in their 20s and 30s? I bet you haven't, but the vast majority do not want communism or Chinese government style capitalism. You're acting like we're the only problem here. You're also feeding the divide.
 
A small, weird contingent of younger people on college campuses might believe that. But have you actually talked to people in their 20s and 30s? I bet you haven't, but the vast majority do not want communism or Chinese government style capitalism. You're acting like we're the only problem here. You're also feeding the divide.
if you think I'm feeding the divide, it's because you're on the wrong side of it. And you're also FOS about the thinking of young people. Things being relative, trust me when I say that compared to the way young people thought back when the Cold war was in play, younger people today should almost be sporting a red star.
 
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20 yrs ago today I was probably listening to an update from Rudy Giuliani and thinking he was an impressive-sounding Mayor.
 
I posed the question some time back in the political thread that it would take another travesty like 911 to bring this country together again. We had all of congress sing God bless America on the steps of the capitol building a few days afterwards. Many backed Bush in his pursuit on the WOT up till Iraq 2.0. But now that all these years have past, I don't think it would change much today. This country is horribly divided. It's hard not to be pessimistic, considering how the younger generations are coming up. I would have literally fought and died for my country after that day if I was still allowed. It's hard to see the same age group as I was or younger to answer that call. As for some of the younger men on this board, that is something you have never faced. Reading about it is one thing. But watching it live is altering. You may never see unification. This virus backs up my feelings.

That's my 2 cents
Good post
 
if you think I'm feeding the divide, it's because you're on the wrong side of it. And you're also FOS about the thinking of young people. Things being relative, trust me when I say that compared to the way young people thought back when the Cold war was in play, younger people today should almost be sporting a red star.

The irony of this poast is astounding.

I AM young dude. I hang out with 'the young people'. I guarantee you don't. Maybe it isn't us, perhaps you're just out of touch.
 
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if you think I'm feeding the divide, it's because you're on the wrong side of it. And you're also FOS about the thinking of young people. Things being relative, trust me when I say that compared to the way young people thought back when the Cold war was in play, younger people today should almost be sporting a red star.
You don’t know jack shit what you’re talking about. I was in Berlin during the Cold War. You need to stay out of this conversation.
 
an idea I have pushed since the fall of the Soviet Union is that it might have been the worst thing that could have happened. Almost overnight, it seems, without having that extreme foil to work in opposition to,, we began to move naively away from our normal values and toward that former extreme opposite. And so far, we have found nothing to take its place.

We are currently so divided because many of us are clinging to those former values while the rest of us, not surprisingly the younger in particular, continue to move closer and closer to the thinking that spawns socialism and communism. With a two-party setup, you practically have the recipe for a stark divide. Accordingly, 9/11 provided a mere blip of unitedness.

And of course, the media plays its insidious role. When we were jousting with the Soviets, and while most people thought of them as a dire threat, the media was only too happy to blow up any incident or clash and keep the cold war on the burner. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Now that the media is effectively playing to the slide into socialism, they aren't likely to start making villains out of entities like Islam or China, for example, or phenomena like illegals crashing the gates. Entities that report the news from the older standpoint, like Fox for example, are now ridiculed and labeled extreme.
How old ARE YOU, dude??? I'm trying to understand your obsessive, misguided fear of "Communism and Socialism." It's got to be a boomer-thing, where you hid under your desks during a bomb drill as a child.

This country is so awash in "for-profit" EVERYTHING that Communism will always melt like snow on a hotplate.

And, Socialism has been in-play since the country was founded. If you're old enough to get a SS check, then you're actively participating in Socialism. Did you return all of your stimulus checks? If you didn't, then you actively participated in and openly welcomed Socialism.
 
I was young enough on 9/11 that they didn’t tell us what had happened at school. We got a letter to take home that let our parents know that we all had no clue what was happening.

I remember walking into the living room and both of my parents were just staring at the tv. The image of the smoking towers probably didn’t mean much to me at the time, but it was clear that something really awful had happened and it definitely stuck with me.

Well times have changed for sure. Back then teachers didn't want to be the one to tell students about an attack on the country but now teachers are willing to teach kids about being a flamer.

 
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Well times have changed for sure. Back then teachers didn't want to be the one to tell students about an attack on the country but now teachers are willing to teach kids about being a flamer.


How can poasting this shit in a thread about 9/11 possibly seem like a good idea to you?
 
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