We will all remember 9/11. What were you doing when you heard about it and how did you feel at that moment?

Question

I was getting ready for my college teaching day and my oldest son came up stairs and told me that NYC was being attacked and the WTC was burning. I didn't believe him. So I went to the kitchen where he was watching TV and saw the news coverage for one minute before the second plane slammed into tower two. I was totally shocked, sick and numb....

I am thankful to all who are sharing their memories and thoughts on 9/11/06....at this point there are so far 426 comments/stories.
I plan to read them all....We will never forget this horrendous deed as we pray for the heroes, the innocent people who died and the families they left behind on that day five years ago.

Woke up this morning to find 3758 comments....Thank you and I will read them all..I know your comments will help many get through the days ahead and let people know they are not alone!!!
Pray for peace !

Answer 1

I was at my trading position on the 25th floor of tower 1.

Answer 2

The day of 9/11 I was driving to work and two the right of the highway was the metro train tracks when out of no where I hear a scary screechy noise coming from the train as it was passing by it made a sudden stop at the moment that the first plane hit tower 1 although at that point I had no idea what was going on I had the feeling something wasn't right and all I can remember saying was I hope everyone is okay. Once I arrived to work my boss got a call from his wife he pulled out the tv and we just watched amazed I remember thinking this has to be a freak accident when the second place crashed into tower 2 OH MY GOD WE'RE BEING ATTACKED was the first thing that came out of my mouth.

There was so much confussion and so many tv station reporting different things. At one point there was a report indicating that another plane was heading towards JFK Airport, I felt so helpless and scared to know that my father was working there and I had no way of finding out where he was. The good thing was that the airport was evacuated the minute the 2nd plane crashed and my father made it home safely.

Days after 9/11 were so different, scary, just an empty feeling and not hearing a sound in the skies for a little over a week. Its a time I could never forget. The place I called home where I never had to worry about leaving my house and not feeling secured was over and no matter how much time has passed by I can't help getting worried when I see a plane flying low.

My prayers got out to all those families that lost a loved one on this day and may God Rest Their Souls.

Although this was a tragic event I can't help but to question whether or not this WAR IS THE RIGHT THING??????

Answer 3

When the towers were hit, i was in third grade. I remember my mom shaking me awake from bed, yelling that our country was being attacked. i thought it was a ploy to get me awake, but that thought was wiped from my mind as i heard the TV cranked up to full volume. I scampered out of bed and watched, stunned, as the second plane crashed into the second WTC tower.

I have here crazy facts about 9/11: they are mind blowing and are a must to see, especially the last thing. .:

Date: Sep 11, 2006

OMG THIS IS SO CREEPY... READ THIS TO THE END
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:

1) New York is the 11th state of America.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.
7) Three winning lotto numbers in a row on 9/11 was 9-1-1

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:

1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:
Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Koran, the Islamic holy book: "For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. he wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace." That verse is number 9.11 of the Koran.

Still uncovinced about all of this..?! Try this and see how you feel > afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers.
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS it is the second one (this one is the freakiest)

Answer 4

**PLEASE READ**
I didn't know anything was happening until after my college class ended at 11:00 am that morning. Since it was only the second day of school, I went to the bookstore to get what I needed for my classes. The radio was on, and a bunch of people, more than usual, crowded around it. It was eerily quite, and then I heard the radio announcer say something about the Trade Towers. Since I'm a born and bred New Yorker, and only an hour and a half drive from Manhattan, it was almost like a movie playing in my head when someone listening told me that the towers had "just came down". I jumped in my car and called my entire family. My mother was hysterically crying, saying to me that I needed to get home quickly. I then called my Dad, and since he was working in the county court offices at the time (he has since retired from his job as a Probation Officer), the whole building was in lockdown. He couldn't come home for another few hours. I got home and saw what had happened. I don't think I ever stopped crying that night, especially since I had visited the towers with some friends not to long before they were destroyed. It is still a dream to me. There is a stretch of the Long Island Expressway that connects Long Island to Manhattan via the Midtown Tunnel. Right before you go into the tunnel, you could see the Empire State Building, the CitiBank Building, and of course the Twin Towers. Now when I go over that stretch, you can see the Empire State Building and the CitiBak Building, but no Towers. And if you're a New Yorker like me, the skyline just isn't the same without them. It's a sad reminder of what happened this day five years ago. I pray that it will never happen again. NEVER FORGET

Answer 5

I was at work listening to the radio. An announcement was made that a plane had crashed into the WTC. The radio was playing it off as an accident and my co-workers were talking about how "sad" it was that such an accident occurred. I turned to a couple of them and said, "This can't be an accident... planes aren't allowed to fly that close to buildings or that low in NYC." They couldn't just fly into the city by accident. We tossed around the idea of a high jacking... but then I said and knew in my heart that it had to be worse than that. I told them if it had been a high jacking, the ATCs and so too the media would know all about it and that wouldn't be calling it an "accident." Immediately we logged onto the internet and some other co-workers turned on the TV. Within minutes it was clear that we had been attacked. When we heard about the missing plane, I prayed hard that the passengers knew what was going on and that they would fight hard. Seeing the towers collapse and the people jumping was gut wrenching.

I can't say I was totally shocked by the attack. Knowing about the bombings of our embassy and our Naval ship, I figured it was only a matter of time before something happened. The doors to our country have been opened for years... no "officials" could dare shut the door, or God forbid we might offend someone and risk lawsuits and uproar over these "violations." All of us contributed to the mind-set that we needed our liberties and our freedoms and our rights. Sadly, our enemies took advantage of all of this and they used it against us. 9/11 was horrific, but in my mind and in my heart - it could have been even worse had these men had more money. Things will never be the same again!

Answer 6

I remember that day. It was an ordinary morning, I was in college downstate. I woke up early around 7 am and left not knowing that there was terror on the east coast. I returned from my early morning class and turned on the tv. I was watching a show, when I decided to change the channel. I first saw a tower and that there was smoke. It was CNN and I figured it was some old news from the prior since I don't watch news all that much in the mornings. Then the towers fell, I saw the headline on the bottom of the screen. I realized that it was New York and the twin towers had collapsed.

Then people were freaking out on the news saying that another plane may be headed to another place. I instantly called a friend up in Chicago to make sure she was okay. She was. But still I could not believe what was happening. I felt a profound sadness even though I did not know anybody in New York, Washington, etc. But still it hits a little too close to home.

Answer 7

When I got first word of 9/11, i was in 6th grade. Everything was a normal school day, until one of my teachers ran into the classroom saying "Turn on the TV, a plane just hit the World Trade Center!" I thought at first it was just an accident, and was confused altogether about the whole thing. But then the next plane hit the South Tower, which I saw live. I began to think that it was an act of war, and thought about why people would do something like that. I didn't know about the Pentagon or United Airlines 93, and I was confused and scared that the same thing might happen in Philadelphia. I remember hoping that all my family was safe, and only thinking about that. I was young then, and didn't know how serious it was until I got the full scoop of it, and now, looking back, I want to break down and cry when i think of the events that day, and no matter how much I try to put it behind me, I still cringe and get a feeling deep down when I look in the sky or at a jet liner. If there was any day more crucial to American ideals, it was 9/11, and it is a day that will resonate and haunt the ones who lived through that day forever.

Answer 8

I was in 6th grade at the time and I was in 3rd hour Spanish class, and my teacher got a phone call from the principal to turn on the TV in the classroom. We all watched as CNN, ABC, NBC, or any other major news outlet showed the replays of the two airline planes going into the North and South Towers. All I could say was, " Who could do this and how did they get away with this?" The overall feeling in the classroom, better yet the entire school, was confusion, shock, fear, bascially any emotion you could experience in a time of sheer horror. To this day, that'll be the one image that'll never leave my head for as long as I live. I kid you not when I say that everyone in my class was scared beyond belief and we didn't know when or where the next attack was gonna happen. We were hoping that those were the only attacks and that the rest of the country would be spared. Of course, the rest of the country got word and visual aids of what went down in New York and Washington, but the sad thing about 9/11 is that the United 93 plane that was headed to the White House is always the forgotten plane, despite having a movie made within the last 6 months. But, as a proud American, I will always feel safe and blessed in this country, no matter what happens here.

Answer 9

I work at home (web designer) on the west coast, so it was really early in the morning here. I was just finishing up some work and playing scrabble in another window when my scrabble opponent said that a plane had hit the WTC. I didn't go turn on the TV right away because I thought, hey, it's a tall building - a plane has run into a tall building before and I'm sure it will again, so it's not that big a deal - then my opponent suddenly quit and left the game, so I made my way into the living room and turned on the tv.

At this point only the first tower had been hit, so my mindset was that I was watching a "natural disaster" - like hurricane coverage or an apartment building on fire or a train derailment.....and i was watching when the second plane hit......

I can't even really describe the feeling - not of the plane hitting or the fire, mind you - but the feeling of the paradigm shift - from seeing something that can be explained by malfunction or accident or mechanics or stupidity - to something that could only be explained by malicious intention. It honestly took awhile - really odd, slow motion moments as my brain was flooded with all the *other* things that this would result in now - all the dominos of safety-lockdowns, inevitable manhunts, finger pointing - it all clicked through my head as my brain caught up to the speed of the reality playing out on my TV.

And then I thought about Beruit and Jerusalem and all of the other places where knocking down or blowing up buildings full of people is a fact of daily life - and I said (to an empty room):

"United States of America, welcome to the rest of the world".

But then I thought about my girlfriend, still asleep in our bedroom - and how when she went to sleep our world was such a different place than it will be when she wakes up - but how, at least while she's still sleeping, it would still the same as before for her. So I tiptoed into our room and quietly turned off her alarm clock.....it seems silly to me now - but I watched tv helplessly, unable to do anything for anyone in NYC - but I felt like the least I could do is to let the woman I loved sleep peacfully in the past for a few more hours.

Answer 10

The radio was on, and a bunch of people, more than usual, crowded around it. It was eerily quite, and then I heard the radio announcer say something about the Trade Towers. Since I'm a born and bred New Yorker, and only an hour and a half drive from Manhattan, it was almost like a movie playing in my head when someone listening told me that the towers had "just came down". I jumped in my car and called my entire family. My mother was hysterically crying, saying to me that I needed to get home quickly. I then called my Dad, and since he was working in the county court offices at the time (he has since retired from his job as a Probation Officer), the whole building was in lockdown. He couldn't come home for another few hours. I got home and saw what had happened. I don't think I ever stopped crying that night, especially since I had visited the towers with some friends not to long before they were destroyed. It is still a dream to me. There is a stretch of the Long Island Expressway that connects Long Island to Manhattan via the Midtown Tunnel. Right before you go into the tunnel, you could see the Empire State Building, the CitiBank Building, and of course the Twin Towers. Now when I go over that stretch, you can see the Empire State Building and the CitiBak Building, but no Towers. And if you're a New Yorker like me, the skyline just isn't the same without them. It's a sad reminder of what happened this day five years ago. I pray that it will never happen again. NEVER FORGET

Answer 11

I was in my bedroom. I was still sleeping. My mom called and said to turn on the TV because a plane crashed into the trade center. My first thought was that it was a small plane, like one of those two seaters plane. I never imagined that it would be a big airliner. I turned on the news and there it was, coverage of the first plane that hit the towers. Than the second plane hit. I was shocked and I could't believe my eyes. I cried a lot and to this day whenever I see something about 9/11, I can't watch. I still cry even after five years and I can't watch all that sadness. I'm sorry to say that I change the channel. Not because I don't care, but because I am such an emotional person and it eats me up inside. I remember that day I had a job interview in the afternoon. Needless to say I called them and told them I wouldn't be in. I stayed home and watched the news all day. New York, Washington DC and Shanksville. How heartbreaking that day was. I will never forget 9/11.