Where were you and what were you doing when you learned of the 9/11 attacks? Also.....?

Question

And what was you immediate reaction? Did you have a possible suspect in mind before you even seen the news report?

I was in 20 years old and in college and my poetry professor broke the news to us and sent us home. I cried driving down I-95 the whole way. And even though I had absolutely no interest in politics at the time (my interest sprung as a result), my immediate thought was, "What did Bush do???". I just thought that he must have REALLY p!ssed somebody off!

So, I wondering what some of your reactions were and what you where doing when you heard.

Answer 1

I was in college. I just started taking courses to get my Medical Laboratory Technology degree, and we were taking our first Hematology test. I remember taking the written part of the exam, and someone stopped at the door and called my professor out into the hallway She came back in and asked that we all stay after we were finished so she could talk to us about something. I was almost finished with the clinical lab part of the exam when she didn't want to make the people who had already finished wait any longer. She told us that we were being attacked by terrorists, and that they had flown planes into the Twin Towers.

At the time, I didn't have a clue who might have been responsible, but I felt two very clear emotions -- compassion for the victims and their families, and ANGER. I was so incredibly angry that whoever it was had done something like that.

I think that since its been so long, many of us have lost that sense of unity that we had after 9/11. I mean, if you go into the Politics or Religion sections of this forum, you'll see people cutting each other down over trivial things! I think we need to come together and do what's best for this country and the world, and get past these political party labels!

Answer 2

I was driving to a client to do an audit. I heard about the first plane on WJR as I was parking. I went in and told the accountant what I had heard. She flipped on the radio. When we heard the next plane had hit, I said "We are under attack."

Her reply was no, that has to be a coincidence. I insisted, telling one might be an accident, two is an attack.

About an hour later I went back to the office. The boss came in and told us all to go home. He figured not much work was going to get done that day. We were all listening to the radio and/or watching on the Internet.

I did not blame this on Bush. I remembered the car bombing of the Twin Towers during the Clinton administration and felt these were the same group. They aren't anti-Bush so much as they are anti-American. They have been killing Americans during every administration (Democrat and Republican) since Carter.

Answer 3

I was driving home when I heard the news on the radio. I stopped at the nearest TV store- they had plenty of TV sets on, showing the news.
My first idea was that the islamists did it- after all they've tried before. Second thought was that there would be retribution. And war. And that whoever organised these attacks would be hunted down to the ends of the earth, even if it took a century to do it. And also that I'll be called back to the army

Answer 4

I was camping with a couple friends up at the Cold Brook area in the San Gabriel Mountains. Another camper told us that “terrorists blew up the World Trade Center and at least 20 thousand people were dead”. He looked sincere and shaken. We all came to the conclusion that they used some sort of nuclear device. It was strange.

We all figured that WWIII will start shortly. I tried listening in on the radio we had but do to our location the reception was very poor. Needless to say we were all getting concerned. Finally I asked the campground host if he knew anything about it. He told us that an unknown group of people had hijacked commercial airliners and flown them into the twin towers and the pentagon. At that time one of the towers was still standing. It was somewhat of a relief but a tragedy none the less.

Answer 5

I was in bed sleeping. My late mother called me up and said a plane had just crashed into the WTC. After the second plane crashed into the 2nd tower, I still didn't realize what was going on - it was too strange to comprehend. One of my reactions came later - I renounced any humor that is cruel. I'll listen to it, but I will usually never tell a joke that is mean to someone. As to who did it, I wasn't even thinking about that. I had my suspicions that it was Islamic fundamentalists, but I like to wait to place blame until such time as there is proof, especially after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrough(sp?) Federal Building, which was believed to have been bombed by Islamic extremists at first. I mention this because someone threw a brick through an Arab immigrant's window, and his wife had a miscarriage as a result, so there was more than one set of victims on that day, just as there are still more victims of 9/11 than those that died on that day.

Answer 6

I was at home with my then 4 month old son. I remember sitting on the couch when my husband called and told me to turn on the t.v. I remember sitting there in complete disbelief. I just kept thinking, where are we supposed to go from here? What's going to happen now? I was scared mostly for my son because I didn't know what the future would bring and what kind of a world he would have to grow up in. I wrote down every event by time of day on a peice of paper and put it in my sons baby book. Just something for him to have when he's older and can understand what happened. I'm sure it will be in the History books and I thought it would be an interesting piece of information for him to have.

Answer 7

I was 18 & had just started college about a month beforehand. I had an early morning 3 HOUR long college algebra class & found out when we took a break. I didn't normally have the tv on in the morning when getting ready so I knew nothing about it. When that break time came I walked out to the lobby (was in the main building) & I swear half the school was there watching the TVs in disbelief. I was just confused & was like "huh? what's going on?" I sat there watching with everyone else & was just thinking "holy crap"

Answer 8

I was in the waiting room of a doctors office when I saw it on the lobby T.V. My first reaction was that it was a horrible accident. But when the second plane flew into the other tower I knew this was deliberate. I had no clue who was doing this but wondered how many other airliners were being used the same way throughout the country.

Answer 9

I was at home (in the UK) getting ready to go to work, when I got a phone call from my friend telling me to turn the TV on.

My first reaction was that it was an accident until the second tower was hit - then I immediately knew it must be a terrorist attack and that it had to be related to the war in the Middle East.

Answer 10

I think I was about 9 yrs. old. I was at my sister-in-law's house and playing with my nephew who was about 3, she was in her room when I heard her panic, she was watching it on tv and called her mother on the phone, her father worked there you see. It was so relieving to hear that he just so happened to have a dentist appointment that day, I'll never forget that moment, at the time I didn't even really know what the twin towers were. I learned allot more about it after the fact.