Thanks Matt.

Since nobody else cares to even add one word of respect then I'll just start it off with my own story. I hope people aren't tired of this already. It's only been 8 years and 80 years can pass and it will have the same effect. This is not just another bad moment in history. It's the worst single day in New York and probably American history.

I was in my 7th grade HS class and the principal announced over the loud speaker that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers and for everyone to remain calm. We were on the 6th floor of my school in Queens so my teacher looked out from the window and far into the distance was the tower with black smoke coming out of it. It was a surreal site but I didn't think it was going to be that serious until the next period class. Our science teacher turned on the television and we watched the second plane hit and the tower collapse later on. At that point it felt very real and I knew it was a serious moment. Watching that happen was terrible. It's a moment I will never forget. It was just stunned silence in a classroom that's normally rowdy.

We got sent home early and I went home to watch all the news I could possibly watch. I remember every cable channel showing coverage of the attacks throughout the whole day. I remember the beautiful day it was and the eerily peaceful day that day. It was just so peaceful but in an eerie way, like something wasn't right. We lived across the East River on Astoria Park so we could see the city filled with smoke from across the river. Then the horrible stench of burning metal and I would assume other things (bodies?) that was there for the next month made it's way across the river to us.

I never want to relive a moment like that in my life. I may have been young but I was old enough to remember it all. I will never forget what happened on that tragic day. I hope all the victims are resting in peace and the victims' families and friends can find solace in the fact that we all grieve with them and we will never forget that day. The memorial still isn't up (disgraceful) but I hope something will be ready for the 10th anniversary. RIP to all that died that day.

I had the rebroadcast on while I was working today. Its crazy how fast everything happened. Looking back on it, I'm actually surprised that NBC stayed on the air from 30 Rock. There was a time there when people didn't know if more planes were going to keep hitting the city.

I wish the City, State and Federal govt would put more pressure on Silverstein to get something built down there. Every year we don't have something rebuilt, I'm sure the enemy sees it as a victory.

Posted by martin:

Posted by GKFv2:

Thanks Matt.

Since nobody else cares to even add one word of respect ...

hey man, no need to chastise others here and take away from your own thread and story. We do care about those who lost and suffered from 9/11 onward. Some busy, some off already for weekend, etc. It's not about not caring. Go light and easy and put out your words.

I agree.

I was going to post something about the 9/11 victims, but I decided I'd rather not. It's a subject close to the heart of every person on this board and some may not choose to post anything about it, if they don't feel comfortable.

Posted by martin:

Posted by GKFv2:

Thanks Matt.

Since nobody else cares to even add one word of respect ...

hey man, no need to chastise others here and take away from your own thread and story. We do care about those who lost and suffered from 9/11 onward. Some busy, some off already for weekend, etc. It's not about not caring. Go light and easy and put out your words.

I apologize. Emotions got the best of me. I had the topic up for 3 hours and nobody was responding to it before I posted that. They were responding to Warren Carter signing though. But as nyk4ever said, for some people it is very emotional to discuss and I understand that. This topic was created to discuss your re-collection of that day and just to pay respects. I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'm glad a few others could chime in as well. Thank you guys and I hope we can all come together and pay respect to everyone on this day.

BTW, if you people really want an experience, put on the History Channel tonight at 9 PM and catch this show called "102 Minutes that Changed the World". It's the most surreal 9/11-related program I have ever seen.

We could see the towers from my 6 story school in Western Queens. I was teaching on the other side of the building and a girl I had given the bathroom pass to comes in and says a plane just hit one of the towers. She did not seem that upset, so I wondered if she was full of it. I figured that at worst, a small private plane had accidently hit one of the towers. After class I was in the hallway and there was, of course, a lot of buzz about what had happened. When I heard that the first building had been hit by a jet, I was worried, because I was aware that a commercial pilot would have tried to ditch the jet in the water. One of my colleagues, a Gulf War vet, came up to me and said that both towers had been hit by large jets, and the first words out of my mouth were that we were the victims of a terrorist attack. Some classes had been able to see both hits. I am glad that I did not, because I don't think it is something you want to have in your head. Seeing the videos is one thing- see the jets hit their targets in real-time is something else entirely.

My job for the rest of the day was to stay at the windows on the fifth floor and make sure kids did not stand around trying to see what was going on behind the shades we had pulled down to hide what was happening. Our entire staff did a pretty good job keeping the kids in check, dealing with fearful parents who wanted to pick up their children, and trying to process what had happened, and what was happening in other parts of the nation. It turns out that I was able to see one of the towers go down through the window I was watching, although at the time, you could not tell it was happening because of all the smoke.

- During the day, one student, a special ed kid, told us his mom had been on the phone with his dad when the call was suddenly cut off. His father had been speaking from one of the towers, above the area where the jet that hit his building struck. He was never heard from again.

- A former student and gymnast, was one of the EMS responders who died when the buildings fell.

- One of the School Safety Agents told us that her husband was supposed to be working in one of the towers, but luckily, he had not been able to get there that day.

- A teacher told us that his son was supposed to have some kind of medical appointment in one of the towers, but he had cancelled it ... and lived.

-The smell from the buildings- the fuel, I assume- was noticable in the area where my school is located for days after the attack.

I'm old enough to have been around and been aware of JFK's shooting, and every event of a similar nature since then. For me, the WTC attack is the most vivid in my mind, and the only one which I can really feel in my stomach at this point in my life.

I was in college at Penn State and my roommate's sister had this terrible habit of waking me up at the crack of dawn to talk to her brother. One of those old school big clunky plastic phones--had a touchpad, but it looked like a rotatory should've been there. This thing had a ringer in it that could wake the dead and the phone was on my side. That was the first and only time I snapped for her calling and waking me up and when I quiped "what do you want" I still remember her saying "I called to talk to you..."

My dad worked for the Port Authority and worked 13 years there, and they had offices in The Towers. He had left by then, but he split Knicks season tickets with his coworkers, which is a big reason I was able to go to so many games growing up. I went to a lot of games with his coworkers too. I came to take your child to work day even when I was too old for it because I liked hanging out with those guys. My home town in NJ has a monument for all the commuters that passed as well.

The aftermath had a huge impact on my life though. Once they started identifying bodies every day for months my mom and grandma checked the Staten Island advance and between the two of them they knew someone, which was mind boggling to hear "do you remember x from y--well they found his remains" each time I called. I transferred to American U because of a huge interest in international relations (and may be the reason I am in Libya). On the first anniversary, a girl I went to church with passed at my home town's high school. That day was incredibly windy and the wind shook a branch loose and it hit her on the head and she passed.

Not to turn this political, but I still want the building rebuilt. The reason is what my dad and his former coworkers had to say... I'll still remember dad saying they should "rebuild it one inch taller" "why?" "**** em that's why" And that was the consensus after the fact with the people I knew who worked there

i was in the dc metro area. we could see the pentagon fires... had to drive by the nsa, they had folks on bridges armed like mad, and buses blocking certain roads. they used to park 50 cals on the nsa entrances. lots of the bases/gov places put up some real security which is probably good.

im another who thinks they should rebuild the wtc as it was.

Posted by TMS:

GK, just cuz i posted a thread about Warren Carter doesn't mean i don't pay my respects to those lost on that tragic day, just want u to know that... that day affected me deeply just like it did everyone else in this city & around the world

I didn't see where I said that you posting a thread about Warren Carter meant you didn't care. My point was more people were replying to your topic in the 3 hours between posts. It didn't matter if you or I made the topic. That's why I was a bit peeved.

[Edited by - GKFv2 on 09-11-2009 10:47 PM]

Yeah, I covered that. Thanks for your input.