Where were you (when the world stopped turning)? (remembering September 11, 2001)

[prberk]

I just mentioned Alan Jackson's timeless song, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?" in the amazing "This is Terrible" thread that goes back to 9/11/01, and it made me think to ask the question here: Where were you at that time?

Some folks' actions that day are documented in that very thread; but others of us here have very vivid memories that are also worth sharing, especially those who were young or who might have joined us here on the boards since then. And as for that song, I was taping the awards show when he premiered it on the country music awards in November of that year. They said that he woke up with the lyrics stuck on him, and he had to write it down. I think it really captures the mood and actions of a lot of my friends. We came together and gave blood, and we went to church later and held hands with each other, all like in that song.

12 years have come and gone, and memories fade; it is good to remember.

For me that morning, I was at home from work having someone repair my kitchen sink. The worker walked past the TV and said, "A plane hit the Sears Tower." Of course it was not the Sears Tower, but it also soon became clear that we were under attack. Matt Lauer said, after the second plane hit, that it clear this was not a mistake. Like many others I was glued to the TV and telephone (tellling and talking to friends) the rest of the day. We got together and gave blood, for survivors that ultimately did not show.

As trite as it sounds, I took time here later for distraction, and ultimately found a forum full of friendly people. I had only recently discovered this site, and I remember coming here to find out how Disney had reacted and whether they had shut down WDW.

Anyway, feel free to share your personal memories here.

 

[RandomPrincess]

I was at work teaching 3 yo preschool. Our director came in to tell us, when news of the first plane hit came in on her radio. I remember thinking what a horrible accident. When she came in to tell us about the 2nd plane it was so surreal. We couldn't really talk about it or turn on the tv or radio due to the little kids. We just had to put on a smile ans continue the day as if nothing was going on. My boss would come in and give us updates. The Pentagon being hit was very scary for us as we are in Maryland right outside DC and had many parents who work in the city. There were so many rumors the news was reporting it was crazy.

Maryland (stupidly IMO) decided to release schools half day and that was a nightmare. Most of our parents were stuck in DC with no way to get home (subways and buses shut down). We had about 60 kids in our after care program and they were all asking questions about why they had been let out of school early. Some parents of former students called in a panic as they had no way to get home and collect their elementary school kids from the bus stops. We had a bunch of extra kids that day as my boss told them we would take care of the kids until they got there.

As the parents came in to pick up their kids they all wanted to talk about the days events. We had to have one of our staff greet each adult at the door and ask them not to discuss what had happened in the school so we wouldn't panic the other children. The office staff was calling all the families trying to get emergency pick ups set up since many parents would not be able to make it before closing time. We had kids at the center until almost 9:00 at night since parents were stuck in the city.

It wasn't until I got home that I could sit down and really get a true idea of what had happened.

 

[PUSH]

I was in elementary school at the time. I can't remember what was going on or what happened. I don't remember being let out of school, but we could've been. I'm sure I didn't realize the severity of the incident at the time.

 

[acishere]

I was in middle school and had no idea what had happened. On the bus ride home the driver said to tell our parents that we love them. Had no idea why his mood was so somber. Get off the bus and start walking home when my mom pulls up in a panic talking about how my cousin was okay because he was still in the lobby when the plane hit. Still no clue what was going on. Mom pulled into the driveway quick and turned on the tv. 1st thing I see is a replay of the towers getting hit. All this happened hours ago only 90 minutes away and I had no idea.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I was unemployed at the time, sitting in my home office searching for a job. I had been to a job interview the day before on Wall St, yes, in NYC. My sister in law called me up and asked if I had the news on, and we chatted briefly about it and spent the rest of the day watching the events unfold.

11 days later I spent a week in WDW and the parks were empty.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I was six. I was in school. It was a Tuesday. Second week of school. We got out early that day. My brother had been born one week before the tragedy. That's all I remember. I didn't really even understand what had happened until a few years later. Because I remember so little, I think of it more like Pearl Harbor, a terrible tragedy that never should have happened but less of an emotional connection than, say, the Boston Marathon bombing or Sandy Hook. Most of what I know about it or what it was like is from experiences from my parents or other people (though my mother says because she had given birth a week earlier she was in a fog and really only concerned about her kids at that moment. It hit her six weeks later)

 

[jw24]

I was in 5th grade at the time. I don't really remember too much. But I do recall there were students in my class being called down to the main office to be picked up early. It was one, then one became two, two became three, three became four, etc. I think at least 2/5ths of my class had left, maybe even half. None of us really knew what was going on but my 5th grade teacher did explain what had happened and some of my classmates just lost it. We didn't get dismissed early so I'm not exactly sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I'm from Central NJ granted but a lot of people commute from Central NJ (And Northern New Jersey, as well) to New York City. (My local train station is just a few minutes away by car or a 40 minute walk from my house but it's on a route that goes directly to New York City.) It was almost too surreal to believe until I saw the TV news reports on and the Twin Towers in smoke and constant replay of the planes crashing into them and seeing both of them collapsing.

 

[Hobnail Boot]

I was in 10th grade and in algebra class when it happened. Our headmaster came in and told us that the twin towers had fallen over. She made no mention of the planes so we really had no idea what was going on. They took us to the library to watch it on tv but my parents called the office and had me released. My school was less than a mile from a Hunter Army Airfield so several parents started to pick up their kids. By the time I got home the first tower had already collapsed. I watched tv the rest of the day and I'll never forget those images and the words of those reporters. I also remember all the panic and rumors flying around that day about more missing planes and what their possible targets would be. I've always loved my country, but since that day I've never been a bigger patriot.

It's still weird for me to see the NYC skyline without the Twin Towers. Any time I see them in an older movie now it's all I can think about.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I was in 5th grade at the time. I don't really remember too much. But I do recall there were students in my class being called down to the main office to be picked up early. It was one, then one became two, two became three, three became four, etc. I think at least 2/5ths of my class had left, maybe even half. None of us really knew what was going on but my 5th grade teacher did explain what had happened and some of my classmates just lost it. We didn't get dismissed early so I'm not exactly sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I'm from Central NJ granted but a lot of people commute from Central NJ (And Northern New Jersey, as well) to New York City. (My local train station is just a few minutes away by car or a 40 minute walk from my house but it's on a route that goes directly to New York City.) It was almost too surreal to believe until I saw the TV news reports on and the Twin Towers in smoke and constant replay of the planes crashing into them and seeing both of them collapsing.

Now I know your age.

You're fortunate that you remember it because I don't and I think it's something that I would have liked to tell my children and grandchildren.

 

[jw24]

I was six. I was in school. It was a Tuesday. Second week of school. We got out early that day. My brother had been born one week before the tragedy. That's all I remember. I didn't really even understand what had happened until a few years later. Because I remember so little, I think of it more like Pearl Harbor, a terrible tragedy that never should have happened but less of an emotional connection than, say, the Boston Marathon bombing or Sandy Hook. Most of what I know about it or what it was like is from experiences from my parents or other people (though my mother says because she had given birth a week earlier she was in a fog and really only concerned about her kids at that moment. It hit her six weeks later)

This just me but I really don't think you can even compare 9/11 to Pearl Harbor. World War II was still going on at the time and part of the reason why Japan initiated the attack, at least from what I've heard, was that the US placed an embargo on steel and oil on Japan when the Japanese invaded Indochina one year earlier. 9/11, while there are a bunch of so called conspiracy theories that even I don't understand, my understanding was that 9/11 was unprovoked. I can't recall anything massive the US did that would've provoked what happened on that day.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

This just me but I really don't think you can even compare 9/11 to Pearl Harbor. World War II was still going on at the time and part of the reason why Japan initiated the attack, at least from what I've heard, was that the US placed an embargo on steel and oil on Japan when the Japanese invaded Indochina one year earlier. 9/11, while there are a bunch of so called conspiracy theories that even I don't understand, my understanding was that 9/11 was unprovoked. I can't recall anything massive the US did that would've provoked what happened on that day.

In both instances (I wrote a screenplay about Pearl Harbor and ended up doing massive research, and I've been to Pearl Harbor) they had warning, but not much. And some of the damage could have been prevented. In both instances, thousands of lives were lost. Pearl Harbor was also more detrimental from a military standpoint because so many of the ships were lost. There were a few hundred extra deaths in 9/11, and it was more horrific because these were civilians and not military. With Pearl Harbor, things were tense, but there were peace negotiations right before the attack, hence the surprise. Pearl Harbor was also the result of some stupid mistakes by a couple of government officials.

The motives for them were different. The hijackers were on some twisted Jihaddist mission, which they considered due provocation because to them the US is evil, while the Japanese were interested in military expansion. The US cut off oil, but the Japanese had a supply of oil. It was really because the US wanted to prevent the war. While WWII was in fact going on, the US was not involved as it was centered in Europe at the time.

Regardless, both had the characteristic of shocking the American people and bringing them together, though I think more so for Pearl Harbor than 9/11.

If @mouse_luv she may be able to elaborate (or correct) on the situation.

 

[Emilily]

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[englanddg]

I was working at a Military hospital at the time. I kept working...and ignored the news (unlike many of our Nurses! Every TV was tuned to it!)...why?

Well...I can't talk about it. (it's just boring anyhow)

WTC was bad, we were on high alert...but things got really tense after the Pentagon attack and that's when the base got closed off. I do remember being called to the CGs office to provide a spare laptop as he was going to be travelling in a few hours (no surprise there) and his laptop was "running slow" (it wasn't his laptop, it was the internet...because guess where some of the largest North American routers lived...? In the basement of WTC.

Also, it was because he had downloaded Banzai Buddy again...eventually I lied to him and said that it was a Chinese program and therefore a security risk...not completely true...not completely false! His response? "But, it makes my internet searching so much easier"...<sigh>

That evening I was late to my night job at Chuck E Cheese (something I did for fun)...and still didn't really get the whole story down until later that night.

9/11 also led to tension in the Reinsurance Markets, which trickled down to Insurance Companies and it led to the major investor in my first company (designing and programming insurance management software...similar to Ebix.com...but different all the same as it focused on the non-standard independent agents...)...anyhow, he pulled out, which led to that company collapsing.

Meh...

Funny that nearly 7 years later I'd be doing the exact same work again...

 

[Freshee61]

I had just walked out of my college math class on the second floor and as I walked to the stairwell i saw every one was looking over the balcony downstairs at the courtyard. The school had put out many tv for us to see what was going on. Very surreal. Very scary.
Never forget.

 

[real mad hatter]

Theres certain moments in life I'll never forget..This was the biggest..We were in Los Angeles for 3 weeks vacation visiting my wife's sister..That morning I was shaving when I heard my sister in law let out a scream..I thought something terrible had happened in the living room,my son was almost 2 years old. I remember I had cut my myself shaving as I rushed down the hall but my son was playing with his little nephew on the floor..I looked at my wife and sister in law who were glued to the TV..At first I thought I was watching a disaster film until I saw my wife and her sister crying..I'am sorry,but I can't type any more..

 

[MOXOMUMD]

I was working at a local restaurant when it happened. The tv in our break room only received one channel, NBC, so we took turns in five minute shifts of watching the news and updating each other. We didn't close and the restaurant ran business as usual because the owners thought New York was too far away, even though the whole scenario of a possible bomb on a plane landing at Cleveland Hopkins was not that far away. When the plane went down in Shanksville, also not far away, we kept serving those customers while businesses around us were closing. Schools were closing too but if you had no children, you could not leave work. I called my fiance who was a newspaper printer and they had to print three different front pages as the paper at the time had an afternoon delivery.

 

[CtDisneyGuy33]

I was in law school still and remember walking into class and seeing everyone having the TVs on and the professor with his feet up on the desk. We sat and watched everything for what seemed like an eternity (more like 20 minutes) and eventually he let us go and all classes were cancelled. I had many classmates who were scrambling and on cell phones trying to reach loved ones in NY. It truly seemed like a dream. I remember we also had tickets to the Championship of the local AA baseball team but it was obviously cancelled. So, instead, we all just sat in the living room and were glued to the TV.

 

[5thGenTexan]

I was driving on my way to work in a small local print shop. I had the big DFW AM news station on as I usually did in the morning. It was at a point where it was beind reported as just an aurplane hit one of the towers and they even were reporting a Cessna type aircraft. They were half joking about it and I was thinking what kind of moron can't miss a big building. Remember, this was just after the first plane hit and all kinds of stories were coming out. By the time I got my morning junk food at the convenience store and made it to the shop it was obvious that the situation was much more dire. We listened to the radio for a while, but at some point that morning I went home to get a small TV to take back to work. The afternoon is less vivid in my memory, but I do recall that no one was coming in and it was very quiet.

I was in the 6th grade when the Challenger exploded and I remember that day vividly as well.

 

[prberk]

Thanks, @5thGenTexan , for that reference to the Challenger explosion also. I was in college and we had a "TV room" that was usually the "MTV room," but that day it was on NBC's coverage of the Challenger explosion. I remember how they kept showing the family of the school teacher who had been aboard, and sort of doing a play-by-play of their reaction to finding out that their daughter had perished. Later, NBC and other news people decided never to do that type of coverage on family. I also remember that that night Joan Rivers was filling in for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, and she decided that although they would go ahead and have a show, it would be inappropriate to do a comedy monologue to start the show. So she sat on a simple stool in front of the curtain, explained how she felt, said we could get through this together, and then went to commercial. It was moving to me.

It was in my father's last year of his life that I realized that he was around and remembered Pearl Harbor Day. I am so glad that i thought to ask him about that and how his family and neighbors reacted to WWII.

It is important that we remember and pass on these events to our children. It is even more important that we take time with our own elders ask them about the past before their voice is silenced.

Thanks for everyone's contributions. Take time with your family and friends. it is important.