where were you on September 11, 2001 ?

[Callie McAllie]

I just thought I'd solicit the group here. Something worth remembering. For me, frankly, no detail is too small, so please use this space to tell your tale.

[Punkingal]

1. On my front porch in Las Vegas

Having my morning cup of tea with my hubby home from work for some reason I can't remember. Being Pacific time, it was very early.

I worked for American Airlines reservations at that time, but it was my regular day off, and a friend from work called and said a plane had hit the WTC and they were saying it was our flight #11 out of Boston. So it was immediately personal, not that it wouldn't have been anyway, but I might have booked people on that very flight! I was devastated. And I kept thinking, "But our pilots would never do something like that!" It was so mind-boggling that was my first thought, about our pilots, and how they would never do something so horrible.

I immediately turned on the television, just in time to see the second plane hit. I knew I should go to work, that we would be swamped, but I just couldn't do it. I knew it would be chaos at work. I just couldn't deal with it.

So I watched the horror all day. And cried off and on all day. I cried when I heard how one of our flight attendants had called Dallas and said they were hijacked and she could see water and tall buildings and then she said, "Oh my God." That still makes me cry. I cried when I learned they killed our pilots. You might think reservations was removed from the rest of it, but these guys called us often to book jumpseats, or to book their families, and American Airlines taught that we were a family. That was the corporate attitude, and it was a good one. It was an employee first company. Just before I went to bed that evening, they played the video of #11 going into the tower, and I cried myself to sleep.

I did work the next day, and it was very difficult. Everyone was so grief-stricken. One of my friends KNEW she had booked someone on flight #11 on September 11, because she and the passenger laughed at the coincidence. She was a basket case. And people who called were so kind. They offered condolences first thing, so I spent another day crying, this one at work, as did most everyone else. I looked up the flight manifests, so I could see the names of the people who died, so they would be real to me, and I could honor them. And I thought about our Chief Legal Counsel who spoke to my group in Dallas when I had gone for orientation, and said how happy they were that Bush had been elected, because he would be good for the business community. She really said that! I wondered if she still felt that way. And I looked up Mohammed Atta's Advantage account...it was still there. They had not removed it yet. He really did purchase a ticket with free miles, to steer the plane into the WTC.

I worked there 2 more years, then they shut down our office, a casualty of 9/11. And I am still sad and angry that it happened, and deep down I believe they let it happen. Or made it happen. And I am sorry for them, and for the karma they earned. I only know my own grief, and multiplying it by the millions who felt their own, what a tremendous amount of karmic debt someone has to pay.

[Callie McAllie]

3. I'm so sorry!

What a terrible painful time for everyone. So many people were impacted by this tragedy. I hope being able to tell your story here helped release some of that pain, at least a little.

[midnight]

25. So very sad to hear about your loss. It is absolutely astounding

that the 9-11 investigation recommendations remain ignored. The most significant recommendation is to have another investigation. I too was at home with my husband. I was watching the morning news with Matt Lauer, and he received an on air phone call indicating that the towers were hit. I don't remember the details of the phone call, but Lauer was basically telling the calling that what he,the caller, was talking nonsense.

[Ino]

2. Going to the airport

We had reserved a cab the day before to take us to the airport 9/11, going to Hawaii to get married. When the cab driver arrived about 9am CST, he said, "Are you sure you want to go to the airport?!" and that's how we found out what happened. He said all planes were being grounded, but no one knew for how long, so we went to the airport. It was pretty deserted and everyone was subdued, watching the news on the TV screens. They finally announced there'd be no flights that day so we went home.

They resumed flights two days later, and we were on the first flight out of St. Louis after 9/11. There were only about 50 people on the plane... everyone got to stretch out on center seats to sleep, got two dinners, 3 free movies. The Honolulu airport was surrounded by soldiers with machine guns. Just barely caught the last flight from Honolulu to Kauai. A family was in the condo we'd reserved, as they hadn't been able to leave, so the manager had to get up at midnight to let us into a different suite.

Got married a day late, so our rings have the wrong date inscribed on them.

[Callie McAllie]

5. Incredible

And now those rings will always be a reminder of what happened. I'm glad you were still able to get to Hawaii and get married though. What a story!

[LiberalEsto]

4. Doctor's office

The doctor walked into the exam room in a state of shock and told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. They'd heard it on the radio.

[Callie McAllie]

6. I was having breakfast in a remote part of Michigan

We were there for a work meeting, and I was having breakfast with someone from my staff who was frankly kind of annoying. We came out into the hotel lobby and all the staff were watching a building in flames on the tv. I said "what country is that?" They told us it was the world trade center. We went back to our rooms to pack and watch the news and figure out what to do next.

I spent the morning driving to the next meeting in another remote part of Michigan, feeling kind of lucky to be so far away from everything. I called my husband, of course, but I also called my mom, in NY. We were both convinced that they knew it was going to happen, maybe not exactly what, but something, and they let it happen to provoke their military agenda. Nothing happens in government without a crisis, I always say. I think she was relieved that I was so far away from everything too. Our meeting that night was cancelled, after the woman in charge of it finally realized the enormity of what had happened, and I ended up driving home with a new guy on our staff, who I barely knew. What a way to get to know someone.

What I also remember is the contrast between September 10 and September 11. The day before I had driven up for the meeting by myself, along Lake Huron, listening to a new CD, my gas guzzling minivan still full of stuff leftover from a yard sale we'd had. Some nice quiet time. I tried to unload the yard sale stuff at a thrift store I saw and all they would take was a desk. The didn't want my kitchen items or baby stuff, because they were having trouble moving their merchandise. The economy was too good. People were doing so well they didn't need to shop at the thrift store.

That evening, after a brief rainstorm, I saw the most fabulous double rainbow over Lake Huron. It was breath-taking. Our meeting that night went well, and a bunch of us sat around talking and laughing afterward. We had fun.

Then the next morning it all came apart. And hasn't been put back together since.

[cate94]

7. I was in the basement of the house I was selling , looking at the

crawl space, getting ready for the follow up home inspection. I was feeling like something really bad was going to happen, and I assumed it had to do with the sale of that house. The phone rang and I hustled to get it. "Do you have the news on?"

We were building a new house and I was working with a painting contractor on the interior of the new house. She is a very dear friend and was the one who called about the first plane. Then she asked me to pick up some supplies at Ace. They had the news on and that was when the second plane hit. I purchased my goods and went to the parking lot and cried.

It was the final days of new home building and many different contractors were at the house when I got there. The concrete guys had already started pouring the front walk. Tears, sadness and disbelief evident on every face. I wanted to send them home but it wasn't my call. It was the builders, Except for the painting contractor and myself I had no say in the comings and goings. I offered to let the painters go home but instead we all stayed and listened while we worked.

The front walk is spalling now, after only seven years. It doesn't even annoy me. It is such a small thing, isn't it? As it so happens, we are repainting this week. It just worked out that way.

[cate94]

8. I was in the basement of my old house, looking at the

crawl space, and getting ready for the follow up home inspection. I was feeling like something really bad was going to happen, and I assumed it had to do with the sale of that house. The phone rang and I hustled to get it. "Do you have the news on?"

We were building a new house and I was working with a painting contractor on the interior of the new house. She is a very dear friend and was the one who called about the first plane. Then she asked me to pick up some supplies at Ace. They had the news on and that was when the second plane hit. I purchased my goods and went to the parking lot and cried.

It was the final days of new home building and many different contractors were at the house when I got there. The concrete guys had already started pouring the front walk. Tears, sadness and disbelief evident on every face. I wanted to send them home but it wasn't my call, it was the builders. Except for the painting contractor and myself I had no say in the comings and goings. I offered to let the painters go home but instead we all stayed and listened while we worked.

The front walk is spalling now, after only seven years. It doesn't even annoy me. It is such a small thing, isn't it? As it so happens, we are repainting this week. It just worked out that way.

[cate94]

9. sorry for the duplicate post.

I got a message that it didn't post and I should repost. I did and now there are two. ?

[MorningGlow]

10. I was working at a local TV news station

It was an absolutely gorgeous day with a deep blue sky. Everyone in my department (Web site) was in a good mood--our horrid VP was on her honeymoon, so the atmosphere in the office was relaxed and positive. I had finished my morning duties in record time for some reason, so I was kicking back with my two closest friends at work, laughing and having a good time.

Then one of our coworkers called from the breakroom and said to me, "Turn the TV on. A plane just hit the World Trade Center." I actually LAUGHED, because I thought he meant a small, private plane, like a Cessna. I thought, "What kind of a pilot slams into a building that big?" I also took it lightly because the coworker who called me was a Web designer but was always trying to "help" by telling us about BIG NEWS we should cover. And it always turned out to be nothing and not worth even looking at.

So I casually turned on the TV in our suite, and saw the smoke billowing from the first tower. My friends and I were immediately subdued, trying to figure out what had happened--had a plane malfunctioned and gone out of control? Then, as we were staring at the TV, the second plane hit. We saw it happen live. I remember hearing everyone in the newsroom SCREAM, all at the same time. My friends and I gaped at the TV and all hugged one another, trying not to cry. We listened to the ABC announcer trying to piece together a story (I don't think Peter Jennings was on the air yet, although he's the face and voice I remember all that day, that night, and the following days--we were an ABC affiliate, so that was the source we used along with AP.) I called my husband and called my elder, then the phone lines started clogging and I couldn't get through to anyone else.

Then the initial shock wore off and I went into "action mode"--I sat down at a computer in the newsroom and started posting updates and didn't get up. My morning part-time employee had left but turned his car around, and I let him look up some things, but I wanted--no, I HAD TO do all the work myself that day. My part-time evening employee came in early, but he also worked at a radio station, so I told him to go there instead. I stayed in my chair till well after the evening news was over, posting update after update, answering frantic e-mails from viewers.

The next day or the day after I was pleased to receive many e-mails and phone calls from grateful people who said they kept our site loaded all day for the latest news, because it didn't crash. ABC News crashed, CNN crashed, etc., but we were still there and updating. Once I had time to think, I realized we performed a great service that day.

But on Sept. 11, I wasn't thinking like that. I was hardly thinking at all, except to parse the news, trying to make sense of it all, and posting what seemed like credible reports. Sometimes I got it right, sometimes I didn't. But I did my best, which was all anyone could do that day.

I left the station around 7:00 or 7:30 that night. My elder had called a meditation circle at 8:00 to calm things down. I stopped home first. Mr. MG was sitting in the living room, still glued to CNN, but I couldn't look at another news station--not for a little while. I hugged him, and the first words out of my mouth were, "Where were the intercept planes?" I've been a proud MIHOPer ever since. I followed that news like a bloodhound all day, and for many days afterward, and the official story just. does. not. stand. up.

After the meditation circle, I went home but couldn't go inside--CNN was still blaring and I had a headache. Instead, I sat down at the end of our dock (at the time we lived on a small lake) and looked out over the blackness of the water. It was darker than usual outside (was there some limit on lighting? I forget), and cold. I remember how silent it was, without planes flying overhead. We're so used to that noise, even from thousands of feet up, that you just don't notice it--but you do notice its absence.

I finally had a good cry (hadn't allowed a tear to fall all day) and found myself getting creeped out, being out there in the silence. So I went inside...and started posting updates to the site from home until well after midnight.

After a few hours' sleep I got up and went to the station and did it again. And again. And again, and again, and again, until everything was said that was going to be said and everything reported, correctly or incorrectly, that was going to be reported. I remember those months up till the end of the year as very bleak.

But I was glad to be able to contribute, if only in such a small way.

[WhiteTara]

11. I was in a motel on HWY 5

I had just completed a very successful sales meeting. The new company was geared up and very excited about the line. We had moved into a new building (much larger than the one we had previously) and our plans pointed to reaching the magic 1 million mark (we had hovered at 900 for a couple of years.

I went into the lobby and the tv was on. The first thing I saw was images of firefighters running down the street in the same direction as all the people. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Then someone told me about the towers. I stayed in the lobby for about an hour and watched. I was absolutely shocked/horrified. I had taken my niece and newphew to NY with me for a tradeshow less than a week earlier and we spent a few hours in the towers. All I could think of were those 50,000 people who worked and wandered through there every day. Because I was driving through the desert with no phone/radio reception, I spent the next few hours freaking out by myself.

Of course, my business tanked. No one wanted to buy anything that wasn't Red/White/Blue. I didn't (don't) believe in nationalism and had studiously avoided anything that even remotely resembled it. Two months later my largest account (totaling 600 stores) closed their doors forever. Two months later, so did I.

[davsand]

12. Heard the first report on the way to work with hubby and the kidlette.

Mostly they were making it sound like a small plane got lost.

Drove the rest of the way in, dropped off Material Girl at Pre-school and went into my office. I worked at a pro-bono legal organization that was just down the hall from the local FBI office. I walked in and booted up the computer just in time for the second plane to hit.

I sat in my office weeping and reading news at DU up to the point that I looked out my office window to see the local SWAT team scrambling to load up their van with equipment to dispatch. My office looked out on the back side of the city police main building and what I was seeing was NOT visible from the street. They were freaking out here in Central Illinois because nobody knew exactly what was happening at that point.

I called Kev and told him we were getting out of town ASAP. My logic was that my little town is tough to find and was probably not a target for anybody. Kev agreed with me, and said he'd be right over. I waited for him and he didn't show... Five, then, ten minutes went by and he was not there. I started freaking out and went out in the hallway where I was told by one of the FBI guys that they didn't want me to leave the building. I asked why, and was told "we" were on a "lockdown" due to the possibility of attack on ANY national agency office.

I explained to him that he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted but that my ass was OUT of there--that I worked for a statewide organization NOT the FBI. He tried to tell me that I wasn't allowed to leave and I asked him did he REALLY want to have that conversation with me (remember, I worked for a bunch of lawyers!) I walked out and left him standing in that hallway.

I got to the lobby and found my frantic husband standing out on the street because the FBI had locked the entire building. He'd had no way to get to me and was just about ready to hurl something thru a window.

We collected our daughter and went home.



Laura

[emcguffie]

13. arriving at work at UN

They sent us all down in the basement, into the big conference hall, where we sat on the floor and watched television, until they decided to send us home -- if we could get there -- around 11 am. Of course, it took until evening to get there.

[Callie McAllie]

32. I could not stop thinking about this yesterday

that must have been a most terrifying experience for you.

[rosesaylavee]

14. Maybe this will help. I keep expecting it not to feel the same way

but even after 7 years, this still makes me cry.

That morning we had the TV on before we went to work. My husband called me in to say a small plane had hit a building in NY. As he is a small plane enthusiast, he was upset on how this would play out in the news. We were watching the film - and trying to make out how that could be a small plane's worth of damage when the second plane hit.

I had to leave for work - got there and turned on the radio and told people as they came in what I knew had happened. Our boss and his wife were in a meeting all morning with their accountant so missed the initial stuff. They are born-agains and we just never seemed to sync up well and this was one instance that held true. I left by 11 as no one seemed sure at that point if the country was under attack as we live but 35 short miles from Chicago, just felt I needed to be at home.

Watched the television with my family all thru that day and for the rest of the week whenever we could - waiting, expecting news of the perpetrators getting caught, some definitive closing of the wound, some assurance that our lives as we knew them could resume. It never came. All that resulted from that was an indelible memory of planes crashing and people dying quickly and slowly before our very eyes.

When I went back to work that Wednesday, the boss' wife asked if I was 'all better now'. She just didn't feel any empathy or pain about what had happened.

Her comment still bothers me.

[Callie McAllie]

16. hard to believe

that anybody could be that cold and clueless. No doubt she is voting McCain-Palin. Yuck.

[rosesaylavee]

27. Their church paid $30,000 for Ollie North to come in

and spew about his then Faux News Show.

Their church is one of the new and improved Lettuce Entertain you places. Lots of glitz and rw talking points.

[SocratesInSpirit]

17. That's sad...

Some people seem to have limited capacity to feel empathy. When I was 23, my cousin, who was also 23, was killed in a car accident - he fell asleep while at the wheel. I was extremely upset, and when I told my boss, his reaction was basically, "big whoop - people die all the time." One of the reasons he's no longer my boss.

[Why Syzygy]

23. I almost

dated a guy from work one time. He was an ex-marine with the same attributes as your boss. Not that Marines are bad. That's what he related it to. However, when one of his dogs died, he was quite the different character. He was so sad. I got away from him, but always wondered if that changed his view of compassion.

[SocratesInSpirit]

24. I imagine a marine would have to be

a bit more hard-hearted about such matters to cope with the harshness of war. There was a touching picture I saw somewhere, though, of a soldier who didn't lose all his gentleness:

[SocratesInSpirit]

15. I was still in college...

I was asleep, and my husband (well, technically, we were just boyfriend and girlfriend at the time) called and woke me up. He told me two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, and in my sleep-fogged mind, I couldn't believe it. I turned on the TV and saw he was right. I watched a little of the news, but then I had to get ready for a 10 a.m. American Literature class. The professor - who was one of the kindest, gentlest souls I ever knew - told students they could leave if they wanted to (and a few people did), but for those who were staying, we would have a round-table discussion. He didn't turn the TV on, as so many other professors did; we had a thoughtful discussion about the currents in American history that led up to the events that were occurring now. It was surreal, yet calming - an oasis of peace among the madness. Afterward, I found out the towers had collapsed while I was in class.

My university had a candlelit vigil that night, with an open mic session - you could get up and say a few words to the student body if you wished. I spoke - all I remember is that I quoted Idgy from Fried Green Tomatoes - "Now is the time for courage."

And I still didn't trust Bush, but I knew that the "rally around the flag" effect would kick in. And kick in it did. In the months following that awful day, I saw previously liberal-leaning family and friends turn conservative - all too willing to sacrifice their freedoms for the illusion of safety. It was maddening - they were supporting the very people who would bring nothing but more despair and fear on our heads, and use Americans' grief and sorrow to perpetuate their own jingoistic, greedy, imperialistic aims. Fortunately, I think people are starting to wake up now. If it weren't for 9/11, Bush probably would have been a one-term president.

Now is the time for courage. :patriot:

[Callie McAllie]

18. Who was it that said at the Democratic Convention

that if Bush had just asked us to do something...conserve gas, whatever...we would all have done it? That was so true.

I remember he told us to go shopping, to support the economy. I am not a shopper but I went out and bought two new suits at Talbots!

Now IS the time for courage, you're right.

[SocratesInSpirit]

20. Heh - I still can't believe

"go shopping" was the best response Bush could come up with! Even when I got a job in metro-NYC a few years later, I was ten times more terrified about what Bush and his cronies would do to our country than being the victim of a terrorist attack.

A lot of people feared terrorists, I feared the GOP. :)

[latebloomer]

19. I dropped my kids off at school

and turned on a "talk radio" station- it must have been 6 minutes after the first plane hit. My instinct was to drive up to a local lookout from where you can see the Manhattan skyline, about 14 miles east. Hundreds of people were there, milling around in shock, watching the gray smoke billowing from the towers. I remember hugging a woman I'd never met and she repeating, "What is going on? Why? Why?" We heard that the Pentagon had been hit, and wondered what would be next. It felt like the world had been shattered into pieces. At one point I turned away from the towers, and when I turned back, one of them had disappeared.

I called my husband at work. It was his birthday. He left work and we went to pick up the kids from school- we didn't know what fresh horror might happen next. My husband went to my daughter's classroom, and I to my 9-year-old son's. They hadn't been told about the atrocity, but when he saw my stricken face, he immediately asked, "Did Daddy die?"

The rest of the day passed with a sense of horror and unreality. We shielded the kids from the TV and went out for a quiet birthday dinner. I had stopped at a store and noticed how kindly people were treating one another.

I think it was months before the shock started to pass and I started feeling halfway normal. I walked around in a state of shock, and every day the newspaper seemed to hold more fear and sorrow- the anthrax scare, the "Portraits in Grief" in the New York Times. I was so terrified that Bush was our president, and what reckless way he might respond.The whole world seemed to have changed, though I was well aware that people all over the world live with this kind of pain and fear every day.

I don't think I was able to cry for at least a month, when it got unleashed after making love.

[SocratesInSpirit]

21. I just wanted to say

your sensitive, articulate post really captured the feelings of those days for me! :hug:

I tried to express my grief, and ended up ranting against Bush. :silly:

:kick: for a new era of peace and light!

[Why Syzygy]

22. Running late to a new job

I was fortunate to have. I had escaped the tech support industry just after I trained our Canadian replacement, and the U.S. company was closed due to outsourcing. Welcome to 2001. I went to work in the Telecommunications industry with several of my co-workers from the closed company. Two weeks into that job, they had their first layoffs. I survived two. Welcome to Bush's economy where you get to do the job of three people!

My only child had graduated in May and was commissioned as an officer in the USAF. I had always hoped he would go for marine biologist, but flying is in his blood (thanks to his dad, not me!) There were some reports that summer that Bush was beefing up military pay or benefits, something that gave me hope that at least my son had a good employer. How wrong was that notion.

I had to take vacation time Labor Day week because my back had gone out. It never had before and never has since, but I was unable to straighten up. The muscle relaxants made me unfit for work. My rm and I had just decided that it was time for me to move out, by October 1. I was making more money than I ever had. 9/11 was the week later, or so. I was still worn out from the back, and took advantage of flex time to sleep a little later that day. I had stopped watching news much. I got what I needed at work or from my rm. Bill Clinton made it easy to not scrutinize. I wasn't interested in the scandals. Didn't pay attention. That morning I turned the radio in the car on for the drive in, and the regular talk show wasn't on. It was Dan Rather! I thought, oh no, what now. Waco? Oklahoma City? NASA? Dan Rather wouldn't be on my local station if something wasn't wrong. It took a few short minutes for him to repeat what happened, and I sobbed out loud.

When I got to work, I was directed to park across the street. Our building had a bomb threat. We waited around awhile and my boss said we could go if we wanted. I sure did. I just remember sitting in the living room watching tv for the rest of the day. Over and over. No sign of Bush. The whole thing struck me as super creepy, and I have never trusted him. I knew something very bad was behind it all. And there sure was.

[LWolf]

26. At home.

Just released from the hospital, where I spent 6 days, 4 in intensive care, for a head injury.

A head injury that was the pinnacle of the literally worst year of my life. I was barely functioning emotionally, after a devastating blow in January, and trying to learn to accept losses, limitations, and grief. Then I was injured; a skull fracture, severe frontal lobe concussion, loss of the sense of smell, and some shooting pains and tingling along my extremities.

I'd gotten home the day before. My older son called me and demanded that I turn on the tv, knowing that I won't watch tv news, and it wasn't yet in the paper. I turned it on, watched for about 10 minutes. Thought sadly, "That's too bad." And turned it off.

By that evening, I hadn't turned the tv back on, but I was wondering what political debacle Bush would make out of the spectacle, and wondering if an emotional nation would give him enough rope to take off.

In later days, I found myself experiencing rage. Nobody gave a SHIT when my life, all but the physical part, went down flaming. Nobody was talking about all of the deaths due to murder and manslaughter and abusive family members and neighbors and strangers and gang wars and greed that happen to American citizens every damned day of the year; easily more than the casualty total on 9/11. Nobody remembers those people, gives them a moment of silence, and we sure as hell don't bankrupt the nation trying to enact revenge.

There are people in all kinds of pain, trouble, and crisis, every day in our nation. People who lose their lives every day. They are invisible.

I resented the way one group of innocent victims is valued over another; I still do. I more than resent politicians using those innocent victims to further political agendas, while doing nothing to stem the tide of people in trouble every day on our home soil. I still do.

I find the mention of 9/11, and the "remembrance," brings back all of that rage and resentment. Still.

I'm sorry for the victims. They aren't, though, more sacred than any other sufferers.

Probably not the kind of response you were expecting to your question, but there you are; it's an honest one, anyway.

[Callie McAllie]

33. It is an honest response. I'm sorry for your suffering too

Very sorry! I'm sure there are lots of others who feel the same way. I think the best way to channel that rage is at Bush and company. They are the ones who turned a tragedy into a cause, a vendetta.

[LWolf]

38. That's true.

Along with that has been a sometimes overwhelming sense of frustration and futility, that the nation allowed that tragedy to be profaned in that way.

To be honest, I don't think Bush and company gets away with any of what they've done if the nation truly opposes them. Too often, people allow our emotional triggers to be pulled, allow ourselves to be used for corrupt agendas.

Too often, people are too eager to believe whatever we hear or are told, without looking any further.

Too often, we are willing to allow fear to rule us.

To often, we are willing to direct our energies to the lowest frequencies, in anger, in arrogance, in revenge, in bullying, in competition and "winning," rather than collaboration and partnership.

Too often, we are willing to allow our leaders to "parent" us, instead of requiring that our leaders serve us.

If I have a prayer for the people of the nation and the planet, to help us move forward, it is for clear, unobstructed vision, higher purpose, and sound judgment.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Honolulu Hawaii (Navy housing)

When the phone rang at oh...dark hundred (04:30) the conure poked her head out.

My sister (In San Diego) says... you know what is going in New York? It's horrible

Hold it...start from the beginning...

So she sputters some of it, including buildings collapsing and terrorist attack. I knew instantly my husband's PAC was bow a war patrol.. and even the parrot knew something was wrong and walked over to bed to nuzzle.

The rest of the next week are a blurr... as well as SPAM... planes stopped flying.. the Islands ran out of milk, for example. And of course we had over 10K people stuck in Paradise who wanted to ahem go home

[MagickMuffin]

29. At home asleep, a friend called to tell us planes were flying into buildings

I told my hubby and we got out of bed, immediately started looking for video tapes and recorded the news of the events. I knew that the bush regime/cabal/cartel were somehow involved with what was happening that day. I watched in horror as people jumped to their deaths, smoke billowing from the towers. How could hijackers use "box-cutters" to hijack four planes?.?.? How is that possible?.?.?


Flashback to August the 30th. We were at our friends house (the same one who called us on 9-11) discussing a business we were trying to start. It was his wife's B'day but she was out with her girlfriends.

They lived on the lake and had a long dock. Across the lake from them is a Naval/Air Force base.

I went outside and walked the length of the dock and sat down and was feeling something powerful come over me. I knew something Wicked was approaching.

The night was overcast and the clouds were dark and thick. There was a sense of doom that was consuming me.

I couldn't shake the feeling I was experiencing so I called out to the gods and goddesses and super-heroes to cast out the evil that was looming.

I was asking the Universe how can man be so evil and greedy.

How can man do so much harm in the world?.?.?

How can man be so shortsighted that they would pollute the air which harms the birds and the humans who have to breathe the air, which the affects the water, the fish who swim in the water, the water we have to drink?.?.?

How can man be so insensitive knowing that they too have to breathe the same air and drink the same water as well as their children?.?.?

What makes man so greedy to not care?.?.?


Flash-forward: After watching the towers collapse I kept thinking where IS the pResident.

Why is HE not addressing the public?.?.?

Where IS he?.?.?

Why IS he hiding?.?.?

Who IS in charge?.?.?

Why wasn't NORAD dispatched?.?.?

HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO HAPPENED?.?.?


I called my sister later that night and was so upset. I tried to explain to her that I thought bush & cheney were behind it. She replied that Osama bin Laden was responsible and she was waiting for the day that we would catch bin Laden and tie his balls to a F-16 and drag him to his death. That was the last time we spoke to each other. I did talk with her daughter back in March of this year and she told me that my sister claimed that I had stated that we deserved the attacks. I couldn't believe that my sister is so delusional as to think anyone would deserve that kind of cowardly act, especially me a known anti-violent person. I have often wondered what big sister thinks about bin Laden roaming free for the past 7 years.:shrug:

I tried to warn her about the bush regime/cabal/cartel and all she wanted to hear is something I did not say.



I knew that bush would get a green light for whatever he wanted to do and get away with it.

If he wasn't a part of this

Why did the crime scene get swept up so quickly?.?.?

Why did he try and block ANY investigation?.?.?

Why did it take so long for an investigation?.?.?

And WHY did he make sure there wasn't enough funding for the investigation?.?.?




Sorry about the long post, but I haven't really talked about this with very many people. Most people have the mind to never think the government could be a part of something like this, however, the BFEE has been involved with these kinds of crimes forever, and they usually always get away with them.

[Why Syzygy]

30. I believed he

and other thugs were responsible, MIHOP at the very least. That was what disturbed me more than the loss of life or any other thing. I never breathed a word to anyone of my fears. Didn't know about DU then. I was doing a self study on an office software program, and one of the examples in the book had you type a paragraph about government created crisis and government introduced "solutions". It was presented in just a matter of fact way, and any other year would have just been so much commentary. I did show that section to one friend, and she gave me a knowing nod and look. We didn't talk about it, but were both thinking the same thing.

[BlueIris]

31. Up early in a dirty, overpriced house in southern Oregon, with a bad ex-boyfriend

and deadbeat roommate. Unemployed and living off dwindling savings. What I remember most now is how pathetically shallow my emotional personality was, how inadequate a vessel my entire life was for the tsunami of chaotic change that was to come. I was also surrounded by bad, bad people. My ex-boyfriend's parents showed up later that day (we were all supposed to have dinner and they decided to keep the date) and were actually excited about the attacks because ebf's father was out of work and they thought the war would "stimulate the economy!" I did cry at the end of the day, though, but I doubt my one-dimensional self had much of an idea what I was crying for.

GOD. It's such a hideous memory.

[SocratesInSpirit]

35. Ouch... that sounds horrible!

Hopefully you are in a better situation now. :hug:

[Eurobabe]

34. On a bus tour in Cotswolds (England)

No one could believe what we were hearing. Suddenly cell phones began ringing and the details came in, radio was broken on the bus. We ran into a pub in Ealing, Broadway, they had on CNN and we saw the towers fall. I got physically ill and ran into the bathroom. Mixed group of people, you could have heard a pin drop on our way back to London. Everyone was in shock. I had to fly from UK to Germany the next day, I was scared to even breath.

[Celebration]

36. I was asleep

Having a dream about my family being at an airport. I couldn't find my ID, my ticket, and I was sitting on the floor frantically searching through a bag, like a bag lady. My husband and daughter were pretty disgusted.

Meanwhile, a very tall, blond, Aryan Nazi looking type person who kept his eyes straight ahead ahead was in the line with me. He had a very strange, but powerful air about him.

Usually I forget my dreams but remembered that because of the day.

When I awakened I checked email and saw ten or eleven news updates from CNN. Then I turned on television, and sent the following message via AOL messenger to my daughter in college in Houston.

"War?"

She had not heard anything and thought it must be Israel.

Yes, it was a gorgeous day throughout the entire country.

[Grateful for Hope]

37. In NY getting ready to drive back to Pittsburgh

I was visiting my kids, and, had planned to go back to Pittsburgh that day. I was in a motel room watching CNN, and, suddenly a picture of a plane half in/half out of a WTC building popped on the screen. The anchor did not know what to make of the picture as no one had told her what had happened. I kept watching, and, then, the 2nd plane hit. I immediately called my oldest daughter and told her that "this was no accident".

I finished getting ready to go, checked out of my room, and began the long drive back. I was driving through the Delaware Water Gap area, and heard on 1010 WINS about the Pentagon crash and the Shanksville incident. Since one of my sons was in Pittsburgh, I was frantic to contact him because the Shanksville crash was so close to that area. I couldn't reach him, but, I was able to reach my boss who told me to turn around and go back as it would be better not to be on the road.

I was really frightened by this time as it seemed that a plane could come crashing down anywhere, and, it didn't seem as if we were being protected at all. I wondered "where is Bush?". "Why haven't we heard from him?".

I also called my other children, and, I was only able to reach my youngest son, who told me that his wife's brother worked in one of the WTC buildings and they were terrified for his safety. We found out later that he had made it out of the building, and he was unharmed.

When I got back to NY, I had a lot of trouble finding a room as all routes into and out of NYC were closed, and it left people scrambling to find places to stay. I finally found a room near West Point. I immediately noticed that the other rooms were full of military personnel, and, I had my first experience with the feeling of "being watched". I am not sure why I felt this way at the time, but, in retrospect, I think the feeling was accurate.

I spent a few days in that room, as I was able to work remotely on my laptop, and, I continuously watched coverage of the search for victims. It was horribly depressing, and, I just couldn't believe this catastrophe had been allowed to happen.

I was pretty much in shock at the time, but, I still had some nagging feelings that something was wrong with the picture they tried to paint of the horror. It took me some time, but, now I am firmly in the "MIHOP" camp, and, I think it is imperative that we have another investigation -- an international investigation (as this event impacted the entire world).

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

39. We were living in Oakmont, PA (Pittsburgh suburb) at the time

My husband was at work, and I didn't turn on the TV when I got up as I usually do because all that had been on was shark attack coverage, of which I was heartily sick. My husband called and asked if I'd heard anything about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. I turned on MSNBC and learned the horrible news. I was just glued to the TV for days, crying and horrified.

My late sister, who was suffering from metastatic breast cancer, called in a panic when she heard about the crash of United 93 near Pittsburgh. I assured her that we were fine and that the crash site was about 80 miles away. She died on October 26, 2001, the day the PATRIOT Act was signed.

We didn't know anyone who worked in the World Trade Center, but some Kansas friends of ours have a daughter and son-in-law working at Goldman Sachs, so I called to find out if they were okay, and fortunately they were.

[Callie McAllie]

40. I'm sorry about your sister

Good that the children of your Kansas friends survived, though.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

42. Thank you

Yes, I know they were pretty frantic - their daughter wasn't working that day and hadn't been able to reach her husband for hours - she finally got hold of him and there was such relief.

:hug:

[japple]

41. Driving home from my Mother's funeral, my husband and I

stopped at a country gas station. I stayed outside to talk with a cat who lived there and he went inside. When we got back in the car, he said "turn on the radio, there's something going on...something about the Pentagon being bombed." We listened in stunned silence to the radio all the way back home (fm. GA to NC).

We had made the trip to see Mom the weekend before, knowing it would probably be for the last time, and it was. She died on Sept. 8, and was buried on Sept. 10. On the morning of Sept. 11, we woke to clear, clean blue skies and cooler weather, and I remember thinking how happy I was that my Mother's spirit had been freed from her diseased body. That whole weekend was like a long surreal dream.

[Why Syzygy]

43. Wow.

Chills.

[oceanspirit]

44. Everyone has a story where they were at the exact time the first plane hit

I think that there is no one in the U.S. that will ever forget where they were at that time.

For me, I was just getting out of the doctors office. I got into my car, and the radio was on. They were very somber and broadcasting what had just happened. I actually thought to myself, what kind of an idiot would pull such a sick joke as this. This has to be a sick joke. Then . . .

The second plane hit. Oh my god. I was terrified for all of us. My husband was in France on business at the time. I had two children at home. One who was in high school, and one in college. I immediately called my daughter (woke her up) and asked her please do NOT go to you're 11 am class today. She asked why and I told her. She freaks out rather quickly. so in an attempt of calming her down, my girlfriend called me and asked me where I was. I told her and she asked me to please please come over and sit with her for a bit. She was scared out of her mind. Sitting there alone, she just couldn't wrap her mind around what she was seeing.

I went over to girlfriends house, we had coffee, and really didn't say a word. Total dismay. No words could ever explain what was going on in our country. I had to eventually leave her house and head off to work.

Well if you have followed MG's adventures of the job from hell. Well that is where I worked. (she had not started there yet) I went to work and everyone was gathered around my little 5 inch black and white tv in my office. Glued to my TV. No one could actually work.

We had bosses at the time, who didn't understand why we couldn't do our jobs that day. Also our building is only four miles away from the airport. They shut down all air traffic. The silence was deafening. It was so eery.

I knew my son was safe at his school. I kept in touch with my daughter. I had ever intention of leaving and getting home to my family. Family is #1 in my book. Not in my bosses book. Everyone else in the building were allowed to go home to be with their families. NOT us. He (boss) decided to defy the President's of the University suggestion to let all staff go home to be with their loved ones. Since I had only been there a few months, I wasn't comfortable with getting up and walking out (Like I'd do now)

When I got home after 6pm, my kids were terrified. I had tried for hours to get ahold of my husband in France. The lines were jammed. Finally after being glued to CNN for the night, I got ahold of him around midnight. He was scared for us home. His company (Kodak at the time) decided it was best to send these guys home to their families. Although it sounds nice,I thought to myself and said to my husband "Are they nuts?" Sending these guys home on planes. I was terrified.

As the days went on, the disbelief turned into extreme anger.

this is a day I will never forget as long as I live.

Oceanspirit