September 11

[Saena]

I had unusually good response on this from the other message board I frequent, and so in an effort to get people of a wider age range to respond, I thought I'd post here too.

In my Lit class, my professor gave us the following assignment for our Monday meeting (September 11): "Discussion of this date's impact on you, your world, the world- bring in relevant poems, passages." Now, conventionally, one would bring in some piece of literature, but I asked him if it could be anything so long as it related to September 11. He said yes. Therefore, I would like to ask the Kittens to tell me their stories about what they experienced on September 11. I will use those and the answers of the other people I asked to get a sense of how people in different parts of the world felt when the attacks occurred. Here's what I'd like from you:

~Where you were and what happened the day the September 11 attacks occurred. How old were you (approximately, you can just give a general range if you want)? How much did you understand of what was happening? What were your feelings? If you are not an American, what was your reaction to the event? Did your perceptions change after the attack?

~A first name, or some way to identify you on the assignment.

~An age (I suppose this is optional, if you're uncomfortable giving out that sort of information)

~A general location (country; include state if you want)

You can get this to me one of three ways:

~post here!

~send me a private message

~email it to me: swbastien@smcm.edu

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers! The responses I've gotten from others so far have been really enlightening, and I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Saena

[Candleshoe]

I am 29 (so was 24 at the time) and live in England. I was at law college on September 11th. I was waiting for my best mate to finish his lecture, and I was sitting in the cafeteria reading a textbook on commercial property law. I had just read about the enforcement procedures for local planning authorities (yawn) when the one of the members of staff ran over to the TV that was on quietly on in the corner. There were about 15 other students dotted around the room, but I was on my own.

She shouted to us and turned the TV up really loud, and we all ran over. There was complete silence as we saw that the usual afternoon soap had been interrupted by the news and we saw pictures of the first tower falling. There were, I guess, about 20 people in the room, staff and students, and it was completely silent, apart from the TV. The other details are quite vivid, but that's the thing that struck me the most. The silence. I was stunned. It took me a few moments to realise that it wasn't an accident, the news report were saying it was a terrorist attack, but I thought maybe that was a mistake, there couldn't be anyone that would cause so much deliberate death and destruction, could there?

About 20 minutes later, as the second tower fell, the noise level was astounding for a few moments, as we all shouted, gasped or swore. After the previous silence, it was suddenly deafening.

I remember the other classes ending and the room getting fuller and fuller as more and more people gathered around the TV, each new person seeing the pictures for the first time, while some of us had been standing there for an hour or more. The news must have spread around the college somehow, I guess.

At some point James found me and we held each other, both of us crying. It was odd, because neither of us knew anyone who would have been in New York at the time (although we both have family in the US) but there was a strange profound shock and grief over the deaths of people we didn't know and had never met, but felt an affinity with.

My world got smaller and more dangerous that day. I realised that there were groups and organisations that I knew nothing about, but which could have a devastating effect on my world, and the lives of the people I loved.

We went back to James' house, had some dinner, and cried over the news all evening. Neither of us wanted to be on our own, which is odd, because we weren't really that dependent on each other usually. For me, the real grief was in the small stories: the individuals, their families, the fire-fighters, the names, the photos. I never knew them, but I cried for each one.

Church that Sunday was packed. There were people sitting in the aisles in a Cathedral that seats thousands, that's how packed it was. There was standing room only at the back.

The actions taken by George Bush after the 11th are just as controversial here as anywhere, and my opinion is just that - an opinion. Personally, I would have rather seen a more considered approach than the knee-jerk reactions which seem to have happened in the US and UK. I wish there had been a more considered approach amongst some of our politicians too.

My opinions on the politics haven't changed, and I am hit afresh by the horror of this every time I see or hear something about it. I try to watch something every year at around this time, so that I don't forget the families who will never be able to forget, and to remind myself that life is short, life is precious, and not to waste a minute of it.

I babbled, sorry.

[Gatito Grande]

I was personally very blessed, in the way that I found out about it.

My personal life was in disarray at the time: my ex had left me, and we had a divorce-court date set for October. (*)

All by myself in Michigan, I had decided in late August that what I (age 39, FWIW) needed most was a Road Trip back to "where I come from" (Northern California: Sacramento).

Ergo, completely by accident, I was with the people I most wanted to be with, in a tragedy of this scale: my parents, and my Closest Friend in All the World (the sister of my heart ).

My best friend's spouse woke me up. I'll never forget his words: "[GG], wake up, and come watch the TV: the world is going nuts!" As I stumbled downstairs to the TV, I saw the second tower fall.

I stared dumbfounded. I'd lived in NYC for 4 years, and was still enrolled in an NYC university, completing my doctorate there. It didn't seem real. I absolutely COULD NOT believe my eyes!

My best friend and I then drove over to my parents (my parents are sort of her parents, too---she has no living parents, or even parents-in-law). We stopped at the church I'd grown up in, on the way over (as I suspected, it was open, and people were coming in and out, praying).

It occurred to me: this was the capital of California, and the State Capitol is an easily aimable target, by air. Could it happen here, too?

When we got to my parents, my mom had spoken to her friend-since-childhood, who lives in Lower Manhattan: she was safe, Thank God (keeping her windows tightly closed, from the toxic dust).

Later, my friend and I returned to her place, where we talked to her daughter (my namesake: then 9 years old). She didn't seem scared, but she had LOTS of questions (most of which, we couldn't answer---but she seemed comforted, just to hear us try...)

The next day, I set out, driving back to My Real Life (in Michigan---the looming divorce, and my future). I thought about the lives lost in the attack, the entire way. On the radio, I heard a lot of screaming, and "Kill 'em all!" talk. Lots of people (most of whom should have known better) were saying, re the terrorists, "It doesn't matter who they were, or what they wanted. Revenge! Revenge!"

...and, as always, I DO want to know. Where the hate comes from. Why people feel they have to kill (and die).

GG If we don't ask questions, how can we EVER learn??? Out

(*) I've heard that other couples got back together, in light of 9/11. Not my ex! If anything, I think it only confirmed to him "Life is Short: Get Rid of [GG] ASAP!"

[dynigirl]

I was 22 and towards the end of a year travelling, a week away from going home. I was in Calgary, Canada. The first I knew about the attack was the hostel manager burst into our dorm and to let us know that the airport was closed if any of us were due to fly. Everyone from the hostel crowded around a small TV in the lounge type room. The hostel provided tea, coffee and biscuits, which is quiet alot as hostels very rarley give much away.

At that time I felt the strongest urge I had had all year to call home, just to let my Mum know I was safe. I even said to the group of people watching the TV where ever your family think you are call them and let them know you are safe.

After watching the same scene of the planes fly into the towers for few hours both myself and Kylie who I was travelling with at the time decided we had to get out.

Many American owned chain shops had closed for the day. The city centre had an eary emptiness around it.

Within less than a week I was back in Vancouver trying to find out if I could fly home. In the end both my flight from Vancouver to LA and LA to London were the first for both airlines since the tragedy, and after 48 hours of waiting on airports and very little sleep I made it home.

It was not untill I made it home and read all the reports that I realised the extent of the global impact that the attacks were and are still having. Selfishly untill that point I had only thought about how I was going to get home.

As a student of religious studies I found and still find much of the reporting very prehudiced against Islam, branding all Muslims as extremist and portential threats, when this is certainly not the case. I have stopped watching many news reports for their mis-representation of serveral religious groups.

Now I remenber the date as the birthday of one of my best friends son.

[mole]

I was 33 in 2001 and driving to work on the morning of the attacks when I heard the first report on the radio. I remember thinking it must be a terrorist attack, even though news reports in Denver at that point were still reporting it as a small plane accidentally hitting the south tower. By thte time I got to work and turned on the radio at my desk, reports were indicating that it wasn't a small plane but was in fact a commercial jet. At that point, I knew my assumption of terrorism was correct. I remember co-workers arriving and asking what the latest reports were saying. My desk became information central since I had the only radio in the area. When the second plane hit, one of the nurses in the clinic turned on the TV in our patient treatment room and we watched - horrified and numb - as CNN rolled the footage over and over, each angle more gruesome than the previous one. When the south tower fell, a heavy silence settled on our clinic, which only intensified as news of the Pentagon attack and collapse of the north tower crawled across the screen.

There were some tears, but mostly mute disbelief. Personally, I thought it strange that we, as Americans, were shocked that terrorism had made its way to our shores. Much of the rest of the world lives with the threat of terrorism every day. I felt then and still believe now, that our society is incredibly arrogant to think we should be immune. I mourned the death of so many and celebrated the heroism of passengers on Flight 93 and the first responders who risk, and often lost, their lives to save others. I was and remain disgusted with our political leaders who paidno heed to warnings and seemed to care only for themselves and their political futures.

Good luck on your assignment, Saena.

Michelle

[Hers Always]

I'm from Florida.
I was in 10th grade and 15 years old. And I was sitting in my JROTC class. My instructor's wife called him and told him to turn on the television, it was just after the first plane hit the first tower. No one really knew what to say and were just kind of looking at everyone else. We kept watching and we saw the other plane hit the other tower, there were some gasps then it was just quiet. Then all of the JROTC classes came into our classroom and we watched the tv some more. When the first tower fell one of my classmates began crying, her uncle was in that tower and she didn't know if he was okay. After the second tower fell, some of my friends and I went up to the instructor and asked him if we can go and put the flag at half mast, since it was ROTC who put up and took down the flag every day. So my three best friends went into the uniform room and changed into service dress and then marched to the flag and did a formal flag raising and setting at half mast. After we went back, I sat in that room and skipped all of my classes that day and just watched tv.

When I got home, my youngest cousin was four and my uncle had taken her out of pre-school. Everyone was gathered at my house, and my cousin was just crying and crying. We knew it was sad and I guess didn't figure that she would understand what was happening. It turned out that what was happening was that they kept replaying the plane striking the tower and the collapsing of both towers taht she thought it was happening over and over again. She didn't realize that they were only replays. She just ran over to me and hugged me. I picked her up and took her outside and sang to her so she would just relax and fall asleep. After I got her to sleep I put her in my bed and went back out to the living room and watched the tv. My uncle went home soon after that, he knew that she would have alot of questions and he wanted to be at home for that.

Shortly after that, my father was recalled to active duty and did three tours with the Air Force. He was gone for four years. He now lives across town from my mother. My parents got divorced and now my father and I barely speak.

[Saena]

Thank you guys for your responses; they were very insightful. The other message board I asked this question on is made up of mostly teenagers and young adults (high school and college age), so I was glad to get the perspective of this board, where I expected words from mainly adult women. I'm all for diverse surveys. Thanks again, I appreciate it.

Saena