Where were you?

[I.R Joey]

Somber anniversery.

Hard to believe it's only been three years since 9/11, it seems so far in the past, yet we all remember it as freshly as if it happened a week ago. Maybe that's because we've all grown so use to the new normal, Orange alerts, threats from radicals, Airport security etc...

I remember where I was, it was around 6 in the morning California time when my Mother told me that a plane had hit the World trade center. Like many I assumed that it was a tragic accident, and I said a quick prayer. After my ritual morning shower I came out to watch the morning news. It was then that I learned that a second plane had hit. Then I knew not just that it was a terrorist attack, but who had done. I remember thinking to myself "Bin Laden." Next the Pentagon was hit and everyone knew what was happening. I posted a thread on Toonzone expressing my shock, some of you might remeber it. I remember walking to school, it was the second day of my Junior year of High School, I just kept on thinking "this is like an action movie or a comic book." It was almost surreal, that whole day was like walking into another world. At school all kinds of rumors were flying, one person said they were coming out to the west coast, another that they were evacuating Los Angeles. We all paused for a second to consider the illogical nature of that statement, but on that day anything seemed possible. It was at school that I heard that the towers actually collapsed. As I was leaving school a friend of mine said. "It's easy to deal with it when this kind of thing is happening in Israel, but now it's here." The walk home was also surreal for me, for much of the rest of the day we all just sat watching the T.V. I didn't feel like indulging my cartoon habit, I didn't feel like drawing, none of my favorite things seemed to even matter anymore. I know alot of you hadn't come to Toonzone yet, but let me tell you it was a somber mood indeed. I posted a
"Roll call" thread to see if everyone on Toonzone was okay and much to my relief everyone seemed to be okay. I remember Harley had a particularly touching story being one of our resident New Yorkers.

I also remember being concerned about the innocent Arabs/Muslims in our country, and how people might strike out at them for simply being who they were. Memories of WW2 internment camps flashed through my mind. It was a terrible thought.

Strangest of all though was a feeling of excitement. I knew the pages of history were turning infront of my very eyes. The stage of history, and I was going to play a small part in it.

So how about you?

[The_NewCatwoman]

Strangest of all though was a feeling of excitement. I knew the pages of history were turning infront of my very eyes. The stage of history, and I was going to play a small part in it.I feel that way all of the time. I felt really guilty about being excited about the Florida hurricanes. What with my not even living there, but the fact that records are being created intrigues me greatly. I feel the same way about a variety of topics, even war, which I'm against. Strange.

I was in my second hour English class when the planes hit so I didn't know about it until I reached my third hour Economics class (I had the same teacher the previous year for History so it wasn't far off base that the television would be on.) The class filed in and we watched the meyham unfold, everyone growing more and more tense by the second. Our teacher warned us that there was a good chance that at least one of the towers looked like it was going to collapse so it wasn't so much of a shock when they did. We marked the spots where the planes where crashing on a map on the blackboard in the back of the room. We were guessing that the attacks would go up and down the coast but were wrong. Finally a girl tripped going back to her seat and made a great deal of noise doing it and someone made a joke that I won't repeat here, but I don't feel bad for laughing. Everyone in the class burst, and it felt like everyone was letting out all of their anxiety with that laughter. Kind of like the air being let out of a balloon. Our teacher however said something along the lines of our not being serious--or something like that, I don't remember--and shut off the television. I think we had a discussion of what was going on after that. During lunch I kind of wandered around in a daze before heading to my fourth hour French class where my teacher informed me that my mother was waiting for me in the Student Services office. She took my sister and I home where I--emotionally exhausted--took a nap, wondering to myself before I fell asleep that the world might very well be ending. A few months afterward, I discovered I was afraid of sleeping in tall buildings (which ended up happening once but was enough to let me know that I wasn't over the attacks yet.) Everytime a plane went over head I started getting really anxious but kept my feelings to myself until much later. I no longer suffer from that trauma and am at peace with writing this, so I suppose things are better for me now.

tNC

[AndreaBeaumont]

I was walking from my second bell to my third bell and could feel something was going on. It was a weird hushed whisper running through the hall and people hurrying to class instead of dallying in the halls. I walked into spanish and Senora Campos looked distraught and tv was on. We all sat down and without asking anyone in seconds somehow I comprehended what was going on. I was in shock. A girl in my class burst into tears, her dad worked in the pentagon. It was hell, I felt like I was suffocating.

I walked dazed to lunch hoping to take solace in my food. They brought two large televisions into the lunch room and turned them on. The lunchroom was hushed and quiet. People whispering. I remember not being able to eat. The towers were still up then I think, both of them? What was the exact time the first fell? I don't recall, but for some reason I get the distinct impression during lunch they were still up, maybe I'm wrong.

The rest of the day passed in a haze. I remember going home though and my mom sitting on the couch glued to the tv. I remember watching the planes hit then, watching them play footage of the towers falling, people crying, people holding each other, people saying "Oh God" and "Oh Lord" in the background as planes hit, as people jumped and fell to their deaths.

I remember crying then.... For everyone.... For the extreme loss of life...

[Czar Gato]

I was in my first period English class and second period French class as it happened, but I didn't find out until the beginning of third period Bio. We thought it was just an accident, but our teacher told us we were under attack. I didn't believe her since many people at the school thought she was crazy, but then after class there was an impromptu gathering of the whole school in the gym and we said a rosary for the victims (I went to a Catholic high school). The whole student body was abuzz with rumors, and the sense of anxiety made my head spin. In religion class, all we did was listen to the local radio news station. I was sick to my stomache and I cried. Everyone was worried about their parents since many of them work in DC- including the Pentagon- and my dad was an FBI agent, so I especially feared for his safety. When he got home very late that evening, he told me he could see smoke rising above the buildings from a far off distance. Our neighbors' mom was one of the missing from the Pentagon, and I don't think they've ever even found her remains. All our relatives in New York were okay, though, thank God.

"We shall overcome..."

[Sandoz]

I was in school, in between classes, when I heard about it. A girl I knew was whispering to another person about "a plane hitting the World Trade Center" but I didn't know what to think or say. In study hall people were talking about it, but there wasn't a lot of solid information going around, just rumors. Then we heard about both towers and the plane crash at the Pentagon and real fear set in for most of us (my father occasionally works at the Pentagon but he wasn't there; the father of a guy who carpooled with me, however, saw the plane go right over his head). For some reason the mental image I had was of a tiny plane with one person inside hitting the tower and barely making a dent in it; obviously, when we were allowed to watch the news in the library, that wasn't the case. No one there could think of anything to say.

[PowerZord]

I was in high school, Eleventh grade.
And guess which class?

History of the United States

[Numbuh 4]

I was in 8th grade. I completely forget which period. But I remember watching it in Spanish class.
At first I really though it was just some sort of accident, cause all I heard at first was "A plane crashed into the Twin Towers." But as soon as the second one hit and the Pentagon was hit I realized what was happening. I felt pretty sick and scared the rest of the day.

~:knd4:
God Bless America

[purplehairedwonder]

I was at home watching TV - Good Day Atlanta. I was late for school (I was in 8th grade at the time) so my mom was going to give me a ride. She was in her room getting dressed, so I was watching the TV while I waited. I rememer seeing pictures from the first plane and thinking how horrible and sad it was. Then, I went to school and everyone seemed a bit shaken up. Some teachers had the news on, but the principal came over the intercom and said that only history classes should have the news on and talk about it, but we talked about it in all our classes. We heard about the other planes and the tower's collapsing in school.

I remember coming home and my mom was watching NBC for the news. But mostly I remember everyone being shocked and shaken up, and somber. Amazing how mature younger kids can be when it comes to something like this...

[Elven Moon]

I was getting ready to leave for my first college class of the day and turned on the TV - they were talking about a plane crashing. I figured it was just another bad accident but as I was sitting there I saw another plane hit, and I knew something wasn't right!

I left for school but listened to the radio on the way, and I remember hearing a DJ practically crying, saying "The second tower fell!" and I didn't know how to feel. I was stuck behind traffic by a railroad track and that just made it more dramatic for me. I got through the first class (our teacher didn't even care! She just wanted to cram more art down our throats) but second class got cancelled and I went home for the day.

[JohnCrichton]

I was on my way to work. Checked the whether channel to see if I needed to grab my coat or not when low and behold the world was ending on television.

Feeling I had was sort of a, "What........?" Didn't seem real. Couldn't be real. Still doesn't fully seem real. It's just too big and impossible to be real.

[Delthayre]

It happened two days before my 17th birthday.

I first heard of it not too far into my AP European history class. Mr. Kleintop had just begun the lecture when he paused to answer a knock at the door. He opened it and talked briefly with the teacher outside the room. Then he walked back to the fore of the room and said, in a voice marked with an almost quizzical tone,"a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center."

In the brief pause that followed, my first thought was that it was a navigation error, but then we turned on CNN just in time to find out that the second plane had hit, and my, in restrospect relatively hopeful, presumption that it was an accident couldn't stand.

And it was just a long, trying day afterward.

I am not a passionate man anymore, I don't really get very angry at anything any more and I wasn't infuriated about this. I was, at least, frustrated. Because I know that this was the heralding of what would come to torment my generation as Soviet Communism had tormented my father's. Worse still was how swiftly I came to expect the exploitation of the horrible thing that came soon after.

Selah.

[True Noir]

I was in my Social Studies class when it happened in 6th grade. None of the teachers wanted to tell the kids what happened, because they were afraid that we would freak out and start blaming all the muslim kids in the school. Which would probably happen since people in my school are like that.

[Mr. Pedro]

Junior year of HS. I heard some mutterings about planes hitting near the end of TV production class, but they were dismissed as a minor accident in the same breath.

Third period Physics class came, and everyone was glued to the tv set in the room, in spite of the Principal's request to keep them off. The atmosphere at the school wasn't too changed by this. They were still walking endlessly, only about what they had just seen.

I don't think that there are words to remotely describe what I was feeling that day. Thankfully, no family or friends (of my family, at least) were harmed.

[Cartman]

When this happened, I was in my dorm finishing my last few minutes of sleep before another day arose. I had woken up and turned on the TV (as I sometimes do in the morning). I had noticed the same piece of news on several channels. I was quite shocked by it.:eek:

[Fatneck]

I was in high school, Eleventh grade.
And guess which class?

History of the United States
Damn, the same grade and class I was in when it happened.
I wasn't sure what their targets were, I was thinking that they were going for major U.S. cities and was worried that they'd attack downtown where my dad worked. I was relieved that nothing happened here, but it was still a really surreal experience.

[I.R Joey]

I'm curious, to any members of this board who are Arab/Muslim how did you react to that day? What happened in the days after?

[Conan-san]

Well, the whole thing went down (So to speak) @ around 3 ish in the afternoon over here. So I was pritty much home from high school (4th form) and trying to watch CardCapors (I Know, Had no clue what was gonig on and I took my anime any way i could get it then...) when of course, to quote JC "The world was coming to an end"

[Caffeine King]

I remember it was just like any other day because I didn't find out until the end of the day and my teacher told us, I was kinda in shock and I didn't realize what they said until I went home and saw it on the news... :(

[Shnay]

My experience on that day is a little odd. My school district was on stike, so I was at home desperately clinging to the last few days of vacation, knowing that any day the strike could be resolved. I woke up early that morning, got the paper, and ate breakfast. I read some run-of-the-mill news stories, then read the comics. Since it was still technically summer vacation for me, I decided to go back to sleep.

I woke up a little later and turned on the TV. I saw the news about the first plane, and was kind of confused. I watched it bewildered for a little bit, then went on to something else, convinced it was just a horrible accident where the worst was already over. A lot of people described a feeling of being glued to the TV, but I felt an aversion to the situation. It seemed like a very terrible accident, and I didn't have any interest in watching it unfold in real time.

Soon, I got word that the second plane had struck, and that this was no accident. This is where the story gets a little unusual. I still avoided the story, despite knowing that it was of incredible importance. As I've described before, one of the problems I have is that I have a tendency to put bad events or feelings far out of mind until I'm "ready" to deal with them. I kind of secured myself in a state of willful ignorance for most of that day. Not because I didn't care, but rather because my (rather uinhealthy) way of dealing with problems is to shove them aside, rather than face them head on.

That evening I caught myself up on all the events and pretty much melted down. I kept most of it to myself, however. Most people turned to friends or family, but I internalized it all, because, again, that's just sort of how I do things. :shrug:

For the next few days, people described experiencing a wide arrange of emotions, from sadness, to anger, to fear. I never really felt that. For me it was only sadness. Theories flew wildly about concerning Bin Laden, analysts began to question why the attacks happened and what could have prevented them, and people questioned how safe they were. But I really didn't consider these things; I only felt sad.

September 12th was my birthday, and nobody (including myself) really remembered or cared. Everyone was so devestated. I remember crying like a baby a number of times during that week. Violence stemming from hatred is probably the thing I get most emotional about, and seeing it work on a such a large scale was absoltuely horrible.

[The Frog]

I took band as an early bird class (that takes place before the first actual class of the day) so the planes hadn't hit yet when I left for school. I went to band and when I was walking to my next class, I kept hearing "World Trade Center". I figured that someone must have recently gone on a trip there or something, and didn't think anything of it. I got to my next class and my math teacher said that one of the towers collapsed. I didn't know about the place, so I was confused and thought the tower just collapsed on its own. My class after that (Life Skills, a class that didn't really have any educational purpose) was when I found out more details and heard that planes hit the buildings. Throughout the day teachers kept telling us that we were safe in school. I wasn't worried about terrorism around here, I was worried about people I knew in New York and that this could start World War III. Some kids were taken home by their parents. We didn't do that much in school that day. When I got home, I just watched the news for hours.

[James]

Just on my way to a late shift at a London airport where I was working. I left when the announced the second hit on the towers and my mother called my cell en route to the airport to say the Pentagon was hit.

It was pretty freaky. The media were out of control making stupid claims from remote controlled devices affected plane routes to the total destruction on the east coast. Working at an airport was suddenly a little nerve wracking - how far did this extent? Of course, the truth came out fairly quickly and we were engulfed by pushy journalists desperate to get into America despite the airport lockdowns in the US. It was a bizarre time, having to explain to passengers who were totally oblivious what had happened... I met many people involved in the towers incident. People who's family member had taken the day off, or those who had almost taken one of those flights..

The ramifications of the disaster lost me my job there at the airport as the company I worked for lost millions on their plane metal utensil produce. Thei smaller airport function - those of us working with disabled passengers was the first area to go to recoup on lost money. It's funny how far the ripples of such a disaster can reach so far....

[Tanooki]

i was in my freshman year of college. upon arriving from my 8:00-9:15 physical anthropology class, i noticed a lot of people were standing around the lobby television. i didn't even need to ask what was going on. i looked at the screen and saw the replay. :(

GK

[Emmanuel Cruz]

I was in 8th grade when 9/11 happened. It was a beautiful day, and I was going to enjoy that day of school. Around 10:30 am that day, I noticed that a lot of kids were getting out of school, and I didn't know why. I was naive to the whole thing. Someone in my history class mentioned quickly that a plane hit the Twin Towers, but I didn't really paid attention to what she said. Then around 11:30 am, I was told my father came to pick me up. I was so happy to leave school, and left school. I asked my father why he took me out of school, and he told me to listen to the car radio. That's when I found out waht happened, and my heart sank in a split second.


Man, it's scary how three years have passed already since that horrible day, and that day changed me forever. It does bother me a bit though that I was the only kid in school who actually wore something yesterdat to reflect on that day, and the hopes of a brighter future from what happened. I wore a shirt with a bald eagle on it, as well as a U.S. flag pin.

It's sickening to see that many kids in my school pass it off as another day. Some moronic kids in my history class made a joke about the planes crashing into the buildings, and they got mad at me because I gave them a dirty look for their stupid remarks. Because I'm the only one who takes such a thing in a serious and respectful.

My best wishes and prayers to all families who had to suffer the nightmares of losing loved ones in this tragedy, and I hope that all these radical terrorist scum be brought to justice, and no mercy spared on them.

God Bless America, and You All.

-Emmanuel:bosko:

[ToOn~g@l]

Oh boy I remember that day well. Mom and I were pulling out of the driveway to go to school and work when the radio personels said that the twin towers had been hit. At first I thought they were just small planes and did not really worry about it. I told a friend that an airplane hit them but she did not believe me until she actually watched it herself.
I went to my American History class which was first thing in the morning and we were going to watch the Last of the Mohicans. Instead the dean of students comes in and says. "The first tower just fell, put on the news," so we watched the whole thing live and we all just watched in stunned silence not believing it. And we all spent the whole day not wanting to do any work even though our teachers made us.
for a whole week too, I was kinda scared because I live in a city with a lot of miltiary bases including NORAD. We also have Fort Carson, Air Force academy, Shriever air force base, and Peterson Air force base. I kept hoping that nothing would try to do anything to those places and luckly nothing happened.

[JDuncan]

I was staying home from school, partly because i was kind of congested but mostly because I didn't want to go to school that day and because I wanted to ensure that I got the Suspiria SE on release day. I woke up about an hour after the attacks, but I caught most of the random misreports and speculations on the various 24 hour hour news networks. Despite the atmosphere of fear, remorse, sympathy and chaos I still went out and bought Suspiria that afternoon. That says something about my lack of values/compassion I suppose.

[wrenchien]

i slept.

and i'd have been better off if i'd have died in my sleep instead of woke up that morning.

[Nick Biped]

I was at university going to my usual classes, and when I went to have lunch, all the TV sets at the building where I went to were turned on to CNN and everyone was standing around them watching something. I didn't know what was going on at first, but after I watched a little bit, I figured it out, and I just stared at the screen for some time, not believing my eyes. The university tried to keep things going as normal (e.g. no classes were cancelled), but the rest of the day felt a bit weird after that.

[GCFyouthcamper]

I was on a family vacation at a resort where there's usually no TV. My mom got a text message on her cell phone saying that WTC had been bombed by terrorists. I konw that's not very accurate. The people working there dragged out the TV and everyone watched, and that's when I learned that the Twin Towers were no more. I really felt the shock throughout the day and after.

[Tienshin]

I was at work in a conference call, when someone shouted through the phone that the first Tower had been hit. We have a television in the conference room and tuned to news station to see what was going on. We watched for what seemed like an eternity as the whole event unfolded. Surreal would best describe to the mood of the office at the time.