Just a guy by the road... (9/11)

[Cat]

Tonight as I was coming home from watching our grandson, I headed near our small town so I could pick up a Subway sandwich. I was late; the family would be hungry.

 

Approaching the intersection, I saw a 30/40-something guy pulling a chair out of his truck and set it up. Next to come out was a huge, beautifully flowing American flag. Rush hour. He sat there with our flag held high.

 

 

It was another Tuesday. Just another school day. Our son didn't need to go to the high school until later because of a test, so he was doing something while the TV was on. I was getting our kindergartener ready for school.

 

He said something about an accident in New York with an airplane. I watched the burning tower, saw the second one approaching and then crashing. The first could have been an accident; nobody could believe that the second one wasn't deliberate.

 

By the time I put my girl on the bus, I told the driver there was something terrible happening; two planes were crashed into the Twin Towers. She had heard something about it on her bus radio. Everyone was in shock; what was happening?

 

It was a terrible, terrible day.

 

But what followed was amazing. Everywhere I went, people were quiet and caring and concerned. People went out of their way to help each other. There were no black or white or Hispanic or "other" - we were ALL AMERICANS.

 

Remember. Remember the horror enough to remember our shared destinies. Be strong, be brave, be prepared, be what an American really is.

 

[Ambergris]

I'm in the Eastern time zone. I was already at work, trapped in downtown Tallahassee, blocks from Jeb Bush's governor's mansion. Everyone "knew" the president was in Tallahassee, and that we'd be next. My sons were at school, miles away, probably safe. I looked down at the unmoving cars, and I called friends I wasn't sure I'd ever talk to again.

 

One of my friends wasn't able to attend her sorority sister's funeral until several years later. It took that long to identify the DNA. They were using tweezers to pick up scraps of people to identify.

 

It was months before I let my kids watch network TV. I did not want them to actually see people falling from the sky.

[The WE2's]

I still weep and I still feel so angry...I was sitting in a secretarial chair on my then job listening to morning news on the radio, when they announced the first hit. I turned to my computer and located MSNBC (didn't know FOX existed then) and watched in disbelief. Wasn't long until the whole office was gathered around my pc watching with me. then tonight I hear on FOX that they're storming embassy's ...and heard Charles Kraughthammer's solution...at which I say "amen". When will we stop feeding these starving armies that hate us! Just my own thoughts on today...contriversial perhaps, but my thoughts.

[Mt_Rider]

I don't have TV...but my friend/neighbor called and told me to rush over. So I wasn't alone watching it. Another gal I know told me later that she rushed to take her kids out of school. She said, "We all just had to be together that day."

 

 

MtRider

[RebelDigger]

I had just gotten in my car to head for the law office where I worked as a paralegal. The first plane had just hit the Tower and there was a guy on his cell phone giving a blow by blow description of what he was seeing. I though, oh wow, that is too bad but, have heard of planes hitting skyscrapers before and assumed it was an accident. When he said there was another plane coming, I knew this was no accident. My next reaction was to cry, sat there in my car and prayed and cried because my youngest son was two weeks away from graduation in the Marine Corps and I knew I was going to have to send my baby off to War. Spent the entire day at work with the radio on and left early to get home to the television.

 

Two weeks later, DS graduated then came home on leave. After that, he was headed for Camp Legune. He had a second class airplane ticket but, when he got on the plane, the Captain sent the stewardess back to move him to First Class and fed him a free steak dinner. The Captain felt that his uniformed presence on the plane was a good thing, comforting to the other passengers (my "Baby" is 6'4" tall, formidable).

 

Sure enough, he was sent to Iraq and actually was on his cell phone talking to me when Bush declared War. Funny thing, when we were talking, before Bush's speech, I heard popping noises in the background and asked him what that was. He said he was on guard duty at the gate to the camp and the Iraqi soldiers were shooting at him. I was so flustered the first thing that came to mind was to tell him to get behind something and asked if he had on a flak jacket (Momma mode) and then the stupidest thing I ever said in my life "They can't do that, Bush hasn't declared war yet!". Duh!

 

It is hard to believe it has been 11 years since that day. In spite of our problems though, I am proud of our country for not cowering down in fear and giving them what they wanted. They rattled the Big Dog's chain and got more than they bargained for. I love my country, God bless the United States.

[kappydell]

I was traveling to a work unit meeting (I was a state trooper at the time). Our HQ put out the info that a plane had crashed the Towers, that it was apparently an act of terrorism. When I got to the HQ we all watched TV and saw the 2nd plane hit; then heard the info on the other planes' fates. I remember going home that day thinking that they had picked on the wrong country, because Americans do not cower in terror, we fight back against such international bullies. I also remember wishing Reagan was president again (they were afraid of him!)

After that we all got back to work with a heightened eye for potential terrorist acts. When people came up to me and thanked me for being a police officer, I told them it was an honor. Our training also became more military in nature, and we certainly took it all more seriously.

[Vic303]

It wasn't until this year that I finally put into words, what I remember of that day. I did it in my blog. If anyone wants to read it, go to:

The Monkeywrangler's Blog

Edited September 15, 2012 by Vic303

[Katz25]

I was on my way to work, running late and had not turned the TV on to listen to news for the first time in years. As I was driving my local radio station came on with the news America had been attacked. It took me a minute to realize what he said. When it did, the words took my breath away and I had to pull to the side of the road, I felt sick. I knew it was coming, I knew it would happen someday, but today, I wasn't ready. I hurried to work only wanting to find out more and talk to family to know everyone was okay. I work at a Senior Center and my boss had turned the TV on in one of the game rooms, as I walked in to see the horrible pictures coming from the set I saw the faces of all the seniors, esp. the men. I could see it bringing back memories of WWII and Korea for them and they knew what was happening in their own unique way. I remember all I wanted was to be with my family and take care of them. I'll never forget that day or that feeling. That was a day like everything stopped, in some ways innocence was lost, my eyes were opened more, and I have never missed the news again since that morning. And I've never felt truly safe again.