9/11

[Mystes]

I remember.

My thoughts for the ones who died.

[Teh_ping]

Nothing can't describe the pain suffered fully, so hopefully, this dedication will help somewhat.

[hobogunner]

I remember being pulled out of my classroom in 2nd grade into the Cafeteria and seeing the news on it and wondering why all the adults were crying. It didn't make sense to me then, but it certainly was a tragedy looking back on it. It certainly changed life.

[b0mb3r]

I remember how the smoke traveled all the way to my suburban home. Though I was at the time dumb and thought a hurricane hit 9/11 so I thought people in NYC was already evacuated.

[Mystes]

I remember that it was a few months after I arrived to Canada.

[ainsoph9]

I remember being at school in my sophomore year of high school. I was told that the United States was being attacked and that the towers and the Pentagon were ablaze. I did not believe them because I thought that it was someone's idea of a bad prank. I went into a nearby classroom to see the TV on with the footage. It did not exactly register with me immediately. One of my classmates, who was from New York City, told me that she was worried about her friends and family back in New York City. Fortunately, they were alright, which we found out later. After school that day, I remember hearing about the gas prices going crazy and seeing President Bush's reaction to the attacks on the news when he was first told. Later that night, I watched the news with fervor and heard President Bush's address to the nation. I also remember how all of the churches and places of worship were suddenly flooded because people thought that the world was ending and how we were being judged as a nation.

In spite of all of this, I have to wonder, "Do we really remember 9/11?" Have we learned from our mistakes? Is 9/11 just another day for us? How should we react to it now 10 years later? I hope that the future is brighter and that we take serious the meanings 9/11 brought us.

[falcolobo]

I remember that day well. I live in New York City, so I could watch people walking home all the way from manhatten. Public transportation was down.

Well I didn't really watch them. I was out of the country, our flight was canceled mid flight as we were preparing to fly home to NYC.

I still shudder as I think about how that could have been our plane they hijacked.

People from my school died in it too.

I grieve for them, and will remember them....

[Kadi]

[...] people thought that the world was ending and how we were being judged as a nation.

Does that mean they thought the country or the people did something wrong so that it was bad for them to be judged? If everything had been alright, they wouldn't have had to worry, after all...

[ainsoph9]

To be perfectly honest, the United States is not the model nation that it sometimes likes to portray. This applies especially in the eyes of the world, which constantly scrutinizes the United States to try to find any fault with it. For those who hate the United States and all it stands for, they see themselves as the hammer of judgment and would like nothing more to see themselves be used as such. So, really, nothing the United States does can be seen as "right," "correct," "just," "good," etc.

On the other hand, the United States in many ways is one of the leading nations in the world on many fronts. I find it funny how many times our attackers use OUR innovations and the like while they openly criticize the United States. Also, many of these people live in conditions that are less than positive and oppress their own people with violence and threats while hurling verbal ICBMs overseas at the United States. So, they really have no room to talk. Fix your own house and your own problems before criticizing others and their problems.

All of the above though is more or less subjective though. More objectively speaking, when people are under attack like that, two polarized reactions generally develop. The first is, "How could this happen, and if there is a G-d, how could He let this happen?" This generally is followed by total denial of G-d. On the other side, people will generally ask the same question more or less, but. because they have a different set of assumptions, will arrive at the opposite answer that will affirm G-d and His Sovereignty as Judge. Normally, there is very little room in between. 9/11 was one of those incidents that caused these reactions to appear, and it polarized the nation quite visibly. Most people seemed to have the latter reactions from what I have seen. Ironically, when a people are under constant attack, the opposite reaction tends to be more true. In any case, it does not necessarily matter what they thought - rather, how they reacted. 9/11 was a wake-up call to the irreligious and the half-religious of the United States. Although many have dozed back off to sleep for lack of memory, 9/11 was truly a time to ask many philosophical, political, social, economical, etc. questions that needed answers desperately, many of which still need answers or have had the answers forgotten. To conclude, one saying that I once heard about soldiers on the battlefield was something to the effect of the following: "Only in war do you see the Sovereignty of G-d when you see bullets flying left and right and bombs and missiles going off all around you as your comrades are killed, and you are left with wonder and awe as to the question of 'Why?'"

[Khaleel]

On the other hand, the United States in many ways is one of the leading nations in the world on many fronts. I find it funny how many times our attackers use OUR innovations and the like while they openly criticize the United States. Also, many of these people live in conditions that are less than positive and oppress their own people with violence and threats while hurling verbal ICBMs overseas at the United States. So, they really have no room to talk. Fix your own house and your own problems before criticizing others and their problems.

I have read everything you written, but i don't feel appropriated to say anything out of that lines. But even that...it's hard.

Well, my view about the facts:

2001...almost eleven years has passed. I was 8 eight years old in that day and I saw in my television. Smoke. A airplane crashing a tower. I don't really understood what was going on. The journalists were all in silence...My infant mind don't recognized in that day what i have saw. After that came the journals and magazines talking about "the airplane crash".

After one month i asked my father "Why everyone is talking about that crash on TV? Why is always the same cover?". I don't remember my father reply.

I probably never understand what the americans felt in that day.

[ainsoph9]

From what I can recall, many felt confusion, outrage, panic, sadness, scared, pain, etc. Nobody expects you to understand the feelings of the United States as a nation in the wake of 9/11. Citizens of the United States only ask that you respect the loss of life on that day and the days that followed as our soldiers went to war to defend their country. In other words, just do your common duty to your fellow man.

[Silimir]

I don't know why, but I only remember that I didn't went to school that day... our babysitter who at that time was taking care of my younger brothers had a sister working in the World trade center... she was crying all that mourning... my mom didn't went to work to comfort her and help her (she was like 20...)... finally, she received a call from her sister saying that she was correct. But only because of luck. She forgot the lunch of her son and was late for her job... could have died =(

[ainsoph9]

I have heard similar stories in other tragedies around the world.

For example, a little girl in Israel was late for her school bus in the morning. She and her friend would always meet up for school just before the bus. Her friend had gone ahead of her that morning and gotten on the bus, since her friend let her know that she was running behind. Just as the girl was running towards the bus, the bus exploded with her friend on it along with the driver and many other people. The little girl was knocked back from the explosion and was injured relatively lightly. However, as she would later recall, she remembers the smell of blood in the air that was sickening. To this day though, she has been traumatized and unable to live a normal life as every day she is forced to recall and relive that tragedy in her mind.

I have also heard some of people's last phone calls to their families during 9/11. They are heart-wrenching.