Remembering 9/11: Your Stories!

I woke up after the 2nd plane hit, I barely remember anything at the time I wish I did because I missed out on such a historic day which is why I'm so interested in 9/11 as I grow older, but yup woke up and went to 5th grade and all I can remember is coming home and seeing the pentagon got hit and the mass confusion..... Twas a sad day

Hellmutt @ September 11th 2001


I was in Norway when it happened. I had just finished a job there, and was visiting my parents. My dad called from his workplace and told my mom to "Turn on the tv, quickly!!" (of course, he said it in norwegian...). We turned on the tv and saw a replay of the second crash, which apparently occured just minutes earlier. We were watching news reports from different norwegian and swedish tv news for the rest of the day. I recorded some two hours of it on VHS. At one point, my mom turned on the radio, and after a few minutes we heard: "Pentagon is on fire!!". At that point, we didn't know what to think or what to expect next. One thing was certain: This was serious as hell! I remember there were talks of maybe up to eight hijacked planes. When Flight 93 "crashed", I was sure that it was shot down. I'm still convinced that it was shot down...


I remember a scene from Ground Zero. A guy covered in dust approaches the tv camera, and is talking about "bombs in the building". A guy came up behind him, grabbed him, and quietly led him away from the camera. On the back of the other guy's jacket was a "FBI" logo (It's on my tape). That scene was only played once or twice, never to be played again on any tv news (unless they played it when I wasn't watching)...


When I saw the towers collapse, it looked exactly like a professional demolision. They believed that maybe more than 20,000 had died at that point. I saw WTC 7 collapse as well, but it was overshadowed by the previous events. I didn't even know what offices and stuff there were in the WTC 7 building at that point. For me it was just a smaller building, and I didn't put much into it...

Yet an other day

Yet an other day,
perhaps the sun is twinkling in your eyes,
perhaps you just kissed a loved one good bye,
perhaps the the wonder of a new born, a new beginning has touched your life,
perhaps this is your last day on earth,
perhaps..........

Yet an other day.
Shall we count the days of our life in ones?
Thus this is the sixth day of creation, man came forth, with dominion a stewardship, I have perhaps taken my task lightly.

Have I raised my voice? Or do I speak in oblivious darkness?
Have I raised my voice? Or do I cower before laws of suppression?
have I raised my voice? Or do I listen to the words of indifference?

I am guilty, I hold my shame.

I did not do this, I did not kill a living soul, I do not send our children to war, I do not....
That is my shame, because I do, my indifference, my conformity, my fear is my shame.
I am doing this.

My negligence is as much a crime as the war lords obvious action.
I am a traitor, I have failed my country, I have degraded human kind.
But we hold no courts for conditioned cowardly fools.
So I walk, there is no judgement in this world for people like me who look the other way, rewards we gain for remaining placid.

My shame is why I keep the memory of this day alive, for I believe there will be a Judge, not to condemn me for what I have done but for what I didn't do.
"Why did you proceed to hate"
"Why did you feed greed"
"Why did you separate when you where given the chance to unite"
"Why....."

Perhaps one day I will have the courage to let this day create its transformation in my life.
On The Seventh Day we shall rest, I pray havoc will hold its breath.

Have I become so rigid that the tide no longer can turn me?



WIS





[edit on 11-9-2007 by WalkInSilence]

[edit on 11-9-2007 by WalkInSilence]

I dropped my daughter off at school this morning and walked the ten or so blocks across town, passing the Empire State Building along the way. No change in the security, which was ok until I approached 6th Ave and saw a line of cop cars on the north side of 34th, stretching from 6th to 7th Ave. Then, across the street I noticed that one lane was closed and cars were driving slowly thru a group of 4 cops who were making the cars slow down to pass thru them. Strange. Penn Station is one block west of them and the cars they're checking are heading east. Anyway, it made me think of the crazy scenes on the street in the weeks after 9/11. The threats, the daily evacuations, the crazy dude who, for a few days, would drive into my area and mow down pedestrians, the calls about the latest scares etc.

As I entered my building, I passed thru the security system that registers my card. A new addition to the building post 9/11. As I rode the elevator up, I thought about the other changes to my life since 9/11. Specifically, my two kids. Would they ever know a world without metal detectors, bomb sniffing dogs, shoes and belts being removed at the airport?

I sat down at my desk and looked at the monitor. An email from Springer was showing. ATS. Another change in my life since 9/11. A couple of years after 9/11, I was looking at some site that tried to show that the Pentagon wasn't hit by a plane. That site led me to abovetopsecret.com. That first visit led to more and I joined and the rest is, as they say, history. Without 9/11, I might never have found this site. A ray of sunshine in an otherwise crappy memory. The proverbial silver lining. Time moves on and our memories fade a bit, the harsher aspects of these memories get muted and, over time, 9/11 will be a history lesson. It will be discussed in classrooms as one of the most devastating events in US history but also, as a turning point in our society. A time when our policies changed, our outlook changed, the way we were perceived changed. There was a moment when everyone was an American. Everyone was a New Yorker. Ich bin ein New Yorker? That moment was fleeting. For a few short weeks, New Yorkers felt a bond. That bond is softening. The global image of the US as wounded hero is gone. Our firefighters and cops are sick, our cops and firefighters are underpaid. Life, clearly moves on and normalcy returns.

One day my kids will come home from school and ask me "where were you on 9/11?" much like I asked my parents "where were you when Kennedy was shot." 9/11 was "the moment" for a generation. They all have it. This one is ours. We'll continue to discuss it and dissect it. Years from now, the next generation's Oliver Stone will make a movie based on conspiracy book written after years of research. The public will see it. They will know that something isn't right with the official story, much like there's something wrong with the Roswell Story and the Kennedy murder. Hopefully, in our lifetime, we will see the day when we can take a flight to Disneyland and not have to remove our shoes and belts, wait for hours as passengers and their bags are screened repeatedly. Hopefully, in our lifetime, there will come a day when the sound of a plane overhead causes us to look up. Not in fear. Not with worry as to what it might be aiming for. Hopefully, there will come that day where, once again, we look up in awe and wonder at this object, defying gravity as it serves its intended purpose of transporting people to destinations far away.

Hopefully. In our lifetime.

R.I.P. Doug, Tom, Joe and all those who lost there lives on 9/11.

Thank you to all those who continue to do what's needed to make our world right again.



(is it not clear I need my blog back you lazy bastages?)