September 11, 2001: Personal Stories 10-Years Later

In January of 2000, I was supposed to move to NYC with two friends and share an apartment. I was scheduled to work at Morgan Stanley in the WTC. I had worked in a Chicago branch the year before, but quit because of the broker I worked for. However, I left on good terms and was told by admin that if I wanted to work for MS anywhere else, they could get me in, just call. So, it was set. However, at the last minute, one of the girls couldn't go, and the other girl and I couldn't afford an apt in NYC ourselves, so I had to back out, too.

Then, in the fall of 2000, a different friend was transferring to a NYC company and again, I was to go with. I was thrilled at the idea of going, had always wanted to go, and all I had to do was call the Morgan Stanley office in Chicago to get the referral in. All was set, I was supposed to go in October or November. However, I started dating someone and the relationship moved quickly in a matter of weeks. When the time came to move, I decided to stay. I got engaged that December, married February of 2001, and found out a week or so after getting married that I was pregnant with my first child.

On the morning of 9/11/01, it was a beautiful sunny morning in my suburban Chicago flat. I was 7 months pregnant and up unusually early that day. My husband was at work and I got up and started working on a sofa i was reupholstering. I turned on the news, just a couple of minutes after the first plane hit. I watched for a minute and got back to what I was doing. It didn't seem like a big deal, it seemed like a fluke of some sort. I watched again a few minutes later since they were still talking about it and I saw the second plane hit live. I was in shock, as was everyone. I can't remember what happened next, it was a blur. I heard about the Pentagon. I heard about Pennsylvania. But when I heard about the Pentagon, I panicked. How could planes hit the Pentagon? It is so safe, right?

Our local news started talking about "missing planes" and "potential targets". My husband was working in Chicago and the news was talking about evacuating the Sears tower and possibly planes headed for the city. No one knew what was going on. I tried calling my friends in NYC but couldn't get through. I tried my husband's cell, no answer. I panicked.

I watched as the poor people jumped out of the twin towers and ran down the street as they came down and I cried and cried alone in my living room, surrounded by tons of fabric and thread. I cried hysterically, not knowing what would happen next, happen to my husband, my unborn baby, my friends, but cried most of all because I was so grateful. You see, twice in a matter of months, I was supposed to start working at Morgan Stanley in the WTC. Stuff kept happening, life stepped in, and I ended up married and pregnant, reupholstering an old couch. If I would not have met my husband, if my friend would not have ended up getting back together with her boyfriend and trashing plans to go that January, I would have been there that day. I may have gotten out, I may not have. Even if I had, I most likely would not have escaped the horror, the gravity of that situation. I cannot imagine having to go down those staircases, step over bodies, run from rubble, fire. I am so thankful I made the silly, mundane choices I did that year.

Every year of the attacks I see the footage and cry when I look at my husband and children and a life that took the right road at the right time. In no way do I know what others who survived that or lost others feel like or felt like that day, but this is just my story, a small one in the scheme of things, and tells where I was for 9/11.

I was in 4th grade, i was in class and my teacher came in to break the news.
She had a very sad and shocked look on her face. She turned on the tv and by then
the towers had already been hit. Being 10 years ago and being very young at the time
it didn't affect me as much as I do today. I wish i knew what i know now or.
For a while I heard they we're terrorists from another country.

I remember another clear memory from second grade we had a fake presidential poll in our school and before bush was actually elected my teacher asked me in front of the class who was going to win, she had a picture in her hand, i said Al Gore! Because we had already voted and at the time he was fighting for some kind of breed of dear or something so i voted for him lol, i didnt know anything about politics back then. She said wrong, and went to the next kid and said whos going to win, then putting up a picture of George Bush, the kid said George Bush, then she went on to the next and said the same thing. Then from the kid same answer George Bush, it went around the room then it got to me.. in embarrassment i said George Bush... GOD I wish i wasn't a child then haha.

After watching all the news and chaos of 9/11,watching the skies because no planes flew anymore,10 days later,my son was born.
Then all my worries turned to that wonderful gift.

He will be 10 years old on the 21st.

I'm an HVAC installer/tech.

I had just been given a new helper, he was fresh out of the army. Great guy.

As usual, I was listening to the news on a local AM station.

Pulled up to the customers house and we went after it. I was getting him lined out and getting the equipment ready for a coil change out.

I had just came back in from the back yard and the lady had the tv on and she said a plane had hit the WTC. I watched a replay and thought it was a little cessna and thought "dang, i know the pilot is dead but I hope the folks inside are ok." I figured it was just a "pilot error" or plane problem. I went back to work.

I had to go back out and asked the lady if they knew of casualties yet and she said not so far. I went back outside. A few minutes later I came back in and the second had hit.

My blood ran cold. I knew the score now.

Thats when I remembered our friend (a young priest) worked near all this.

I called my wife and it was busy. We did this a few times until we made it through (we were calling each other). She was going to a friends house (who also knew John the priest).

We hadn't any info on him.

I finished the gig and called my boss and took the day off. There would be A LOT of phone calls this day.

Before I left, I asked my helper if he was going to get reactivated. He said he didn't know. I also told him to watch his ass. He was mexican but could easily pass for middle eastern. I didn't want him to be a statistic.

Finally made contact with John. He had a friend that was in one of the other buildings in the WTC complex. He was on the phone as it all went down and thought some construction or something was going on. He went to a window to see "what the hell is going on!".

What was relayed to us was he saw.....hell. Papers, glass....and bodies and parts falling past. He and everyone else got the heads up and started to leave. He ran into a door facing and knocked his self smooth out and was carried out by friends.

John and his friend made it home safe.

The next few days were sort of a fog of shock. I remember being on a job and going out for some sheet metal and sitting on the back of my service van smoking a cig. I remember how quite the sky was. I hadn't felt like this since the Murrah building in OKC when all the babies died (were murdered).

I wasn't sure about what the future would be like for my 3 year old daughter but I knew her life wouldn't be like mine was as a kid.

My wife was running around near downtown dallas when the planes started to fly again. She was on I-35 when she saw the first one.

EVERYONE on the highway stopped, got out, and watched it pass over...praying it didn't hit one of the big buildings.

I was already "turned on" since ruby ridge and waco. I was pretty much at first thinking it was legit foreign terror. The more I thought about it, looked into it, and ESPECIALLY HOW THE BUILDING FELL, I knew someone had loaded the buildings.

Over the years I have paid special attention to high rise building fires and their results. The one I remember the most was (I believe) in either Hong Kong or China.

It burned for 3 days solid. At the end of it all, its frame still stood erect.

That was the clincher.

No matter if you call yourself a "truther" or believe the "OS", one of two things MUST be true.

1. Our government was/is so incompetent that it refused experienced intel and didn't take basic precautions.

2. They were completely mindful and by omission or commission, responsible.

One question.

Why the hell do they call it "Patriots Day"? Since when did being murdered make you a patriot?

I was 21 years old. I woke up about 6 that morning, got some coffee and put on msnbc, while i prepared for a paintball match with my brother. MSNBC was talking about weather, or something i cannot remember exactly, but they were showing the NY skyline while they were doing it.

Like many others, i watched it unfold live. To this day i feel so much sadness for the helpless and innocent Human Beings who were murdered that day and even more so, the poor children who were on the flight that struck the pentagon.

I cannot even bring myself to watch any documentaries about 9/11, or anything related to that day. It hurts me too much.

I feel guilty for not being able to help. I feel sorrow and utter sadness when i think about the people who were stuck above where the planes hit the towers. They were experiencing the worst thing in their life, and not only that, they knew they were going to die from either smoke inhalation, burned, or jump to end it quick,

I also hope that every terrorist out there, who wants too see more American's dead. Die's a slow, painful death.

I'm talking about sh*t that would make the witch trials look like child play. I think the family members of people who died on 9/11,and families of soldiers who were killed by some sort of terrorist act, should be allowed to do the torturing.

If you were a brain-washed Islamic, murdering piece of # sand cockroach Would you not think twice about killing Americans, if the consequences, if caught, are to be skinned alive, or dipped into a vat of acid, toes first, an inch an hour? While the Quran is burned, then shoved into your still breathing mouth?

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


As you read my account you won't see that my eyes may become moist as I type this as I relive that awful day that is imprinted in my being like a permanent tattoo.

My wife's mother lay dying in a nearby hospital here in Manhattan and we were expecting that dreaded phone call from her sister, her mother's husband, her brother or from the hospital. On September 11 I was awakened by what sounded like my wife crying in the living room. I heard her through the slightly open bedroom door. I got up and saw that my wife was sitting on her recliner in a fetal-looking position and she was sobbing uncontrollably.

I approached her and asked what the matter was and added "Did your mom die?" She said no and just pointed to her TV and I saw the towers start to collapse on live TV news show. I was aghast as she wailed as the towers fell.

If you knew my wife you'd know that she is a true New Yorker. We had moved to L.A. in late '78 and in '87 she told me that it was time to come home, back to NYC. We were visiting L.A. for 8 years! I brought to her attention an organization called Big Apple Greeters and she jumped at the opportunity to volunteer and show visitors our fair city. THE NEW YORK TIMES included an illustration when they printed her pro-NYC letter. The illustration shows a female hugging a skyscraper. She was really hurting that morning.

I immediately started my VCR to record what followed. I eventually took a walk in Central Park that day and when I stepped out of my apartment building I couldn't believe how quiet it was and how people were walking looking like zombies. In the park I could smell the smoke wafting up from where the buildings once stood. Back on my street I eventually learned that some of the neighbors I was no longer seeing had perished.

We're our old selves again but my wife doesn't want to hear nor see anything connected with 9/11. As with the JFK assassination I have become an armchair enthusiast with 9/11 and have read almost everything available on the Internet, getting most of my info at rense.com and just a few minutes ago I finished viewing a 2-1/2 hour video on YouTube titled "9/11 Truth: Hollywood Speaks Out" (FULL LENGTH FILM) at www.youtube.com...

An inside job if there ever was one.

I don't have much of a story to tell.I was working at a vets office bathing pets and all that when it all went down.I do remember how quiet it was in the sky save for the fighters and you knew that things would never really be the same.

Originally posted by FlyingSpaghettiMonster
I had just got back from a morning's temp work at Leeds University. Out of pure coincidence, I was thinking about Manhattan, picturing it in my head. I phoned my Dad just to say hello and how was he. He said 'I'd be better if I hadn't just heard what I heard'. He told me four jumbo jets had been hijacked and one crashed into the WTC. My mind just recoiled from the numbers. One jet I could understand. Four?? Then Dad told me that my twin sister was on holiday in New York. I thought she was still in Canada. Without even thinking I said 'she's OK'. It took a moment to say it, but in that moment I'd done a sort of 'systems check'. I'd sort of looked around inside myself and hadn't seen any flashing red lights. I didn't feel anything wrong had happened to her.

When she finally got in touch by the way, it turns out she'd had dinner with her husband at the Window on the World restaurant, last thing on 10th September, 2001.

reply to post by FlyingSpaghettiMonster

When she finally got in touch by the way, it turns out she'd had dinner with her husband at the Window on the World restaurant, last thing on 10th September, 2001.

Now that is eerie, literally the "Last Supper" there ever. What a feeling that would produce. Next day it's gone.

I'm hoping that people don't take offense to this, and that people don't think I'm just trying to get attention, but here are my honest feelings from when it happened.

I woke up with an annoying hangover and turned on the TV. The first tower had just been hit a few minutes before I got up. As the events unfolded, my first thoughts were "Damn, whoever did these special effects did a crappy job! They don't look real at all."

I do want to say though that I didn't think that in any sort of conspiracy situation. It was/is completely devoid on your personal beliefs about everything that happened after the fact (In other words, I am not making any pro or con opinion on truthers.)

I watched the news the next few hours, then a few other days. By day 3, I was so sick of hearing about it that I was wishing I was in the towers at the time. By day 5, I had sent bin Laden my credit card number, hoping more attacks would discourage people from talking about it at all. (OK, that last part was a joke. I have never supported anything like that, and I know that future attacks would not lessen the coverage at all. In fact, the opposite).

Basically, Since about a week after it happened, I have just wanted everyone to shut the *insert a naughty word here* up and move on to some other topic.

I Served The Firemen At Ground Zero....And Visited the Site...

As a writer, I was on my first book tour across the United States. I was away from my family in the Northeast United States--and had just arrived in St. Louis on September 10th. I watched both planes fly into the towers on the Today Show. The rest of my tour was cancelled....

When I got home, I immediately volunteered my time at Ground Zero with an organization I belong to. I fed food to the firemen and police who were digging through the rubble.

One of these policmen took me into Ground Zero. I was asked not to take pictures, and he led me through the site. It is something that is, of course, impossible to forget. It was hallowed ground already, and beyond the noise neccessary for rubble removal, there was something eerily quiet and reverent about the site. We stood in a restaurant across the street from the towers that had been almost gutted by the destruction. There were still plates sitting on the tables from breakfast that morning on 9/11, with remnants of food and half filled coffee cups. Strangely, there was a beverage cooler still plugged into the wall and running. It cast a shallow light through the darkened restaurant.

It was a wonderful thing to volunteer at Ground Zero. I'll never forget the tireless work of those who labored to find the remains of their fallen comrads. And the experience of touring the site.....it is still a very raw memory.....

I was 15 when this happened. We live in the UK.
I had just got home from school and my mum was sitting watching the TV with tears in her eyes and a very vacant expression. My mum has always been emotional and I thought she was watching a sad movie, and so I asked her what she was watching.
The News.
I sat with her and watched as the second plane hit the tower. We sobbed together as we saw tiny people jumping from the towers in desperation.
And when those towers 'fell'... I will never forget it as long as I live. I remember thinking at the time, "How can two towers, who have been hit in the upper floors, fall like that?" It's pretty much basic physics. Like playing Jenga. If you remove blocks from lower down, you increase the risk of the whole tower falling.

When Osama Bin Laden was blamed, or took responsibility for what happened, I thought nothing of it. I just accepted it.
I remember lying in bed at night and hearing nothing, which was so weird since I lived right near a airport at the time. Whenever there was an airplane any time after that, it was a huge cargo plane. I used to get so scared, wondering if it was a bomber, come to pay us a little visit for being an ally to the US.

Despite being from the UK, we very nearly could have lost a family member that day.
My cousin was taking her PHD at a University in NY, and had booked a tour of the Towers at 9am 11th September, 2001.
Due to a cancellation the previous day, she managed to get on the last tour on the 10th.
We hadn't known this at the time, so naturally we had all filled our pants waiting to hear from her.

Being from the UK, it didn't seem real. I grew up thinking to myself, "Do we really need to be reminded every year of how sh*tty humans are to each other?"
And as I grew up, and I became more interested in the world around me, and I started to discover things for myself, looking deeper.
IF 9/11 was a bloodied web of deceit woven by the US Government, then yes. We needed to be reminded every single year, that they will cut people down for any reason they like, without scrutiny, without morals and without guilt.
Thousands of people lost their life in one morning.

I don't think we'll ever know the truth. Even if someone did blow a whistle, they'd only be debunked, or branded, and no-one would believe them. Not without proof.

reply to post by queenofsheba

I have to wonder how joyous you would be if your daughter, loved ones family members died that day. It's easy to sit back and be unemotional over the deaths of people you don't know but just remember, they are someone's loved ones, too.

I can only imagine that had someone I knew been in them my initial reaction would have been more personal rather than as political as it was.

But as it was, I was far removed from the disaster. I had the liberty to evaluate the situation without the impact of empathic sentiment clouding my senses. Once we become caught up in the sweep of emotions brought on by personal trauma, we become more easily led down a road of righteous revenge which is the tool, in my opinion, which is still being used to pluck the strings of our hearts today.

Those who perpetrated 9/11 wanted us to feel compassion for the victims and their families. They wanted to use our empathy and turn it to their own Machiavellian purposes. They were very successful.

Originally posted by TerryMcGuire
reply to post by queenofsheba

 

I have to wonder how joyous you would be if your daughter, loved ones family members died that day. It's easy to sit back and be unemotional over the deaths of people you don't know but just remember, they are someone's loved ones, too.

I can only imagine that had someone I knew been in them my initial reaction would have been more personal rather than as political as it was.

But as it was, I was far removed from the disaster. I had the liberty to evaluate the situation without the impact of empathic sentiment clouding my senses. Once we become caught up in the sweep of emotions brought on by personal trauma, we become more easily led down a road of righteous revenge which is the tool, in my opinion, which is still being used to pluck the strings of our hearts today.

Those who perpetrated 9/11 wanted us to feel compassion for the victims and their families. They wanted to use our empathy and turn it to their own Machiavellian purposes. They were very successful.

Although I agree with what you say above regarding intentions, it does not, in any way, remove the legitamate sentiment of thousands of grieving innocents. Regardless of how their deaths have been used, they died. Horrible deaths. And they were you and me.

CJ

reply to post by ColoradoJens

Although I agree with what you say above regarding intentions, it does not, in any way, remove the legitamate sentiment of thousands of grieving innocents. .

Nor would I wish to do so.
All I wish to do is suggest that these sentiments have been played upon by those who take advantage of the death and destruction of that day.

Were this coming Sunday only a true day of remembrance I would welcome it with open arms. But those who will use it to their own advantage are standing center stage. It will be used to further the image of the national resolve. A national resolve which was orchestrated by we are not sure who, and used to alter the course of our Republic for their own intentions.

This was my story -

I was in school andd.... That's it. The bastards didn't tell us and kept it a secret from us. My sister would pick me up from school, so i walk to her car, she then asks, "so what do you think about the world ending?" I was confused and just said what or something like that. She looked at me like a was stupid. "You know about New York and the towers!" Still dumbfounded. Then she explained and got all pissed off the school hid it from us. I still to this day am incredibly pissed off. What if DC got nuked or something, are they just going to hide it from people? What the Hell?!

Oh course i was pissed. I wanted revenge, it was awful. Flash forward about 2 or 3 years we watched a video about it on the anniversary and had to talk about it. I once again was pissed and upset.

Flash forward again to about 2005 or 6. Sitting on my computer, i come across this website debunking religion, which i didn't believe in, but it was a hobby at the time to learn to debunk religious people. Someone in a web forum mentioned zeitgeist, i watched it, and my eyes opened wide on the second segment. I then watched loose change, started doing my own research. Its what made me a "conspiracy theorist". It really changed my life. I then learned about the dreaded Global Elite, the NWO agenda, how the central banks work, why technology doesn't get any better, and so much more.

I say 9-11 changed my life, because without it, i might still be a sheep today.

Originally posted by TerryMcGuire
reply to post by queenofsheba

 

I have to wonder how joyous you would be if your daughter, loved ones family members died that day. It's easy to sit back and be unemotional over the deaths of people you don't know but just remember, they are someone's loved ones, too.

I can only imagine that had someone I knew been in them my initial reaction would have been more personal rather than as political as it was.

But as it was, I was far removed from the disaster. I had the liberty to evaluate the situation without the impact of empathic sentiment clouding my senses. Once we become caught up in the sweep of emotions brought on by personal trauma, we become more easily led down a road of righteous revenge which is the tool, in my opinion, which is still being used to pluck the strings of our hearts today.

Those who perpetrated 9/11 wanted us to feel compassion for the victims and their families. They wanted to use our empathy and turn it to their own Machiavellian purposes. They were very successful.

Hey, we all have a right to our opinons. Me, I'm hanging on to my humanity and compassion because without it, I'm no better than those who did the dirty deed. Agree or disagree on who "they" are, I still have empathy for those that died and their surviving family. That's all.

I lived in New Jersey at the time and was going to college. Got my children off to school and sitters because I had an early class at college, Psychology 101 which started at 8 am.I remember when leaving my house that morning I smelled smoke and thought either the woods behind us was on fire or that a house on the street next to me was on fire, or someone had been having a stinky fire in their fireplace, I looked and saw no smoke around not burning of the woods a house or out of any chimneys. So anyway I proceeded to school. I was early to class, as a few people were, the professor was late. When she got in (8:35Am) she seemed flustered and not really together (unlike her). And I don't even remember the lesson we were learning but anyway, I needed to go down to the student store after the class ended to buy something, which I also don't remember what it was I needed but for some reason I had to get it that day for the next class (which didn't happen). I saw in the student lounge that it was filled to capacity, the student lounge set across from the student store, so Anyway I look in to see what is going on because the lounge never is that full and saw them watching the TV on the wall and saw that something had hit the towers they were showing playbacks at this point cause it was well after 9am that I got by there, I couldn't see what the heck hit the tower so I asked someone taller and they told met that two planes hit two towers and my next response was, pardon the french but it was "WTF?"(not said WTF but the entire sentence) I was like is this really true? WTF is going on? I couldn't even think who the hell would do this (nobody knew of Al Queda unless they worked with the CIA or something as far as I knew). I knew it wasn't the russians we were past all that crap. I was just dumbfounded then The announcement came over the loudspeaker that classes were cancelled for the rest of the day, then I was pissed cause my kids' school wasn't cancelling classes (WTF?!) Then I became more pissed having to answer my kids questions over the towers cause the school showed these First Graders the news over and over again (WTF were they nuts?) that can cause a lot of psychological damage and I was royally pissed and it seems all over the nation parents were fuming over the very same thing cause when I went to the parenting website forum I belonged to, there were many parents leaving some very angry posts about their also kindergarden and first grade children being shown this over and over. And then I got even more pissed when I found out where President Dips*it was at the time of the attacks! Oh it was a bad week for me! Also the next day the smoke reached us (we knew it would the news told us it was blowing down toward south jersey) so I smelled the same smell that I had smelled the previous morning at exactly the same time it had happened the day before. Psychic olfactory thing? Who knows...but that was/has certainly had me scratching my head since!

Originally posted by queenofsheba

Originally posted by TerryMcGuire
reply to post by queenofsheba

 

I have to wonder how joyous you would be if your daughter, loved ones family members died that day. It's easy to sit back and be unemotional over the deaths of people you don't know but just remember, they are someone's loved ones, too.

I can only imagine that had someone I knew been in them my initial reaction would have been more personal rather than as political as it was.

But as it was, I was far removed from the disaster. I had the liberty to evaluate the situation without the impact of empathic sentiment clouding my senses. Once we become caught up in the sweep of emotions brought on by personal trauma, we become more easily led down a road of righteous revenge which is the tool, in my opinion, which is still being used to pluck the strings of our hearts today.

Those who perpetrated 9/11 wanted us to feel compassion for the victims and their families. They wanted to use our empathy and turn it to their own Machiavellian purposes. They were very successful.

Hey, we all have a right to our opinons. Me, I'm hanging on to my humanity and compassion because without it, I'm no better than those who did the dirty deed. Agree or disagree on who "they" are, I still have empathy for those that died and their surviving family. That's all.

Nor would I wish you to change. I am sorry that my words might have suggested to you that I don't.