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Just things I wonder about ... and some people are nice enough to answer. You are welcome to answer, too ... just click on "Comments" and off you go! IF you don't want to be Anonymous, use the Name/URL option and just put in your name ... no URL required .... Starting Jan 28th, 2009, I am using questions from "Table Topics: Right or Wrong?"
6 comments:
I remember awakening to the Shock-jock Howard Stern and cast commenting about the The World Trade Center building being struck by an aircraft. They heard that it was a small recreational aircraft. Since they kept going on about the issue, I figured if it was for real the networks would also be broadcasting the incident. I turned on the TV to see the first of the two towers burning and realized that this wasn't a radio prank.
Nevertheless I continued to get ready for work and was listening to the radio while driving to work when the second disaster occurred.
That is when I knew for sure it was an attack. The roads were EMPTY! Normally it took me 45 minutes to drive the 6 miles from home to work. I made it in 10 mins. It was eerie as there were no cars on the US 75. I have driven US 75 central expressway at 5 pm, and also at 5 am many times, and I've thus far not seen US 75 that empty.
Upon arriving at work I was informed that we were released to go home, and another co-worker said that military jets had to down a commericial airliner. I hadn't heard about the pentagon as yet.
I returned home to watch both towers in flames. The next may seem like hind sight to all of you, but I know enough about structural engineering to know that a building can't withstand that kind of fire without fire supression and not suffer thermal failure, especially since there was a tremendous amount of weight above the impact zones; yet I watched in amazement as both towers came down.
The rest of the day is a blur as it reminded me of other disasters I have been involved in and witness too. That eveing I retrieved all of my self taken photo's of the WTC buildings from my work trip in the Winter of 1995.
Human memory is a funny thing in that some things we don't remember, and yet others are ingrained for life. Despite the fact that I do not remember the entire day EXACTLY, I will not forget 9-11-01 short of being brain dead!
PEF & I were at the Dr's office each having our blood drawn for annual check ups. He had to carry a pager for his work and we read the news line over the pager. I spent the remainder of the day glued to CNN. A couple of days later I remember hearing about the possibility of chemical attacks from crop dusters and for the first time I was truly afraid. You see, being in Texas everything was so far away.
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We were scheduled to leave for Maine two weeks after 9/11 for our wedding. Because of the threats, we had several people cancel their plans to attend the wedding and we eventually did rent a car and drive. God bless the Chiacchierini's for braving the airlines and attending from Maryland. And to my parents who also traveled in the R/V to attend.
So to answer the question: What do I remember most about 9/11: American Patriotism! Our drive from Fort Worth to Maine and back (We did 2 different routes) was quite magical. We saw the American flags hung every possible way. We saw farms, cities, and Americans just as they were before 9/11 but in someway, they were more proud and strong.
God Bless America!
THINK IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD DAY,
WEATHER WISE. ALL THE TA DO ON THE
EAST COAST I THINK WAS ALL THE TALK.
AND I HEARD ABOUT IT ON THE EVENING NEWS AND EVERY DAY IT WAS
ALL THE NEWS FOR ABOUT A WEEK.
It was a day of what started out to be shock over what at first appeared to be a horrible accident when a plane hit the WTC to unbelievable horror as the events continued to occur and the truth of what was happened began to unfold.
I had just gotten to work when the mayor's (now ex-mayor) wife called him about the plane hitting the first tower. We spent the rest of the day checking the internet for reports and listening to radio.
I remember going across the street later that day with the mayor and a couple of co-workers to a church for a prayer service, then that evening coming home and calling my kids to be sure they were ok.
I also remember the flags. People had flags everywhere.
It started out an any normal day. I got both the kids off to school and came back to the house and proceeded to watch Good Morning America. Shortly thereafter, they announced that one of the towers was on a fire and it seemed that a plane had hit it. Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer speculated about about a small plane and an accident,etc. They switched over to a live feed and were giving us info as it came in off the wire. They said it apparently was NOT a small plane but a passenger jet. And as I was sitting there in shock, I saw the 2nd jet hit the South Tower. I think I screamed audibly. I remember Charlie Gibson saying he believed that this was not an accident. I thought, "My God! Who would do this?" I knew how many people worked in those buildings. Then word came in about the Pentagon. I wanted to go get my kids at school but my husband convinced me that they were safer there. Then one tower collapsed, then the next. (My husband said he knew this was going to happen. I'm kind of glad he didn't tell me ahead of time but just sat there holding me when it did) Then we heard about Flight 93 crashing out near us. I literally was in a state of shock. Then the names started being released of the those that were confirmed dead. Michael Horrocks, Pilot on Flight 175, Jeremy Glick on Flight 93....I don't think I slept at all the 1st night. I watched "Search and Rescue" become "Search and Recovery".The 2nd night, my daughter and I went to our church for a candle light vigil and prayer service.Driving down every street, house after house, I saw American Flags where none had hung before, Ours was at half mast. My cousin had been sent there to help them set up some sort of communication system.
I finally did go to Ground Zero in April of 2004,with some of my SB friends to pay my respects and that started the healing. But it still hurts. I grieve for the families that lost so much but I think it made us, as a nation, stronger, in a way.
It's so sad to me though that there is a culture that hates our way of life so much, they are willing to kill their own to kill us. Why? What makes us "The Infidel". (It's a rhetorical question,really. I guess I'm having a hard time explaining myself. Sorry.) But God Bless America. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave!
Plain and simple it was an awful day in my book. We were caught with our pants down, the hole country was save the few people who saw it coming. Its interesting that we are in the Blame Assessment Phase of the aftermath, who knew and when did they know and was it Clinton's fault or Bush's fault. It is a failing of being American I guess. Most Americans want to believe that we are safe from this type of attack, that people are basically good (and they are), but we take that to the extreme of putting our heads in the sand when it comes to dealing with reality sometimes.
At the end of the day, they caught us with our pants down, blame whoever you want to but it won't bring those 3,000+ people back. And guess what else? The terrorists aren't going away without a damn long fight either. We need to begin to realize this is a religious war. We don't want to believe that because we feel we can separate church and state in this country, they do not in the radical, fundamental areas of muslim world and we are the infidel.
Osama and his gang along with Hezzbolah and others are laughing their butts off at our finger-pointing and internal bickering over this, because they know its only a matter of time until we tear ourselves apart. And they know our $*%*ing media culture in this country will care and feed the fire!
I was digusted to find that I can go on any of the major news websites and still view the video footage from the attacks ad nauseum along with extensive coverage on all aspects of the attack.
Why can't give the victims of this tragedy a break? Rememberance is one thing, but opening old woulds constantly only ensures that they fester. ENOUGH!
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