I sit here in the early morning and ponder this date that will be forever inscribed in the minds and hearts of our generation and perhaps generations to come just as December 7 still is.

To a generation of children now growing up, life pre-September 11, 2001 is hard to understand. I guess it must have been the same for the generation that was born after 1914. As I read in the history books I can only imagine the type of life that is hinted at as historians talk about the shift in world dynamics that took place during that year as The Great War broke out, later known as World War I, after another war broke out that eclipsed the first one. What used to take generations to happen now happens overnight. Long lasting empires, states, nations, rise and fall, come and go.

Indeed when I contemplate life as it is now, no other date has affected modern-day man more than 9/11 for many reasons. We live in a new era of terror, of insecurity, of lawless violence, and religious extremism; an era where freedoms are stripped in the name of security and divisive lines are being drawn on all sides.

What happened on 9/11 did not just affect the people who died on the two towers that fell from the sky they once so magnificently soared in. It did not just affect those in the immediate surrounding who were able to watch it, or the family members that were affected, or the businesses that were affected. It affected an entire nation, and not just the nation, but the entire world of mankind was shaken. Almost as if an earthquake shook the world.

We were stuck, seemingly motionless our eyes glued to our televisions, our ears listening to the radio reports, our hands typing on our keyboards looking up as much information as we could about the event unfolding.

We were frantically calling friends and neighbors, relatives in distant states. There was a dark sense of disorientation. That deep pitted feeling inside when you realized that it wasn’t an accident that America was under attack that the country WAS UNDER ATTACK. Was that possible? North America is isolated from the rest of the world. If anyone wanted to attack the United States they would have to cross vast Oceans on either sides or a frigid and cold north. By then the armed forces would undoubtedly have spotted them.

How could we have gone to sleep one night, without a care in the world, and awaken the next morning to shattered imagines on a TV screen, and slow realization that civilization would never be the same again?

So I sit here and contemplate that and without a doubt remember where I was on that fateful morning. I had awoken, late. I should have been out of bed by six but I slept in to 6:30 I think, that is Mountain Time. I was going to be late. My wife hurriedly prepared me a breakfast while I showered and shot out the door. I didn’t turn on the TV or listen to anything before leaving.

My trip usually lasted forty-five minutes in rush hour traffic through downtown Denver down to Littleton where I worked I usually listened to NPR to pass the time. The sun was shining, and the cool morning breeze was blowing in the window as I drove down Larimer St, a street that ran through the center of downtown Denver. I wasn’t paying much attention to the radio as I was busy dodging in and out of traffic that seemed to be going too slow. I think I saw a police car parked ahead and to the right and slowed down and got behind a mini-van. I was going to be late for work for sure.

My attention drifted to the radio as I came to a red light. There was a story about an airplane hitting the World Trade center. Great, I thought, I want to listen to the morning news, not some fiction book they’re reviewing. I turned the channel to 630AM KOA talk radio, they at least have ABC News on the top of the hour, and their morning host talks about interesting things sometimes. But he too was talking about a plane running into the World Trade Center. What a weird coincidence, that must have been a good book, everyone is talking about it this morning.

I wasn’t in the mood for listening to wild stories though, so I turned it to FM and focused in on 98.5 KYGO, that’s the country station I sometimes listen too. They weren’t playing music; rather they were playing live feed from NBC, if I remember correctly. A plane has just run into one of the World Trade Centers in New York City. Then it started to sink in. This is a real story. If a plane ran into the World Trade Center, then the United States is under attack. And if we’re under attack…I turned around and drove back home, gonna see if my wife is okay. Besides I’d rather miss the day than show up late, I get docked one-half point more anyway, and I was feeling sick the past two days.
“Honey have you seen the news?” I ask walking inside. She comes out of the kitchen.
“What’s wrong, why’d you come back?”
I look around find the remote control lying inside a cushion of the couch and pull it out and flip it to NBC and the Today Show. Katey Curric is talking about the trade center crash. They’re showing pictures of it.

“Look, we’re under attack,” I state back. She seemed disinterested.

“Okay honey, I got to get back into the kitchen and clean up. Are you going to call in?”

“Right,” I respond walking to the phone. “But you do realize what is happening? We’re under attack!”

“Okay, well, let me know what happens.”

While I’m dialing work the second plane hits and we watch it live on TV. Oh man, another one? This is crazy! I see the looks on the anchors faces, you can tell they’re trying to hold it together but you can still see the shock in their eyes. I put the phone down.

“Honey, you have to see this, get into the living room.”

She comes back in. They replay the crash a few times.

“Oh my,” she says.

“Yea, like I said we’re under attack. I’m staying home for sure, pretty soon President Bush is going to be declaring Marshall Law, and I’d rather be at home when that happens than stuck at work.” I realize that was a pretty stupid statement, but at the time it felt real enough.

Then the first tower came down. And just a really bad feeling sunk into my gut and tears came to my eyes. The world was watching the mass murder of thousands of people on live TV. It was probably the most traumatic thing that I had ever seen. The second one came down a little later. It was surreal. It was like I woke up into a different world, then the reports of the attack on the Pentagon, and the downed plane. And the anchormen were know talking about a full-fledged attack on the country. You could almost sense that the people on the Today show probably wouldn’t to bolt out of their chairs and get out of that building. They might be in the targeted area. Who knows what’s next?

Finally I remember, gotta call work. I get my manager. “What’s up you’re late.”

“I’m late? We’re under attack? Have you been watching the news?”

“Doesn’t matter need you in.”

“I’m taking the day off.”

“Come in.”

“But…”

“Just come in.”

“Alright, I’ll be there in an hour,” I hang up. “Honey, I’m going in to work. Be careful while I’m gone.”

“Alright love you,”

“Love you too,” she kisses me on the lips and I’m out the door driving through downtown looking up at the skyscrapers touching the blue sky above. Wonder if any of these are next? People are filing out in the streets, looks like they’re evacuating some of the buildings. I would be evacuating if I was in any of them.

I get to work and it’s a really dead day. We usually get calls from all around the country from the satellite dealers that work for us but today I got a total of two calls in four hours, and they only talked about what was going on. The switchboards on the whole eastern-coast seem to be down. Finally the manager tells us to pack up and go home early.

I was thinking about this the other day.

I was in a highschool class- literature I think... it was around 11am and we were working in groups- actually we were more chatting and having fun than working hehe. but yeah- I remember the teacher approached us and said: "A plane has just hit the twin towers in the USA" "apparently it's an accident"- :O

- we quite didn't understand what it was all about- and we were like: "what?" ... and a couple of minutes later- or so - that the teacher came back and said we could leave earlier- and watch the news, because it was a serious thing, attack or something.....

Well, the rest is history ...

another day in freshman school.... well thats after dis i was in newark early setember 11th seen the towers got back to the midwest at 9am seen the mayhem still sad!!!

I was a freshman in college, that year. I didn't know what to make of it then, and now, nine years, later I'm still not sure.


-TheAssoc.

I was in my sophomore Geometry class in high school. We were doing group work and all of the sudden our tv flipped on showing the second tower being hit. The teacher immediately turned up the volume and everything got really quiet.

Well, I'll tell you my story of that day....

I'm from England and I was 13 at the time. I wasn't at school that day, because it was closed for teacher training.

I had arranged to go hang out with my friend at his house as he only lived a few doors down. I got to his house and went in and whilst going through the door I looked at the television and watched the second plane slam into the tower as it happened live.

I was quite stunned. I'd heard of the World Trade Centre, but I wouldn't have recognised them if I'd seen them, but the name was familiar. Still the image on the screen was startaling. Although I was only 13 I always watched the news and I can remember many things I've seen on the news when I was younger, even though I might not have fully understood them.

My friend meanwhile was sat in the same room playing Diablo 2 (a computer game). He was totally engrossed and seemed more interested in that to be honest. My immediate thought upon seeing the second plane hit, and I think I actually voiced this aloud, was that maybe it was Russia that did it. This is probably because, even though I was only 13, I still had an image of Russia as the "boogeyman." Little did I realise what they were about to role out to frighten us with. To me terrorists were something from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie or a Tom Clancy computer game. They existed, but they were little heard of and wern't all pervasive as we were later led to believe.

I sat glued to the televison and watched the towers collapse live. It was like watching a disaster movie, but what made it all the more shocking was this was actually real and it was happening right now. When I heard the report on the television about a plane hitting the Pentagon I realised the significance.....America was being attacked.....woe betied whoever was responsible for it.

I had to go back home for something (I can't remember what) but at home I was replaying everything in my head and realising that this was as serious as it gets. My sister was at my next door neighbours house looking after their dog, as they were away on holiday. She was in their yard with the dog and as I was going back to my friends I told her what had happened and said a plane had also hit the Pentagon. She seemed quite unfazed and I don't think she even understood what the Pentagon was, let alone the dire gravity of the situation.

I got back to my friend's house (he was still sat at the computer) and I just sat and watched the tv.

The next day at school I remember practically my entire class discussing the event. Our discussion revovled around the fact that we believed that every single country in the world would now ally with America and destroy whoever was responsible. We didn't understand that everything wasn't as simple or as black and white as we imagined it to be.

Everything seemed to go downhill from then on.....and the days where "Terrorists" were something confined to fiction or remote countries was long forgotten and terroism became a rampant, all encompasing behemoth which was out to destroy us....or so they claimed (and still claim).

I was working in a factory when it happened. I happened to notice a lot of people crying and management called everyone into the break room for a meeting. They told us about the attacks and how it would affect business. I didn't see footage until later in the day, at a friend's house.

I was in Grade 5.. Taking a teen back 9 years.. puts me there lol. I was in Some class i can't remember. That day at school everything was normal.. When i got home i got told of the horrid news. "Unlucky Americans" i thought.. No one should deserve that event.

The true irony of the story is that 2 years later in grade 7. For history we were learning about that tragic event. Only then did i understand the seriousness of the situation. The pictures we got given to stick into our books.. ...
and Your President Bush was at some primary school reading a novel when he got told of the news.

I might be thousands of kms/miles away from you. But the whole world will never forget what happend.
and to the controversy behind it.. who knows.. Conspiracy..

Peace

I had just started a new job as a residential painter. I was sanding a wrought iron fence when someone in the neighborhood walked up to us and said "Yall know the pentagon is on fire?" We all took off early to get home and see what was going on.