September 11th, 20 year anniversary.

Tomorrow is going to be a hard day for a lot of people. Not just in the USA, but around the world.

I live in Canada. But tomorrow is a very important day to me.
To remember the lives that were needlessly lost and the families that, even with the passage of time, will never be the same again.

I made a similar thread back on the 18th anniversary about this.

The entire world stood still that morning.
We watched and listened to what was unfolding.

At first it was thought it was an air traffic accident.
But minutes later we knew the worst was taking place.

Where were you that morning. What were you doing when the towers were hit?

I was drinking my morning coffee sitting at the living room coffee table.
I was flipping through the channels and saw it on CNN.
The first tower had smoke billowing from it.
I flipped to the next news channel and seconds later saw the second plane hit.

I immediately knew this was no accident.

I spent the rest of that morning glued to the tv while getting ready for my afternoon shift at the call centre I worked at back then.
I knew it was not the day to be doing what I did. Thankfully I got the call to not come in.

We were cold calling New York residents on behalf of GMAC, trying to sell them life insurance.
Not really the thing any company (back then) would want to try to capitalize on given the circumstances of the day.

I will never forget that day.
Nor the images on the screen that morning.

What were you doing when it happened?

Laying in a hospital bed in the living room recovering from an above knee amputation.
Not a great time all the way around....

a reply to: Macenroe82

I was wprking at the office tower where CSIS is located here in Halifax. The building was quietly evacuated as airplanes were diverted to Nova Scotian airports with everyone at a stage of high alert. The government agency made the tower an attractive target for a terrorist attack so it was closed as a precaution. I was reading a horror novel called The Fury and The Terror by John Farris that opened a with a hijacked plane used in a kamikaze attack. And I remember staying up all night with Mark staring at the 24 hours news. Don't think either of us blinked once.

a reply to: Macenroe82

The previous day, I had been partying/drinking all day, and finally went to bed around 5:00 A.M. Then for some reason I woke up and turned on the TV a few hours later, after the 1st Tower had been hit but before the 2nd. Around that time, I rarely woke up before noon. Not sure why I did on that day.

In high school living in CA so i was sleeping in bed.
I remember my mom came in and woke me up and said you have to see what just happened.

It was right when the first building fell. I said, why did you wake me up to show me a controlled demolition? or something along those lines.
My mom said it wasn't a controlled demolition its a terrorist attack.

about a year earlier i had seen a documentary about controlled demolitions and how hard it was to bring down a building in its own footprint and how much planning went into it. I was 16 at the time and knew something wasn't adding up, never did for me.
The News cycles took place and being young and naive i had no reason not to believe what they were telling me. Then weapons of mass destruction stories came out. I totally bought into all of it.
Then two years later i came across ATS looking for information about astral projecting one night when i was bored.

Read a thread about how 9-11 was an inside job and it all made too much sense. Blew my naive little mind right open.

20 years later now is why i say a good rule of thumb, "anything the media says, the opposite is most likely true."

a reply to: booyakasha

So did you then go to school that day, or stay home?

a reply to: BrokenCircles

yeah i did go to school, it was a late day so i started at 9 and had like 3, 2 hour classes or something like that. We watched the news the whole time in every class.

It was a very quiet and somber day, and EVERYONE in the next couple weeks following had American flags everywhere all over their cars and trucks and were begging to go to war.

a reply to: Macenroe82

We Canadians did our part.
Gander, Newfoundland comes to mind.

www.usatoday.com...

this small Canadian town on an island in the North Atlantic Ocean took in nearly 6,700 people – almost doubling its population – when the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington forced 38 planes to land here. Their simple hospitality to the unexpected house guests drew worldwide accolades and even inspired a Broadway musical.

a reply to: DrumsRfun

My boss’s boss (so my my boss too) was there for what seemed like a week or so because she was returning from France. Craziest part of that job was that no one ever said I was hired. My immediate boss went on vacation, Pam took me shopping and I never wore the actual uniform because none was ever issued. Just a badge when John came back.

a reply to: DrumsRfun

They talk about that on one of the 9/11 documentary shows.

I'm pretty sure it's on '9/11: Control The Skies' which is actually gonna be on The National Geographic Channel in about 3 1/2 hours (2:30 A.M. EST).... just in case anyone might be interested.

a reply to: Macenroe82
I was a freshman in high school. I didn’t want to go to school that day so I played sick… mom saw through it. My mother was in the family room when the phone rang. It was our neighbor. He asked where my mom was cause there was an accident in New York. I have the phone to her and she rushed back into the family room and turned on the tv. I walked in right after the second plane hit. We had been in the city in June over the Father’s Day weekend with some family friends. We went to the twin towers. They were massive. Watching the tv that morning it didn’t seem real. For some reason I couldn’t get what I was seeing. Then the pentagon was hit. The reporter had said they’d seen a helicopter disappear behind the building right before the plane hit. Dad went to the hospital to help with communications because of the expected influx of patients that were expected.

I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I still remember everything.

We put in to Gander once, we dropped an injured man off.
Wish we had time to look around.
I was on a Sword Boat.
Is not the whole island named Gander?

a reply to: DrumsRfun

I was supposed to be at WTC Plaza for noon 9/11/01. My Audi salesman invited me to drive a new car there for a display they had arranged for that beautiful autumn day. Fortunately, I bawlked and stayed home. The caravan was stopped short outside the tunnel, and could see the aftermath from across the Hudson.

Nobody seems to have actually wrapped their heads around this event. It still is a bit of a shocker.

20 years ago today folks.

Please, take a moment out of your day, where ever you are, to remember the amount of lives lost today.
In a split second, everything could change.

Also, tell your family you love them.

Everyone, Please say a prayer at 9:11 am EST

Even if you dont believe in a God, take a moment to just remember the lives lost on this day 20 years ago.
Then make sure you tell your family you love them.

a reply to: PiratesCut

Is not the whole island named Gander?

No, Gander is a town in the province of Newfoundland.

Its hard watching the raw emotion from the people naming those that were lost and then telling the story of their lost loved one

ETA: It took such a monumental tragedy to pull the country together. I remember there were American Flags waving from almost every single building, and every front yard.
There was pride and unity like I've never seen before, and unfortunately, haven't seen since.
It shouldn't take a disaster to pull people together.
America needs to get that pride back.

a reply to: DrumsRfun

Here is the Gander 9/11 Anniversary event.
Currently the Gander Community Choir is singing Hymes