September 11th, 2001: Five Years Later

[KMan101]

Is there discussion elsewhere that I'm missing?

I cannot simply believe it has been five years. My god it seems like yesterday. It's so strange that I remember EVERYTHING about that day. Where I was, what I was doing, everything. I always used to brush off people who would say "I remember exactly where I was when _____". It was unreal that it happened.

[KLN]

I had totally forgotten that it was 9/11 until I was driving home from work this morning about an hour ago. I turned on the radio in my car, and they were reading off names... didn't realize what the hell they were talkin about, and then it hit me. They were names of people who died in the attacks. I got teary-eyed.

That whole event was unreal. Unlike anything I'll ever 'live through' again.

[KMan101]

It really is unreal. I spent hours last night on YouTube looking at live uncut footage of that day and It's just still so hard to believe it's real. My god what a horrific day. I wasn't even in New York but I will *never* forget it.

CNBC or MSNBC at 8:30AM EST this morning is running the "Today" show coverage of that day, and CNN Pipeline (cnn.com/pipeline) is running it's coverage as it happened as well.

[Manny]

Well even I (and I'm not from USA) remember what I did at the time when the attack happened... it was around 3PM in Croatia at that time and I was at school. We just had our break inbetween classes and some guys from my class went to the bar downstairs where TV was. 5 minutes later, they came back running and screaming around my class how New York was attacked and how WW3 has begun... We didn't believe them really, but then our teacher came in (I believe we had German) and he told us that New York was attacked. We had few more classes (Math and History...) and we talked to each of them about the attack.

Then I went home and my mom and dad were watching live feeds (our TV networks all switched to CNN so there was no translation), so my Dad asked me to translate everything to him..

It was horrifying...

[Toups]

I have this sort of obsession with 9/11. I'm actually watching the live broadcast from 5 years on CNN Pipeline. I want to see how everything unfolded and how the newcast handled the situation. I also try to watching anything that's 9/11 related.

I was at school 5 years ago and didn't find out about the attacks until about 2pm. I got home around 4pm and watched the coverage until 1am. I couldn't stop watching.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

It has been five years, and I still remember the place and time of where I was when the towers were hit.

On September 11, 2001, I was just starting my new position as a Medicare customer service representative, ad learning about working with Home Healthcare patients, particularly those who are in New York. I was on my way to the cafeteria when I was told to about the first plane hitting the tower.

The television was on, and my eyes, along with everyone elses was fixated on the terrible images. Then the second plane hit. One of my co-workers told me that the New York branch of Medicare was in one of those towers. People were crying and pulling out their cell phones to contact family that lived in New York, myself included.

I will never shake those images of seeing people jumping from the windows of the towers. Things were not the same whenever I received one of my New York calls, especially knowing that we had to take over the calls because there was no longer a connection in the New York Medicare branch

[Danni]

It has been five years, and quite frankly I don't care anymore. I really don't. It's been shoved in my face so much that I'm certainly not going to feel anything. I think CNN rebroadcasting 9/11 is stupid and downright unnecessary. We all know that Bush and his goons are going to use it to even further their agenda in this farce of a war, and I don't trust the American people to wisen up and call it like it is. We are no safer now than we were back then (oh, yeah, throwing out chapstick really is the way to go to ensure our safety). As much as I hate to say it, thos deaths were in vain.

[Kwing42]

Very saddened and shocked at one of the responses here.

9-11 was a HORRID, TERRIBLE event and I hope to GOD we never go through it again. Stop blaming, stop bashing and acknowledge that we need to stop the terrorists.

I still am shocked when I see the planes go in the buildings, when I think of the loss of life, the horror that followed. Truly a sad, devestating day.

God Bless America and everyone that has terrorism smack them in the face like it did to us.

Should never happen.

[DaysFanJean]

It was a very shocking tragedy and my heart goes out to all affected by it. Since I don't know anyone directly affected by it, I'm livid with our government for the way the aftermath for our retribution has gone. Bin Laden has fallen to the backburner instead of the direct focus of our goal and terrible, horrible, things have happened in Iraq in the name of peace, we did not dream of peace in retribution for what Bin Laden and his tribe planned for us. It has become a mockery of America in my judgement and I hate it. My heart goes out to all the victims of Iraq who were innocent and had nothing against America, much less attacking it. Saddam had to go, but aren't we capable of more delicate ways of extracting a person? I'm truly saddened by the whole story.

[Danni]

Don't be shocked/saddened about the way I feel. I live in NYC. I was just a river away when it happened, and my aunt was there when Tower 1 was hit. At some point though, enough is enough. Dwelling on it isn't going to bring it back. It isn't going to bring the people who died back. And quite frankly I'm more concerned with how the administration used 9/11 to put us in the state we're in now.

[Ms. Walsh]

I always would hear older people talking about where they were when they heard about Pearl Harbor or about JFK's death, and I thought it was really lame that they'd keep mentioning it. I didn't understand how someone could connect some life-shattering event w/ their daily lives, the boring everyday activities that they do.

But I will always remember where I was when I heard about 9/11. I was a freshman in high school, and one of my friends mentioned at lunch between English class about how a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It didn't seem like anything shocking.We just thought that it was an accident. There were people who had watched the news coverages in other classes (at the time, only certain classrooms had TVs and they were these crappy versions from the 70s with the knobs). Then in Music class, my teacher was talking about how awful everything was and was on the verge of tears, and I still didn't understand what the big deal was.

Then I got home at 2, expecting to see our soaps on, but instead it was the news and when I finally saw what had happened it immediately clicked in my mind just how awful it really was. The fact that they pre-empted everything (even on cable) showed just how serious this was...I just couldn't believe it. It finally sunk in.

I'm definitely proud to be an American, but I'm not proud of what has become of our country ever since 9/11. Before the attacks, we were all living in oblivion, Bush was just a mediocre President, and the thought of terrorism or our country going to war never crossed anyone's minds. In fact, all summer the only news was about shark attacks.

Now, everything on the news somehow comes back to the 9/11 attacks: the Bush administration as well as the gov't overall use 9/11 as a scare tactic for the American people. Bush used it as an excuse for invading Iraq, he used it as an excuse for breaking the law with unsolicited phone tappings, and he used it to create a system that infringes on the rights guaranteed by the Constitution w/ the Homeland Security Dept.

Americans are scared to take planes, buses, subways, trains, even walk in a city, and Bush has turned to be one of the worst presidents in the history of our country (JMO). I definitely applaud him for his handling of the country right after the attacks, but when the dust had settled, he definitely blew it for me. He used his authority and the vunerability of the American people to his advantage, and now our country is in the worst shape it's been since probably the Civil War.

On the 5th anniversary, we're supposed to remember the lives of those victims lost in the attacks. Instead, we also have to think about those innocent lives (both US and Iraqi) lost in the war. As the death toll of American casualities rises close to 3,000, I can't help but wonder: do these deaths do any justice for the deaths caused by the 9/11 attacks? Soon, the number of American victims from the war will surpass those of 9/11. 5 years later, all we have to show for ourselves are even more dead Americans and a country more divided than ever.

[Adam]

Its so hard to believe its been 5 years. I am like you Toups I like to watch anything 9/11 related and everytime I see a different show documenting it its still just as shocking as it was when it actually happend. I was in my 2nd period class in Grade 11 when the school made the move of announcing it over the P.A. Aorund 9:45. The room was filled with noise and then when the principal said that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Centre, dead silence. It was so unreal. I literally could not believe it. This was before we knew the towers had fell and I specifically said to my friend sitting next to me " oh god can you imagine if they collapse all the people trapped in there" Well my fears were soo realized It was such a horrific day and still affects me even though I am not American. 5 years just does not seem possible.

[Actor87]

I remember...I was in my first hour computer literacy class. It was sooo early in the morning. All we ever did was goof off in there and there were about 5 of us. Only 3 boys, myself included. I was a freshman in high shcool. The Junior English teacher was best friends with my computer teacher (and I knew my teacher on a personal level as well..family friend) and she said that a plane had just crahsed into the WTC.

Silly me..I had no clue what the WTC was. I soon learned however when I entered my second period class, then my third....for the whole rest of the day, I marched from class to class and we just watched TV.

Byt the time I got home and got on AIM (I was 14 so the big thing back then was I.M.ing) there was stuff all over the internet about it. Pictures, videos, interviews, etc. I remember just sitting there and day after day after day following 9/11...my AIM thing would have a main efature thing like "One Day After".."Two Days After"........."Twenty days after".

It was a truly horrifying event.

[SnCCorinthos4ever]

I remember that it was about 11.00 pm our time when the news broke here in Australia, but at that time I was asleep as I get up at 4.30 am for work.

I remember turning my TV on and watching the first coming out of the first tower that was hit. The first thought that came to my mind was "why are they going on about the bombing at the WTC.

And then it hit me that it wasn't the bomb and I watched in horror as they showed the rest of the events unfold.

When the towers colapsed there was only one place that I wanted to be and that was in NY.

I felt so helpless I wanted to do something to help but I wa over 17,000 miles away.

I was in NYC in 1997 and took some photos and video of the WTC from Liberty Island.

I went to work and everyone was just in a daze about what happend.

Later that day I had to go out to the bank and as I walked out the front door I heard a low flying plane and I looked up at it and followed the way it went just to make sure it wasn't going towards our taller buildings, but it went in the opposite direction.

The main airport is about 30 minutes drive from where I live and our house is in a flight path. To this day a low flying plane still sends shivers up and down my spine.

Edith - who is still hoping to make it back to NYC one day.

[MarlandRulez]

Naturally, this is one of the most visually traumatic events of recent times. I remember feeling chronically depressed about the thought of being trapped and dying in those horrifically ugly towers. What a terrible way to go. My heart goes out to all the victims of the great tragedy of our western society - i always feel a special admiration for those who chose to jump out of their hellish surroundings and not be destroyed in the plummeting wreckage. They are heroic, as if to say 'No terrorist is taking my life, I command my own destiny.'

My heart also goes out to all the victims in the middle east who have suffered from the US and their allies' policies ever since. May they and the innocent victims of 9/11 be at peace. We are ALL human beings and that counts more than belonging to any one nation.