Hostile Attack

[Ransac]

The day started well. I went to my Music Theory class and learned about Minor chords. I practiced my piano because next class would be a piano quiz.


I made my way to the piano class and the teacher shortly thereafter walked. The first thing he said was "You are going to remember this day for the rest of your lives." I was confused, seeing as how this is just a piano class. Then, he said "A plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings."


This shocked the class, because nothing in our lifetimes had ever come close to something like this. After a few quick notes, he dismissed the class and I hurried for the TV in the lobby in my dorm.


There were about 10 people in front of the TV and the first thing I saw on the screen was a live picture of a second plane crashing into the other building. The room was silent as we watched yet another moment that could be classified as the greatest tragedy of the decade, maybe even century. Not long after that, one of the building crashed.


I held my breath, for I knew that as I watched, even more people were dying. Then, the second one collapsed, and I struggled to not cry as I realized that the people trying to help the situation(firefighters, EMTs, cops, etc., were are perishing for their noble deeds.

After this, I hear from a nearby conversation that the pentagon had also attacked this morning. GOOD GOD!!!!!!!!! WHAT ELSE COULD GO WRONG!!!!!!!!!! I was curious as to whether or not the president was in there at the time. About 5 minutes later, CNBC did a recap and assured us that the president was fine and not close to Washington.

At this point, my Algebra class was going to start in 5 minutes, so I grabbed my bookbag and headed towards the door, when I heard that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. As I unlocked my bike, a tear rolled down my cheek. Never in my life had I heard of such catastrophe.

Algebra class is over, and I rushed back to the lobby. All financial markets were closed and a 5th plane was in rumor to have crashed, although as I type this, it's whereabouts are a mystery. I then contemplate the idea that all of these attacks are East Coast oriented and that whoever's doing has no problem with killing civilians. I feared that Atlanta would be there next target.

I run to my room to drop off my bookbag and a couple tears once again roll down my cheek. I was fearing that the worst was going to happen. When I head back to the TV, the station was changed to CNN and they were talking to Orrin Hatch and John McCain about the situation. And then it happened, the best thing I had heard all day. Orrin Hatched commented "Hopefully, we can figure out who was behind this and nail those bastard quick." That comment caused the whole room to applaud I was so so proud that I ran to the computer lab and typed up this thread.


Ransac
Mark Wanich
9-11-2001

 

[ErinPuff]

I found out about it in Trigonometry. It was about ten after nine, and my teacher got a phone call from another teacher about it, so she turned on the TV... we didn't learn any more math that day.

Then in Music Theory, only a few of us (the three people from my math class, and a few others) had heard about it, so we were explaining it to those who hadn't.. when our teacher found out, we watched the news for a little while, and then we learned about operatic voices, but nobody was really paying attention.. eventually we just turned the news back on again, just in time to see the 2nd building collapse.

The day went on like that.. in language arts we didn't do any actual work, just stared at the wreckage..

 

[maraud234]

I was in Aide when I first found out about it. We heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, and we figured it was an accident. Then we heard that another plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I still held on to the idea that it was an accident, a fluke. I was in Latin II when one of my friends got the Tv working and I saw as one of the towers collasped live. I was astonished, I couldn't believe, and It's still hard to believe. Me and a few of my friends and people I know were the only ones who were actually taken back by this incident. I still can't believe it, but alot of the people at the school just didn't care. Some people were even saying that it's cool that that happened. I was so pissed off at those people. Now in our greatest trajedy since WWII, people had no sympathy at all. This might be strange for some of you, but it's not for me. I live in Macon, Ga, and most of the people that go to my school are rednecks. They don't care about the US, they're still stuck in the Civil War. In this area, you see confederate flags all the time, yet it's been awhile since I've seen an American flag. I ask you, doesn't this hit hard in your heart, just screaming "I'm proud to be an American"? I don't know if anyone else has seen this callousness, and I hope you haven't, but this has upset me more than anything.

 

[Ransac]

Does anybody else want to post where there were when this happened and what they felt?



Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Gizmo]

I was in bed asleep. My dad woke me up to tell me what was going on and I put the news on. He was running around laughing in glee at the fact this was happening in America (hes not a big fan). I grabbed some popcorn and settled down to watch as the towers fell.

Im sorry to say I wanted to see more things happen, more planes, more bombs, more something. I felt robbed that it had all happened by the time I got to the TV (although I did see the second tower fall). Not to see more people die, but because I wanted to be watching as historical events happened. Thats a personal bug of mine, ever since the Berlin Wall fell (I was just old enough to be aware of what it really meant) Ive been addicted to watching the world change in the corner of my room.

 

[Ransac]

You know what. I kind've agree with you there, except for the more planes and bombs. I wished for it to be more eventful. That morning was really traumatic, but the rest of the day kind've lulled.


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Apollo]

I was walking into my third period American History class. I heard someone talk about an idiot pilot that had somehow managed to crash his plane into the WTC, then looked up just in time to see the second plane hit. I was stunned. My teacher tried to teach for a few minutes, but gave up shortly after. We saw the first tower fell, then the second fell the next period (lunch). One absolute idiot shouted "Cool!" I was too stunned to slug him. The rest of the day sort of went by. We did very little work. I went home and had a driving lesson. I stunk. I spent the rest of the night watching the news. I was stunned, sad, and pissed off all at once.

And Gizmo, I find it just horrible that you can say that you were hoping for more to happen. Whatever your reasons. Especially after reading some of your other comments. You called Arhar a prick because he wanted war and revenge--well, you wanted death just so you could say you saw it. Who's the prick?

 

[nodnarb24]

When I found out little scraps of info form over hearing kids that saw it in the AV room at the beginning of my Pre-Calc class at around 10:50. Then about five minutes later a memo arrived to the teacher to tell to the students and I found out the whole story. It felt completely unreal, it seemed like some sort of action/disaster movie.

 

[theorgg]

When it happened, I was running around in circles. Literally. I was in my Personal Fitness class running.

When I got to Latin ][][, I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon had been exploded.

The whole class gathered around bbc.com and, later, cnn.com to find out some facts. I didn't see the building fall until today at the start of the morning... After Latin, my double-block of math was taught with no remorse at all by Alice Cooper who said "I know it's tragic, but what's important now is that you LEARN THIS! you have a Test on it tomorrow!"

fuckin' bitch...

The rest of the day, the teachers tried to teach with some or no effectiveness...

I feel the feeling right now that I felt when I was about eight or nine and the Gulf War started. This is a terrible event that will never be forgotten.

I ate lunch and tried to get my mind off of what's happened, as I dislike loosing my emotions through my eyes. I cope by excapism... I'm now simply going to say:

God, be with us all.

Sic Semper,
-Orgg

 

[terzarima]

I was waking up... in fact, I had just settled down to a lovely breakfast of gingerbread pancakes ( I assure you, they do exist ). My mom was flipping through channels, and we stopped on CBC, I think it was, and we saw the footage of the second plane hitting the WTC.

I hate to sound like an evil bastard, but I didn't feel much at all. People say "Oh, I guess to you it seemed unreal" No, I just didn't feel anything.

I got on the bus to school. The WTC thing didn't pop up until about 3 quarters the way through. No one seemed affected. Well, a girl on my bus was laughing and I got pissed off at her and flicked her hard and said:
"Don't be such a cruel (Insert swear word here), people have already died"
Of course she went off in a string of profanities, too harsh for many people here.

We went into our first class. We were supossed to do work on the computer, but it wouldn't take my password. Oh well, we have a TV in the library/computer lab place tuned onto the live broadcast. I watched that television station for almost 2 hours. The footage repeating and repeating. Explosions repeated themselves 10 times an hour. It was horrific, I have to say. But, I didn't really feel much. Every so often new stuff would appear. But rarely. I just sat back in my chair and thought.

The thing was obviously the talk of the entire school and we spent an entire class talking about americans and american ecology.

When I got home, about 7 hours after the first plane hit. The thing still hadn't hit me.(This might sound lame, but bear with me) It wasn't until I was on my computer, on ICQ. MY friend was set to away, this was her away message:

In light of the things that have happened.... who have you told you loved today?

My message was to her: I love you.

My message to you? We might all die in a terrorist bombing, however unlikely, but if we do, I am running the risk that I might sound repetitve or gay. But I love you.

"Till next time,

Ademis22

 

[Ransac]

Words of wisdom, ademis. I wish more people felt that way.


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Spiderman]

I was in a meeting at work and one of the bosses popped in and said "I apologize for interrupting, but two planes just crashed into the WTC." We were almost done with our meeting so we finished it and we tried to do some work but everyone was turning on radios and trying to call out (sometimes our ohone system was down). So I got ahold of my wife and told her what was happening so she turned on the news and told me what was going on there and soon I went home.

None of y'alls school districts closed? Just Maryland (that I'm aware of)?

 

[rkoelsch]

I was at work when I overheard someone say something. I thought it was a bad joke or an accident. soon after it was all over and everyone was scrambling for news. At noon they allow people to go home if they wanted. I volunteered to stay because we had to keep a skeleton crew to man phones. At 2 they sent us home. It wasn't really a security measure even though we are the tallest building in Toledo and being a glass manufacturer it is all glass 27 floors of glass. the management just realized no work was being done and that everyone might as well be with their loved ones. Very strange day.

 

[Dementia]

Sad I am in the opposite situation as you.

Strangly enough I turned on the news to see the big gapping hole in the first tower. It was about 9 o-clock at the time.

I saw the second plane crash into the building live It was one of the worst feelings of my life. I sat there and watched the coverage. I KNEW the buildings were gonna collapse.

They were interviewing a woman on the street when the second building just went down. She screamed and the camera starting swerving around. The newscasters were saying that another bomb had been set off in another building. I knew right from the beginning though that it was the building collapsing.

After all that "exciting" stuff happening I couldn't take it anymore and came out here and got on the comp to talk to my friends about it.

I missed the second(meaning I was spared of seeing that horrible sight) because I couldn't take it anymore.

It was no fun guys. I can understand why you would see it as "missing out" on something, but I would gladly have givin you the chance to see it then me.

 

[Ransac]

I didn't say exciting. I said eventful. I did not find any instant of that situation exciting whatsoever. It was deplorable. What I meant when I said I wish that more had happened was I wished that the news teams would show actual people doing something about this. I wanted to see someone help someone else live on TV. I wanted to hear more from the president than what we are going to do about this, I wanted to hear what he was feeling emotionally. I was SO hoping for someone to be caught for this deed on that day. And most of all, I wanted responsibilty for this to be taken.

That was not exciting. It was deplorable.


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Apollo]

Spidey: A whole bunch of school districts around me closed, including Cleveland. My English teacher said my district didn't close because they didn't want to have to deal with moving the Open House scheduled for that night. Of course, my school never closes for anything, even when nobody else is going (snow).

 

[Mikeymike]

I was listening to the radio. I never listen to the radio in the morning, but for some reason I felt the urge. I'm listening to 102.7FM (NYC Station, I live in southern CT) and all of a sudden a caller says that a plane just flew into one of the towers. He says there is a hole the size of big truck. I'm in disbelief.

I pull into work and go into my office and ask my co-worker if she heard anything funny. She said no, so my hopes that this was a horrible hoax were increased. A few minutes later another co-worker comes in saying that a plane flew into the WTC. At this point I start to get a really bad feeling about this.

I decide to call up my father, he's watching it on TV. All of a sudden he goes silent and I hear shouting in the background of the phone. "Another plane just hit the second tower" he tells me in a tone of voice I've never heard from him before. He sounded lost and childlike; my stomach knotted up immediately.

I ran across the street to the donut shop which has CNN on 24-7, before I go inside I notice a brown smoke coming from Southwest:
"All those poor people" I thought.

I get inside, there are about 10 people watching the events unfold. They replay the 2nd plane hitting the South Tower again and again, I just watch in awe. When people start jumping from windows (A LOT of people start jumping from the windows) I run outside to my car to get a cigarette, because the anxiety I feel is going to make me explode. It takes me few seconds to steady my hands, as they are shaking violently as I try to light a butt. I turn on the radio in my car and the announcer is panicked, "This is horrible" he keeps saying. The terror in his voice reminds me of the terror in the announcer's voice who watched the Hindenburg go down in flames in Ashbury Park, NJ.

I decide to go back across the street to the donut shop and just as I step in the South Tower collapses. People scream in the shop, the announcer completely loses his composure, and on TV people run for their lives. This is happening about 40 miles away from where I stood.

I left the shop for good at that point. I wanted to throw up, I wanted to collapse & cry, I wanted to beat the shit out of someone or something. But I couldn't do anything but sit there in shock.

That was the darkest day of my life, the darkest day in the history of this country. I feel as though I've forever lost a piece of my innocence and it was replaced with a painful sense of reality. The world as we know it just won't be the same. I especially feel badly for the 99.99% of the Arabs in the US who are trying to lead normal lives: their democratic rights are going to be severly shaken as I'm sure many of them will pay for the deeds of the few as anger starts to grip the nation.

In the last 2 days I've started to hear stories from my friends about their friends & family who've yet to come home, so far there are 2 people that I've made acquantainces with that are missing. I hear the horror stories like the firefighter who was killed by a jumper who landed directly on him, and the priest who was crushed by the crumbling South Tower as he read that same firefighter his last rites. I can't turn my eyes away from the TV as every channel keeps replaying the death of 5,000+ people in a matter of minutes.

On the 9th I visited my sister and Charlie's (my new brother-in-law) new loft off of the now infamous Church St for the first time. They just got it and are in the process of refurbishing it before they move in. (thank God they weren't there when all hell broke loose) Charlie asked me where he should put the reading chair. I said:
"Put it by the south window. This way you can take advantage of the great view of the Twin Towers. They're pretty inspiring, aren't they."
Now that window is just another painful reminder of what once stood so strong & tall.

I've been struggling to find a bright-side in this, and thankfully I think I've found a few glimmers of hope. During this crisis, the people of New York have come together like never before. Racial lines are being erased, political differences are being pushed aside, and many friendly and not-so-friendly nations are coming to America's side. I hope we start to lose the global image of Big Bully. And I pray that we will finally change our policy and take a much more pro-active and aggressive stance on stamping out world terrorism, and that the right person pays for this evil. Makes me wish certain medieval torture methods were still in use.

I hope for a lot of things. But mainly I hope that this ugly brown haze that hangs over the sky in the SW isn't a foreboding of what's to come.

My thoughts go out to those who haven't made it home yet.