Where were you on 9/11?
Sept 11, 2014 10:53:44 GMT -5
via the ProBoards App
BrIaNMeRcY, Ryan81398, and 1 more like this
Post by bad guy™ on Sept 11, 2014 10:53:44 GMT -5
I was in 2nd grade. The bus picked us up at about 8:30 AM and we were there at 9 for class but as the day went on, more and more of the students were disappearing. The teachers were saying they had doctors appointments but when there were about 10 out of 30 left when I left I think even as 7 year olds we knew something was up. My mom picked me up and she sat in front of the TV for three days watching the non-stop loop. I couldn't comprehend exactly what happened. All I knew was four planes crashed, one of which I would find out later on my own was about a half hour from my house (I hop on the PA Turnpike and Shanksville is very close by).
I would say the kids my age were likely the youngest to, after we knew what happened, somewhat understand. We all live in a post 9/11 world, but those born in 1993-94 and before that are the ones who have to live with the post 9/11 mentality. The constant fear that NO ONE was invincible anymore. Here we were in our little America bubble going along thinking nothing could happen and then one Tuesday morning we fell to our knees.
I see all of these "Never Forget" things showing up on Facebook. I hope our grandkids never forget. That in 80 years when we are dead and our kids who didn't experience it firsthand are old, that their kids know about what happened that day. That they know more than a small footnote in their history book in school.
I also hope that the intolerance for all ends. It's wishful thinking, but what's it matter if our ideals are different from theirs? Or their God is better than ours? What about those that don't believe? We have radicals, so do they. That is what needs to stop, and what can really help the world move on. Will it happen? I can almost guarantee not in our lifetime but when I die that's what I want my forgotten legacy to be, the guy who tried to make the world peaceful.
I know the last bit there didn't have much to do with 9/11 itself, but I consider myself wise beyond my years and frankly, I look at the ISIS thread on here and am scared where the minds of this world are going. Some kids on here, ISIS is the first time they've had to deal with this kind of violence because they weren't alive to see 9/11...the second plane crashing into the Tower LIVE on Good Morning America. So their aggression, while understood, scares me in the long run...but especially those who are well older than me believing that just killing an entire religion is the answer. It's not. Those who do these heinous things like beheading civilians, crashing planes etcetera are not religious...they are monsters. People would be surprised how closely linked Christianity, Judaism and Islam are. They're so close they are all considered Abrahamic. Why can't people see that?
I don't know...sorry for going off on a tangent. I just have strong feelings on the subjects. Maybe I wouldn't if I didn't live through 9/11 myself but, you know, not too much I can do about that but help change the world for the better someday.
My uncle, who is the fire chief down here, went to Ground Zero with his cadaver dogs to help find survivors and bodies. I may not talk to him because of personal reasons, but he is a hero. I never knew, but Steve Buccemi (yes the actor) was a first responder on 9/11. He was a firefighter for years before he became an actor and was in NY when the attacks happened and he still hung around the fire house from time to time...he went down as fast as he could, asking how he could help and they suited him up. He didn't care he was famous and living the high life, he put his life on the line to help. He is a hero.
Then there is Welles Crowther who I think to every single day. Just an ordinary man who saved HUNDREDS of lives, dying in the process. And all anyone who saw him could tell was that they saw an angel wearing a red bandana coming to save them.
Forget not the first responders...many precincts and firehouses were almost entirely wiped out. The nameless to all of us but their own families. They could have cowered. They didn't.
Those on Flight 93. Citizens scared, knowing they were going to die anyways, selflessly saving potentially hundreds of more lives by fighting back against the terrorists in mid air and crashing the plane into a small field just East of Pittsburgh so no one but themselves had to die.
And here I am 13 years later, sitting in a corner alone in my schools library fighting back tears because of the heroic actions of people whose names I know, and the thousands of names I don't, that selflessly saved so many more lives...just...I don't have any more words for it.
I would say the kids my age were likely the youngest to, after we knew what happened, somewhat understand. We all live in a post 9/11 world, but those born in 1993-94 and before that are the ones who have to live with the post 9/11 mentality. The constant fear that NO ONE was invincible anymore. Here we were in our little America bubble going along thinking nothing could happen and then one Tuesday morning we fell to our knees.
I see all of these "Never Forget" things showing up on Facebook. I hope our grandkids never forget. That in 80 years when we are dead and our kids who didn't experience it firsthand are old, that their kids know about what happened that day. That they know more than a small footnote in their history book in school.
I also hope that the intolerance for all ends. It's wishful thinking, but what's it matter if our ideals are different from theirs? Or their God is better than ours? What about those that don't believe? We have radicals, so do they. That is what needs to stop, and what can really help the world move on. Will it happen? I can almost guarantee not in our lifetime but when I die that's what I want my forgotten legacy to be, the guy who tried to make the world peaceful.
I know the last bit there didn't have much to do with 9/11 itself, but I consider myself wise beyond my years and frankly, I look at the ISIS thread on here and am scared where the minds of this world are going. Some kids on here, ISIS is the first time they've had to deal with this kind of violence because they weren't alive to see 9/11...the second plane crashing into the Tower LIVE on Good Morning America. So their aggression, while understood, scares me in the long run...but especially those who are well older than me believing that just killing an entire religion is the answer. It's not. Those who do these heinous things like beheading civilians, crashing planes etcetera are not religious...they are monsters. People would be surprised how closely linked Christianity, Judaism and Islam are. They're so close they are all considered Abrahamic. Why can't people see that?
I don't know...sorry for going off on a tangent. I just have strong feelings on the subjects. Maybe I wouldn't if I didn't live through 9/11 myself but, you know, not too much I can do about that but help change the world for the better someday.
My uncle, who is the fire chief down here, went to Ground Zero with his cadaver dogs to help find survivors and bodies. I may not talk to him because of personal reasons, but he is a hero. I never knew, but Steve Buccemi (yes the actor) was a first responder on 9/11. He was a firefighter for years before he became an actor and was in NY when the attacks happened and he still hung around the fire house from time to time...he went down as fast as he could, asking how he could help and they suited him up. He didn't care he was famous and living the high life, he put his life on the line to help. He is a hero.
Then there is Welles Crowther who I think to every single day. Just an ordinary man who saved HUNDREDS of lives, dying in the process. And all anyone who saw him could tell was that they saw an angel wearing a red bandana coming to save them.
Forget not the first responders...many precincts and firehouses were almost entirely wiped out. The nameless to all of us but their own families. They could have cowered. They didn't.
Those on Flight 93. Citizens scared, knowing they were going to die anyways, selflessly saving potentially hundreds of more lives by fighting back against the terrorists in mid air and crashing the plane into a small field just East of Pittsburgh so no one but themselves had to die.
And here I am 13 years later, sitting in a corner alone in my schools library fighting back tears because of the heroic actions of people whose names I know, and the thousands of names I don't, that selflessly saved so many more lives...just...I don't have any more words for it.