September 11th...Six Years Later

[Clever_Iggy]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

No, he didn't tell us what was going on. He just came on and said we had to make an unscheduled stop, just one of those things, the plane was fine, we just had to land. When we were almost on the ground, I could see dozens and dozens of planes, and the airport was small. I said to my wife, "something is REALLY wrong here". The pilot was standing at the end of the ramp as we were getting off, telling everyone what had happened.

That's crazy - Ive always wondered what was said to passengers as all the flights were being grounded.

I was walking through the student union and everyone was glued to the TV. It was right when the FAA was shutting down all the flights. The TV that I saw was right above a travel agent kiosk (travel cuts) so I thought it was a huge seat sale or something (moron, I know). It wasnt until I got home that I found out what really happened.

[arsenal]

I thought this was an interesting read, and kind of related to the thread

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2426314.ece

A young muslim in Holland, wants to be able to leave the Islam religion, with out fear of being killed. I beleive is a Politician as well. Pretty good read, although rather short. Not so coincidently, he chose this day as the start of this campaign.

On topic with this thread, I to can't believe it has been 6 years. It feels as though it was only yesterday. I was in school, and I remember not getting any work done that day. I was totally and utterly consumed by the events. it just seems soo sureal.

RIP to those who died, and condolances to friends and families of the victims.

[Burninator]

There is probably a couple of reasons people are saddened/affected/etc by 9/11 and not by deaths due to starvation, AIDS, diarrhoea, malaria, measles:

Proximity - This happened very close to us. People are inherently more concerned when things happen to people that could be them. The risk of starvation or dieing from an easily treatable disease is not an issue that affects us so directly as a terrorist attack.

The event itself - Planes crashing into buildings is extremely dramatic. I can't think of anything else that even comes close to that kind of impact post WW2. This will sound harsh, but it's true, no one hears a child dieing from AIDS or starvation in Africa. I wish this wasn't true, but it is. Our concerns are much more selfish.

Murder - Another reason this event gets far more press. The victims from 9/11 were murdered. You could argue that the people who die from starvation are murdered from corrupt governments not giving out food or medical treatment. But it is not as equal as the direct murdering of thousands by planes.

While I agree with some of your sentiments of 9/11, in that 9/11 gets pulled into spectrum's were it doesn't belong and has been used to unfairly take advantage of people. But that doesn't mean the event was any less impactful or tragic.

[ah123]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Proximity - This happened very close to us. People are inherently more concerned when things happen to people that could be them. The risk of starvation or dieing from an easily treatable disease is not an issue that affects us so directly as a terrorist attack.

I agree that proximity is probably the main driver for the trauma... How many of us were as shocked/incensed/choked about Rwanda or Darfur (which was murder on a far far larger scale)?

I think this action hit home, North America had never been touched by anything like this (unlike say Europe which had the IRA and some extreme leftwing organizations in the not so distant past) - we considered ourselves safe and we were shocked into realizing that we were no longer safe...

[TheDragon]

A day of infamy. As Oilfan said, there aren't too many days that go by where I don't think about 9/11 and how much it still has impacted us as a society. Whether we admit it or not, this anniversay marks the day the world changed.

I remember feeling all those emotions I felt 6 years ago quite vividly. I still feel as every bit appreciative and proud of all the brave men and women who stayed back to help their coworkers get out of the burning towers, and of the hundreds of brave Emergency Service workers who mustered up the courage to step inside them and aid in the escape - some never to exit.

Here's a clip from the Breakfast/Morning news broadcast minutes before the towers were struck, and no, it doesn't show either of of them being hit. I know it brought back some nostalgia for me.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by ah123

I think this action hit home, North America had never been touched by anything like this (unlike say Europe which had the IRA and some extreme leftwing organizations in the not so distant past) - we considered ourselves safe and we were shocked into realizing that we were no longer safe...

And in the same vein how much does Europe still talk about 9/11? I can't imagine it gets even close to the same amount of press that gets here in Canada and the US. The US media always says things like "when the world went still" and other things sound bites that will make people watch, well maybe for a bit, but most the world got back into the swing of things pretty quick. I have trouble believing the rest of the world views 9/11 the same way as North America does (impact not tragedy). If my country got hit by a tsunami, earth quake, other terrorist attack, 9/11 would be pretty low on my list of things of impact. Even worse if I lived in a country where people were dying from common diseases and starvation, 9/11 wouldn't even be on the radar. Anyways that was kind of an aside. It irrigates me how self centred America, and perhaps Canada, can be at times.

[Ford Prefect]

Not to trivialize any of the deaths that day, but I'd like to specifically mention Garnet "Ace" Bailey because he was a hockey player. He was born in Lloydminster, and played hockey for the Bruins, Red Wings, Capitals, Blues and WHA Oilers during the 1970s. He was on board one of the flights that hit the WTC ... I believe he was working as scout a for the LA Kings and was on his way to LA. I've heard some good stories about Ace from people who knew him while he was growing up, and his death personalized the attack somewhat for me.

[BradMan23]

I, like everyone else here, cannot believe it has been 6 long years since 9/11.

What I also find quite sad about the whole situation is the fact that the USA, the most powerful nation in the world, cannot in 6 years rebuild or at least be halfway done rebuilding some sort of building in place of the WTC. I believe it would heal the nation so much more if they removed the scar left behind from the attacks.

-Brad

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by BradMan23

I, like everyone else here, cannot believe it has been 6 long years since 9/11.

What I also find quite sad about the whole situation is the fact that the USA, the most powerful nation in the world, cannot in 6 years rebuild or at least be halfway done rebuilding some sort of building in place of the WTC. I believe it would heal the nation so much more if they removed the scar left behind from the attacks.

-Brad

They haven't rebuild New Orleans either. That's even more surprising and sad.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by BradMan23

I, like everyone else here, cannot believe it has been 6 long years since 9/11.

What I also find quite sad about the whole situation is the fact that the USA, the most powerful nation in the world, cannot in 6 years rebuild or at least be halfway done rebuilding some sort of building in place of the WTC. I believe it would heal the nation so much more if they removed the scar left behind from the attacks.

-Brad

I as well cannot believe its already been six years. I skipped my very first day at the U of C to stay home and watch the news instead. Time flies by waaaaay too fast....

You'll be pretty impressed with the new towers going up there. Believe me.

In fact, there's already a beautiful new WTC 50-storey building that just went up there. It's going to pale in comparison to the rest of the project.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Dion

His response was to the effect that if he didn't get on that plane the terrorists would have won.

The terrorists did win. This country is more paranoid then ever (although I think NYers probably less so than others actually). I still remember going to the art store when i moved to NY, and being carded because i wanted to buy x-acto blades. You pretty much have to be 18 to buy a box-cutter now...because you know, that's exactly how they are going to attack again.

[Dynamic]

I remember walking into Social Studies 10 that day and even in that first day of confusion out teacher basically hit the nail on the head. His exact words were, "The World as we know it has changed".

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

Not to trivialize any of the deaths that day, but I'd like to specifically mention Garnet "Ace" Bailey because he was a hockey player. He was born in Lloydminster, and played hockey for the Bruins, Red Wings, Capitals, Blues and WHA Oilers during the 1970s. He was on board one of the flights that hit the WTC ... I believe he was working as scout a for the LA Kings and was on his way to LA. I've heard some good stories about Ace from people who knew him while he was growing up, and his death personalized the attack somewhat for me.

There was a scout who was to be travelling with Ace but he slept in and missed the flight. I can't remember the guys name, but I remember the article in the Lethbridge Herald. At the time he was engaged to a girl I went to school with and she knew that it was his flight that hit the building, and the guy wasn't able to get word to her until late in the evening that he missed the flight and is ok. Her story ends up to have a happier ending but I still can't imagine all the emotions she would've gone through on that day.

[CaptainCrunch]

I remember that day and I can't believe that its 6 years ago.

I remember waking up as I always do and turning on the news (CBC News World) and seeing the story on the plane crash into the first tower. I remember my girlfriend at the time sitting up as I sat down on the bed and she remarked that it was a weird accident, and I told her that I didn't think it was an accident.

I went to take a shower and when I came out she handed me a cup of coffee without taking her eyes off of the screen and told me that another plane was hit. At that point I knew it was an intentional act, and there was more to follow.

I remember going to work, and we pulled a T.V. into the bull pen because no work was going to get done. I remember one client phoning me and telling me that his building was being evacuated downtown.

I remember a friend of mine who I went to school with in Dallas phoned me up full of rage and concern and confusion because a good friend of his worked in the investment business in the Towers. Rage because it was a terrorist action and he wanted revenge, concern because his friend was missing and confusion because at that moment he had no one to talk to and he didn't know what to do.

I remember hearing about the Pentagon strike, and the other plane that went down in the field. I remember the fear and the anger and the rumors as there were missing planes near Vancouver and Las Angeles and Calgary.

I remember that I worked close to the airport and you could see the full landing pattern as for the first time air travel stopped.

I remember leaving work at 2:00 PM because there was nothing to be done, and I was damned if I was going to spend the day that the world changed with work mates.

I remember walking into the church and saying a prayer for the dead and the living and the missing.

Then I heard that my sister had flown to New York and she was stuck there, and she sent me an email (she's a doctor) that she had gone to the emergency room to help and it was strangely quiet.

[Bobblehead]

I actually heard the news on QR77 initially. I went into work and a TV was set up in our board room. We had really crappy reception, but people would move in and out to see what was going on. A co-workers wife was a flight attendant who had just finished a trip to Germany. She was called in her hotel room and told that all flights had been grounded and she would be called when they were rescheduled. She didn't hear back for days, until a few hours before the return flight. No one overseas knew anything and of course no one really knew how/if things were going to get back to normal.

Today is also a friend's birthday. I kind of feel bad for her because every year since then, today is filled with memorials and a sense of loss.

[Reaper]

I remember that day well. I was driving when I first heard that there had been a plane crash in New York. There weren't a lot of details at first but when word came of a second plane hitting I knew it had to be some sort of attack. I didn't get hysterical but I knew that some people were going to do just that. Watching the news all day gave me the realization that the United States finally experienced what many countries had gone through before. War and terrorism on their own soil. With 136 years past since the end of the U.S. civil war the country was so far removed from it that when you combined it with their foreign policies that it was easy to see how cocooned that the United States (and Canada to some degree) had become.

I had written a paper in University on the United States and its foreign policies where I basically stated that when an attack on American soil finally occured that there would be a dramatic shift where that country would either start to work with the rest of the world or they would ramp up their own efforts towards the furtherance of their agenda. Unfortunately, I was right and the powers that be in the United States chose the later.

It saddens me that people continue to bang the drum of war and evoke the memory of 9/11 in their quests towards more power, more political gain, etc. To me, that is the most sickening part of 9/11 and those that do it are essentially pissing on the graves of those who died that day.

My heart continues to go out to the victims of 9/11 and their families.

[worth]

http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=1555

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by FireFly

That story makes me cry every time. God, to have to make such a decision... I can't even imagine.

I read somewhere before that one of the events that inspired bin Laden to his cause was witnessing people jumping from burning buidings in Lebanon during an Israeli assault.

It just shows how hatred and revenge creates a never ending cycle.

[JoesGonnaKillYou]

I was sick of the whole 9.11 story when that was all media and people talked about for 2 years straight. I've moved on, maybe you guys should too.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Table 5

The terrorists did win. This country is more paranoid then ever (although I think NYers probably less so than others actually). I still remember going to the art store when i moved to NY, and being carded because i wanted to buy x-acto blades. You pretty much have to be 18 to buy a box-cutter now...because you know, that's exactly how they are going to attack again.

Yes, you are correct, the terrorists did win. My brother has often commented on the countless number of times the Bush govt has issued terror alerts - to a point where people started to ignore them. Sort of like the boy who cried wolf syndrome. Or the countless times he boarded a plane only to see Muslim or Middle East passemgers given the stare by fellow passengers - not to mention the quiet whispers. As far as he's concerned, the sooner they get Bush out of office the better.