September 11th Remembrance

[minusthejihad]

I just wanted to make sure that, no matter how heavily saturated we are with images and thoughts of the tragedy that befell all freedom loving people in this world a year ago, we could all have a chance to share our thoughts of that day freely, without the confines of the media or corporate, political correct driven discussion.

Also, if anyone would like to send a tribute to someone they knew who died that day OR TO ANY VICTIM OF THIS TERROR, including in Israel, India, the UK, Russia, etc., please feel free. (If you feel that this fourm is the wrong place to do that because of the freedom allotted to people who have no respect for those victims, to vent their hatred and desecrate on their memories, I understand as well)


My memory:

I was awakened by my roommate at 7 something Pacific time, who was awakened by the cable man who was there to set up our cable. I initially tried to go back to sleep, thinking that I was either having a nightmare or that my roommate was playing an incredibly terrible joke.

When I finally awoke and ran out to see every single channel playing the same scenes over and over again, I stood and stared in shock at the screen for what seemed an eternity before uttering any words. When I finally did, it was something to the effect of "They did it, those bastards. They finally started World War III."

It didn't matter who had done it, I think we al knew that these men did not have different faces, nor agendas, nor reasoning, nor the appreciation for life, art, science, humanity, etc. They just had one thing in common, an inhuman hatred for anything that moved the world forward, and a selfish, sick, twisted need for careless destruction and the Chance to inflict fear amongst the rest of the world.

For the next few days, I spent hours trying to reach everyone I knew in New York, Israel, and everywhere else I had family and friends, making sure they were alright and making sure to tell them that I loved them. I fortunately was very lucky not to have lost anyone dear to me, but I did lose my naivety and belief that our adherence to law and justice should be applicable to these people. It should not, and they should be hunted down like the venemous snakes they are.

[Mediocrates]

Probably most of us on the East Coast were already at work. My teamate yelled that someone had called him and told him what was going on on CNN. We found the net saturated in about 15 minutes and since the building is high security there are no TV's or a way to get an antenna signal in. So we yelled at the CCTV guys to patch a feed into the hallway screens.

The phones to the North East quickly went into overload and phone calls were effectively turned off.

I worked at 85 Broad and 2 Broadway for years and had taken the E to Chambers St. innumerable times. My SO went to law school down there on Duane as well. And we both know/knew people who lived and worked down there for years.

I had 3 different family members flying that day on 3 different planes to 3 different places. It took about 5 hours to track everyone down and help arrange car/train travel for them and get them rental cars to replace the ones that were now officially locked up in NY area airports.

One dear friend is an ER nursing supervisor who knew within the first two hours that it would be a horribly light day for their team that day.

1 person I know was hit by debris many many blocks away.

My friend's family business near City Hall had to shut down and remained closed for about 6 months.

1 person who used to work for me was working on an upper floor of the second tower. When the first plane hit she ran for the door ignoring the public address call to stay there and remain calm. Seemingly she ran down the building about 60 floors and hit the pavement running and kept running past Reade St. I think.

2 people I knew are gone - people who worked for me. 1 person in my SO's extended family is gone. They are gone and there is little else to say that will shape that in anything other than the bleakness it is.

My son's Bar Mitzvah was less than a month later and every visitor we invited stood for Kaddish.

[elke]

I was probably one of the last batch of people who saw the WTC intact. There is a to-die-for panorama of Lower Manhattan from the hill as you approach the Lincoln Tunnel, a view I always treated myself to on the way to work.

My bus arrived at the Port Authority about 8:40, and I walked to work, as usual. The first plane hit while I was en route, but believe it or not, I didn't know anything about it - even though you could see the WTC from some of the Avenues. About 9:15 or so, we got this asinine e-mail message from the Personnel department, that "due to the trouble Downtown, subway transportation there has been limited"! It took us all a few minutes to figure out what the "trouble Downtown" actually was!

Our building was evacuated about 10:30 AM. I headed towards the Port Authority (after buying the most ugly pair of sandals imaginable, since we were told to get out fast, and I forgot to change my high-heels upstairs).

The air was thick with smoke! Cars would go by periodically, covered with literally inches of dust! People seemed dazed and confused, and some were crying. The Port Authority was, of course, closed since the Tunnels and Bridges were shut down. There was an eerie silence, even though there were tons of people there! I met someone I often see on the bus, and we decided that we'll try the ferry. The line was about 10 blocks long, but it moved really fast. By about 1PM we were in New Jersey, where there were supposed to be buses to take us home. However, it turned out that all the NJ Transit buses were commandeered to go to New York to take the wounded to the hospitals. My companion and I were lucky in that we were able to basically hitch a ride with some people going remotely our way.

The most dramatic, heart-wrenching view was from the ferry: a huge, black column of smoke where the buildings once stood. However, the absolute worst was the next day: the City was silent! You could actually hear your footsteps echoing as you walked! When the wind turned, it would get dark, and the smell was horrendous - especially when you knew that human beings, people you have personally known, are part of that smoke you smell and see. The silence continued for the rest of that week, and the smell and the dust for much, much longer.

Little posters, obviously made on home computers, began appearing everywhere: "Have you seen ____?" with a photo of a laughing, happy, person on it. Flowers began appearing next to collections of those a little later. I don't know, maybe that was the worst!

Or, maybe, the fact that one keeps being reminded of what was. Our office moved to another building in August, and in the process I found a photo from my last job. The vivacious, healthy young woman, standing right next to me on that photo doing a thumbs up, was on 104th Floor of Tower Two. Then I found some flash cards from a class I took at a college right behind what used to be Building Seven of the WTC. Again, the man who made the flash cards is no more.

I hope that this is not too much, it's the longest post I've ever done! I am reluctant to talk about this to people here, since many if not most, have lost more than I have and upsetting them is the last thing I'd want to do. So, thank you, Minusthejihad, for giving me this opportunity to talk about it.

[elke]

It may be in bad form to link to a different forum, but this message really caught my eye, because it's so eloquently written:

http://cgis.jpost.com/cgi-bin/Forums/DCForumID17/21.html#

An excerpt:

The scale of the catastrophe was already clear to anybody watching the almost surreal pictures of the World Trade Centre reduced to an inferno, of the Pentagon in flames, of Manhattan wreathed in smoke, the Statue of Liberty rising above the billowing clouds like St Paul's in the Blitz. The destruction wrought by Islamic terrorists in New York and Washington constitutes a declaration of war on the United States, on the hub of the world economy, on the Jewish people, and on Western civilisation.

and also profound in its understanding of what's happened (note the date of the message: 9/12/01)

...Let there be no mistake: global Islamic terrorism is rooted in global anti-Semitism. This was, in many ways, the most vicious blow aimed at the Jewish people since the Holocaust. ...