Saturday, September 11
We Will Never Forget
5:07 PM | 
Posted by
HottyRotty
As an American I remember the morning of September 11, 2001 vividly. My boyfriend and I were on the way to the DMV. We were at the drive through window of Starbucks and listening to Howard Stern on the radio. All of a sudden Howard mentioned that a plane hit the first tower, he was wondering what caused the pilot to go astray and have such a horrible accident. Then the second plane came ... and by this point we knew it was an attack on our nation. It was a scary day, I won't lie. No one knew what was to come out of the attack ... and none of us could have ever imaged such devastation. America was glued to their TV's and we saw so much sadness that day ... and the next month or so to follow.
My heart still hurts for those who lost loved ones in this horrific attack. Thank you to all of the NYPD/FDNY and our Soldiers that helped save lives and especially those that gave their lives. Religious or not, everyone should take a minute out of their day to at least pay respect and to honor the fallen. You will never be forgotten.
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21 comments:
Rotty- I have my own remembrance of that day. I'm Canadian, in Ontario. I had turned on the television just for white noise like I always did before I went to work in my home office. I saw on the news the plane hit the tower. I still remember the horror of that exact moment.
I honestly think I was in shock as I dialed the phone for my parents. My father answered with a good morning princess same as every day. I said Daddy, are we at war? He thought I was kidding. I told him he better turn on the television. He saw the same thing I had. He asked where my husband was and told me to tell him to get his ass home. He told me to stay put and he and my mother would be out as soon as they could.
My girlfriend called before my parents arrived and asked if it would be ok if she brought herself and her babies out to my house. I could hear the shock in her voice. I said of course but why. Her answer was that nobody knew what was happening and if someone had declared war on the United States that meant that they had declared war on us as well. Everyone said that major cities were a bad place to be and my house was as far away from a major city as she could get and remain in Ontario.
So, we watched in horror for the rest of the day. The thing I remember most from inside the house is the quiet. We both had children under a year old. I had three dogs, two of them puppies. It was like they could all sense that something was really so very wrong. The babies didn't fuss, the dogs didn't play, we just sat and watched.
I watched my father, who I can honestly say I had never seen shed a tear in my lifetime quietly cry. I watched tears roll down his face and drip onto the arm rest. I let those tears dry there, the spot remains.
I hope you know that even though we are in Canada, we were with you that day. YOu didn't just come together as a nation, we all came together as a continent.
To those who lost loved ones, our hearts broke for all of you that day and we continue to hope that you have found peace.
Out here on the west coast, it was about 6:30 AM and I was getting ready to go to work.
I had just taken my shower and turned on the TV but kept the volume low. I saw "this huge building" on fire and wondered if they had gotten all the people out or if they were still some trapped inside. Had no idea it was one of the twin towers until I saw the ticker tape on the screen.
Then I saw this other plane fly smack into the building and I'm thinking "damn, the smoke from the building was so dense the pilot lost his sense of direction". I turned up the volume at this point and heard the news person say the US was under attack by terrorists.
I was like...WTH, what terrorists, from where, under attack for what? I called my job and they said they were telling everyone to stay home.
I watched for the rest of the day as the most prolific horror scene on US soil unfold right before my eyes.
I cried, prayed and was angry at what I saw. Thousands of people killed for what??
My heart goes out to the many, many families who lost their loved ones that horrible, horrible day and my respect go out to the fireman and police in New York who did an awesome job under such adverse conditions.
amen.
This is OT..but I was reading the twitter pages of a few of Tila's army of idiots and while most of them talk about their love and devotion for her there is one in particular who, IMO, is downright scary with some of the tweets I have read from this person.
I'm not going to mention this person's twitter name but this person has tweeted some things that raises a red flag in me.
This person sounds like one of those people you read about who one day went off on a bunch of people then turned the weapon on themselves.
I remember I was in gym class when we found out about. Coach wanted us to do our warm ups and another coach came in and told our coach what was going on. We didn't hear the convo, but he told us to change back into our regular clothes and to go to the library the world towers got hit by planes. I assumed it was pilot error or even that a small plane that when off its course and accidently slammed into the building. I was in shock when we seen it was a terrorist attack. I remember asking if we were going to war and that should we be here. It was just a shock for all of us students. We were in a stupor. All I could think about is my army brother at the time and what would happen to him. As soon as I picked up my little brother we raced home so I could call him and see what was going on. I didn't want him to go to war. It was just a very confusing day and I was about to turn 17 in 5 days, but it did not phase me when it was my birthday. It was just a sad and confusing day not only for me, but for my classmates.
Has anyone seen this before.....http://www.cafepress.com/TilaArmy!
I thought she was going to sell her merchandise from her piece of crap blog?
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/index.aspx?area=learn&page=learn
After reading the above link, I'm guessing Tila signed up with this service. I will give her the benefit of the doubt and say she signed up for the $4.99 service, uploaded her artwork and is earning a commission for each item sold.
Her army of idiots are probably promoting the CafePress TilaArmy link. I wonder what she's giving them in return for this.
She holds the license for her "Tila Army" merchandise so this has to be something she personally set up or gave the ok for someone else to do.
My husband was about to drop me off at work when the security guy ran out and told us that the entire building was closed because we are so close to LAX. I remember being confused because I had no idea what was going on. But, we were all being sent home so we went home. On the way home was when the DJ started to talk about what was happening. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I remember thinking, "This has to be a mistake!"
When I got home, I turned on the TV and started to really see what was happening. It was very surreal. My nieces were 4 and 3 at the time and I remembered crying thinking about them and how drastically the world had changed.
I started to collect articles of that day, to show them when they were old enough to understand. Not just my nieces, but my nephews and, hopefully, my own children.
Even now it is always a surreal day for me. Even more so since my birthday is two days prior.
I certainly will never forget that day either. I went to bed very late that night on westcoast time; I had the ringer on my home phone off and I didn't get up until about 3:00 in the afternoon.
When I got up I went downstairs there were 20 messages blinking on my answering machine. I thought "good god, what in the world has happened?"
I could never have imagined...
@Joann: The Tila Army merchandise is VILE! It uses two bits of clip art and it is a design abomination. Man, that is in such bad taste. Thank you for sharing.
sorry about the double post
I'm Scottish, and I remember being in the news room in my college library. There were 8 TVs on the walls of the room all on different news channels, where you could put in earphones and listen to that channels new reports. Mostly, they were all different reports of course, but that day every single screen had the exact same footage. To be surrounded by those images will haunt me. I was watching as the second plane hit and screamed so loud that brought the rest of the library into the room. We all held hands, strangers, as we watched in silence and shock. Slowly, we started trying to figure it out. Someone begged someone else to tell him it was a cruel joke, that it was a version of War Of The World. We cried.
I went home soon after, numb, and immediately switched on my TV. I sat there and didn't move for 3 hours.
Every human being that day changed forever. Strip away race, religion, gender, age - and we were united in our grief. My heart is broken for the families whose loved ones never came home that day. It is filled with love and respect for the people who showed themselves to be the most amazing, caring and brave people who gave their all to save others. It will never forget, and neither will I.
@Joann:
WTF? I looked at the stuff on there and that's all they have? I really can't see any guy wearing it, it's too darn girly, and the font is almost illegible. It just looks like one huge ownership sign...
I was home with our 5 mo. old son. We lived by Denver Int'l Airport at the time, my Husband was working downtown at the Qwest building, which is one of the tallest in Denver. I turned on the news and literaly fell to my knees. I called hubster up and told him to get his ass home, he thought I was crazy.
I called every single person I could to make sure they were alright.
There was not a plane in sight, and not many cars on the road. We had to drive to my parents house because 9-11 is my Birthday and they had family in from out of town. It was a quiet and almost errie (sp) 45 min. drive.
What's weird is, is that I can tell you every single detail of that day.
The last paragraph of Miz's comment really sums up everything I feel.
Thank You Rotty for the wonderful and heartfelt post. It means alot to soo many people.
I remember heading to Nursing class early that am. It was the one morning all year I hadn't watched the news and had a CD on in the car. I arrived to campus to find horror stricken looks everywhere. I was quickly filled in and went numb.
We were released from class and I didn't know what to do. I felt so lost. Like I needed to do something, or help, and my body felt paralyzed. My Father was flying home from a Deposition in Chicago that am and I was not sure of his flight time or when he was due home. I couldn't get ahold of him. (His flight was cancelled and he stayed two extra days as the airport was not flying out). I feel so blessed he was safe. However, so sick for those who never had their loved ones arrive home.
I sat the rest of the day staring at the TV with non-stop "what if" thoughts, praying for those souls who lost their lives in such a senseless act.
God Bless them all. May they rest in peace.
@Joann
Tila didn't sign up for the cafe press, that's some (smart) Tila army member using it to make money off her dumb friends who think that it's Tila. I had thought of trying that too but didn't want the hassle of mad parents calling me.
9/11 was 2 months to the day before my wedding. I watched the first tower fall as I got ready for work, and much like Columbine, work that day was spent just watching the TV. It was scary to fly to the honeymoon leaving from LAX and getting on a fully fueled 8 hour flight.
Thanks Ben for the update.
I know who's tweet I copied that link from and it's one of her most loyal army member.
Perhaps she gave that person permission to sell her merchandise on CafePress and they split the profits...or perhaps not.
You know...I think it's shitty that a select few have chosen to litter up a September 11th "never forget" entry with crap comments about that stupid whore. Get a grip...you're fucking disrespectful. Do it on any other post except for this one. You somehow managed to cheapen the whole thing...so way to go. You know, because Tila, cafepress, shit ass merchandise, and the most horrific thing to happen on U.S. soil IMO go hand in hand. I don't know why I never put it all together. *rolls eyes*
Anyway...thank you for posting this entry and thanks to those who shared their "what were you doing when you heard" comments. It would have been a lot better and much more heartfelt without the TOTAL IRRELEVENT SHIT about Tila posted in between.
K, thanks.
i was living & working in NYC on 9/11 and i will never, ever forget that day for the rest of my life. it's still something i can't really talk about. i will say, i have never seen a city more unified, more tolerant and more loving than they were after the attacks. it's part of what got us through it. while i hope the country never forget what happened, i also hope the country remembers how unified we were after the fact. i wouldn't have made it through each new day without that unity. i still haven't been able to go back to ground zero - it is not a tourist attraction to me. i haven't be able to release the memories or a lot of the pain yet. some day i will. but i have forgiveness in my heart. and i am grateful i am alive. i have moved from nyc (a few years later) - whenever i return, i feel its heart beat, i feel it's lifeline and i feel the love and its amazing embrace. and i miss it. i spent the day (and am spending the week) with my friend who shared that day with me. we haven't seen each other in ages - but we didn't speak too much about it because it's still too hard for both of us. however, being together, laughing, and knowing we have a future is blessing enough. we have so many friends & colleagues that can't say the same.
Thanks to all for your comments and rememberances. I lived directly across from the Towers - they were our daily view from Brooklyn Heights and the reason my ex and I took the apartment. That day, I got into the shower, latency work - and my world changed forever. I saw the United flight slam into the tower and it was so awful to know that people had died right in front of me that i literally can't remember those minutes - I can remember the plane flying low and saying "Look at that!" and the paper and debris flying by my window - but not the impact. Gone. After 9 years, I can finally fly again and I don't have panic attacks on the subway - but the mourning and healing will never cease.
So many touching and heartfelt remembrances of that horrible day. I appreciate those who were so closely connected with the tragedy, sharing your feelings.
I live on the west coast, yet have family who were very close to the Pentagon, and unfortunately witnessed the massacre there. In some ways I felt so far removed being so many thousand miles away, but in other ways, it was like my own heart, my own family, and my own friends and community were ripped apart.
Stranger or not, miles or not, we are all connected and we all suffer whether tragedy strikes on our soil or not.
I have long admired the resilience of those who got up the next day and lived their life, especially those who were so close to the fear that sprung like our worst childhood nightmares and to those who lost loved ones and colleagues. For years I couldn't go to bed at night until I was sure of where every single family member was. In my own home, all the pets had to be inside before I'd lay my head down. Every person accounted for.
I have long been embarrassed by my obsessive focus, but now I see it's just one of many ways we cope.
Thanks to all who shared their stories and thanks to all who continue to protect us with their own lives in the hopes that we will never see a repeat of that carnage.