It Has Been Six Months

Joeiss · 03-11-2002, 10:31 AM

It's Been Six Months

It's hard to believe that half of a year has past. It's been six months since a nation has been stunned. It's been one hundred and eighty two days since three buildings were attacker. It's been 4368 hours since America was under attack. It's been two hundred sixty-two thousand and eighty minutes since a new war was started, and an attempt to destroy terrorism was given birth. Yes, six months ago the World Trade Center "Twin Towers" were truck by two planes which were hijacked by terrorists. Yes, six months ago the Pentagon was hit by a plane which was also hijacked by terrorists. Yes, six months ago a plane crashed in Pennsylvania because those brave passengers rallied against the terrorist hijackers, and saved possibly thousands of people from where the plane was headed. It's been six months since I heard the news that terror had swiped America off of its feet.

It was second period at my highschool. I was in drama class. I was changing out of my drama clothes and into my school uniform when I heard the pager buzz. The school chaplain started to talk. He started a prayer, so I crossed myself and slipped my dress shoes on and put my bag over my shoulder. I could not hear the exact words of what the chaplain was saying because the other kids in my class were talking and being noisy, but I could see the look of fear, the look of sadness in my drama teacher's face. I walked with a fast pace from the middle of the drama room to the speaker where my terrified teacher was standing in disbelief. I did no say a word until the prayer was over. I still did not know what was happening while I was finishing praying the Hail Mary. As soon as U had crossed myself, and my teacher had crossed herself, I asked what the school chaplain said. My drama teacher then told me that there has been a terrorist attack in New York City and Washington, DC. It was that moment that I knew the world had been changed. I still did not know the specifics of what had occurred, but all I knew what that it was bad, very bad.

The school bell rang and I left my drama class. Everybody in the halls had confused looks on their faces, so I blended in wonderfully. The only words which I heard as I walked to my English class outside in a portable were, "Did you hear what happened?" and, "Yes, but I do not know what was hit by the planes." I do not think that any student knew what was happening that morning in America. There were only guesses upon guesses for that five minutes in between my second and third period classes.

I walked up the steps to my English class which was in a portable. I walked into my class and immediately asked my teacher what happened in America. He replied in a negative tone, almost in a disgusted tone and said, "Why would I know? I only heard what you heard five minutes ago!" I walked to my seat and that is when I finally got an answer. A girl who sat in the front of the class said that the World Trade Center towers were hit by planes. Confused, I asked her what the World Trade Center towers were, and she said something about the "Twin Towers". The Twin Towers? What are these? The only Twin Towers that I knew about were Tim Duncan and David Robinson, two basketball players who earned that nickname because of their height. The class went on and I still did not know what exactly was happening in New York City and Washington. But, I soon found out.

After English class, I had my lunch period. I quickly ate my lunch in the cafeteria and went to the library to finish some of my homework from the night before. I completed my work and exited the library. Before I made it to the doors, I saw that there was a television behind the librarian's desk. I thought the television was just in black and white, or scrambled, because all I could see was two colours : black and grey. Little did I know that there was nothing wrong with that television, but that I was looking at the remains of the two World Trade Center towers.

When school finished, my brother drove me home. We arrived at my house at around three o'clock, and we immediately turned on the television and switched the channel to CNN. We watched until five o'clock, which was when my parents arrived home. They hugged us and kissed us. They called my sister to make sure she was okay. My parents left work in Toronto early that afternoon, and arrived a couple hours later. We, as a family watched the news until late at night. I learned what the "Twin Towers" were. I must have seen footage of the World Trade Center being attacked at least seventy five times. Mass destruction just occurred in America, and I felt scared.

Initial reports of the total amount of deaths were high, very high. Thankfully every day those numbers dropped lower and lower. On September 11, 2001, some new words were added to my vocabulary. Terrorism. Osama Bin Laden. Twin Towers. Taliban. Al Queda. These words are all words that when I hear them, I am saddened. I am saddened because thousands of people died on that morning of September 11th. I am still saddened because of all the pain and suffering I saw on the news that day. I am still saddened because of the amount of deaths that have occurred in retaliation to the events of September 11, and I hope that peace can happen in this hectic world of ours, and I hope that terrorism is a word that we all can take out of our vocabulary.

By : Joeiss

Now, please share your thoughts with everybody else on these forums. It can be long or short, but please share your thoughts on the events that happened on September 11, 2001. Thank you.

Sigma · 03-11-2002, 11:48 AM

very nice post. I really liked reading it.

Ric · 03-11-2002, 12:06 PM

A good account Joeiss and told from the heart, this really is the 'Where were you when JFK was shot' for our generation isnt it.

My account, here goes.
I was sitting at school merrily posting on Gametavern in a free period, it was near the end of school (GMT) and I was thinking of going home when Neo posted a topic 'Two Planes Hit World trade Centers'. At first I didnt take this seriously, a freak accident, what do the trade centers look like, where are they. To my horror and dismay, I soon found out and the image of those buildings was forever emblazoned upon my mind. I tried to go onto all the news sites I knew, Cnn, sky news, BBC, all were running very slowly, completly overloaded. I was so worried, then came a little bit of news, 'people in Afghanistan seen celebrating' thats when I knew this was no accident.

Worried at this I decided to stay online to see what happened, a plane crashed into the pentagon, fighter planes deployed albeit a little late but it was necessecery for the moral of the citizens and who knows, something else may have happened if they werent.

Then, one of the towers collapsed, the second this happened I knew tho other one would go, I waited with a numb feeling, lo and behold, it did. By this time I was real upset and angry, it was a weird feeling, I ran all the way home to watch the telly. I switched on Sky news to see a plane crash into a building, then another, then it showed the collapses. I was very upset, thousands of people just died before my very eyes and I was powerless to stop it. Then came anger and wrath. I was that close to dropping everything and joining the army so I could kick some arse. I was and am still now very vengefull, if Bin Laden was in front of me now he would be dead in a second. Thats why I have no pity for those killed in the bombing, bomb all the bastards thats what I say. I knew things were going seriously bad over there when they blew up those ancient buddahs carved into the cliff faces, saying it was offencive to islam, blowing them up was offensive to buddhism for the love of god.

I watched that telly all night and for a few days after, the same image over and over. 1 month passed, as I was starting to calm down and come to tearms with it, a plane crashed into a residential area of New York, 'an accident' people said, but I am still unsure.

One last comment, this is considered an attack on america but it has affected me so much I feelit is also an attack on me and my emotions so I am just as upset as you. And I live thousands of miles away. We grieved as one, we fight as one and we will win as one. Well done to you american fighters and well done to our boys (UK) out there on the front line as I write.

Nuff said.

Joeiss · 03-11-2002, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ric
I watched that telly all night and for a few days after, the same image over and over. 1 month passed, as I was starting to calm down and come to tearms with it, a plane crashed into a residential area of New York, 'an accident' people said, but I am still unsure.

Yeah, that crash was pretty suspicious, IMO. I am not sure if the plane was hijacked or not. I think that there was engine trouble or something, which was why the plane crashed. Well, even if it was a terrorist attack, America will never say so. I am still not sure if it was, but America will never admit that another terrorist attack happened on home soil, IMO.

BTW, good account, Ric.

DeathsHand · 03-11-2002, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joeiss

Yeah, that crash was pretty suspicious, IMO. I am not sure if the plane was hijacked or not. I think that there was engine trouble or something, which was why the plane crashed. Well, even if it was a terrorist attack, America will never say so. I am still not sure if it was, but America will never admit that another terrorist attack happened on home soil, IMO.

BTW, good account, Ric.

Well I think they said the plane was going through some sort of turbulence that comes from being too close behind another plane... and the pilot or someone apparently used the rudder too much and it snapped off which made it hard to control the plane...

But the thing is, what does that have to do with the engine falling off? Cuz remember the engines (or at least one of them) fell off too... *shrugs*... If it was terrorism, I think the only way it could have been is some kind of guy working for the terrorists somehow got a job as one of the people checking planes and knew all about stuff and was able to get the rudder and stuff all flimsy...... meaning I doubt it was terrorism

Not too long ago, they even released a little caution to pilots flying those kinds of planes to not excessively use the rudder or something like that... just incase as a precaution until they find out for sure 100% if there is a problem with the rudder or not... or something...

But anyways... I remember where I was when it happened... I was........ sleeping.......

But then when I woke up at..... 2..... The thought crossed my mind to turn on the TV (which only gets channel 4, 5, 7, and 9, which is NBC, FOX, ABC, and CBS)... which was weird... but I didn't, then I went downstairs and my dad was watching the news and I was like "Whoa what the hell is this?"..... yep..... I'm sorry it's not as interesting as all of your stories

Oh and BTW, I heard this on MSNBC today... it was like a little video of people sooorta having a little arguement in the street... and they were at some little street vender guy who was selling copies of various pictures from sept. 11th or something... and this one guy was sorta mad because he said something about them selling pictures of people after they hit the ground from jumping out of the building...

a: Why would you wanna sell something like that?

b: Who the hell would wanna buy that?

Revival · 03-11-2002, 02:26 PM

Well, I was sitting in Spanish class, thinking about what I was going to do when I got home, when the headmaster came over the intercom and told us that 2 planes had crashed into the World Trade Center Towers. At that time, I didn't know much more about it, only that it happened. Next period, when I was talking to an administrator, he told me that the buildings had fallen, completely, and that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon. I didn't know what to think then, not many people did, we didn't get to see the horrifying images until we got home, the teachers were banned from turning on the televisions because a student might not be able to handle it..

I tell ya, when I got home, it was like a swirl of emotions, I was angry, sad, hurt, and confused..

TheGrimReaper · 03-11-2002, 04:12 PM

It was a very disturbing day for all of us.

Plus I had a penpal in New York so I was abslaoutly petrefied.

03-11-2002, 05:31 PM

I was in the library of my school during my lunch period trying to complete my math homework. The principal came over the loud speaker and said that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers and nothing more. This announcement came a couple hours after the fact.

In English class we had to listen to the radio to find out exactly what happened. My English teacher kept repeating over and over "I'm glad I'm not the president." Quite a few kids were crying. Many knew people or had family who worked in the Towers. Everyone had out there cell phone calling everyone they knew to comfirm if they were ok and the like.

The rest of the day felt like it was all a dream. I hadn't seen any of the video or pictures but in each class we talked about it.

No one was allowed to leave unless a parent picked them up or lived within walking distant. The subway most kids take home was shutdown due to the fact that it passes by the Towers. There was a lockdown for the bourough of Manhattan and I lived in Queens with no way to get home. The subway started up again from a different location so after some walking I got there. It was packed to the max and everyone comforted eachother. I arrived at Penn Station which over the news had been anounced that it was closed. Turns out it wasn't but was dead silent. I made my way over to my train. They allowed everyone to ride for free that day but still was almost entirely empty.

I arrived home and finally got to see the horrific images on the TV. A few of my friends who went to school a few blocks away from the Towers had walked all the way across the bridge to get back to Queens. I went online where I was bombarded with IMs asking if I was ok.

School was closed the next day and the smoke made its way over to my location. The day after, school resumed yet hardly anyone came in. The ride in was silent...

Revival · 03-11-2002, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Danchastu
I went online where I was bombarded with IMs asking if I was ok.

You live in New York City, and you were in our thoughts.. that's a good thing.

Gamer · 03-11-2002, 06:15 PM

It doesnt seem like already half a year has passed since the towers fell...geeze, i remember the day, it was a wierd day. But hey, that also marks something good, it means that we are past half way through the school year !

Xantar · 03-11-2002, 06:20 PM

In times like this, I find it appropriate to curb my usual enthusiasm for long, drawn out posts. So I'll just say this:

The world was right when I walked into my English class. When I walked out, everything changed.

Joeiss · 03-11-2002, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Xantar
In times like this, I find it appropriate to curb my usual enthusiasm for long, drawn out posts. So I'll just say this:

The world was right when I walked into my English class. When I walked out, everything changed.

Wow. A four sentence post by Xantar on a huge subject like this. :eek: I am shocked.

GameMaster · 03-11-2002, 09:28 PM

San Francisco schools were officially cancelled. I just got out the shower and my mom told me an attack had been launched on us in New York. At the time, we didn't what or who did it and if it would continue through the day or week. I stayed home from school and watched the whole day. From my television I saw the second tower get hit live. For months I heard speculation and updates on the war but it has come to a trickle now. Is he dead? Is he alive? I will never forget the feel of life loss.

marionette · 03-11-2002, 10:34 PM

all you people that heard in school are lucky. they "weren't allowed to tell us"..which sucks, because I went all day without knowing. I didn't find out about all of this until about 6:45/ and I walked into the house, and saw some buildings falling and I said, "what movie are you guys watching" and my mom was like, "they didn't tell you?!" and I was like, "tell me what! tell me what?" and she hugged me and said, "Terese, I'm sorry you didn't find out earlier, but 2 planes hit the twin towers, and the fell. and then another one hit the pentagon, and another somewhere else.." and I was like, "mom stop messing with me!" because my parents like to joke and see how gullible I am. and my mom was like, "no its no joke. look at the TV!!" and I just sat there in awe, for like the next 2 hours, watching the news. it was sad seeing the people jump out of the buildings. sad, sad, sad. I was all sad, confused, and furious at the same time..

Joeiss · 03-11-2002, 11:32 PM

Wow, that is weird that they didn't tell you at school, Marionette. I think that everybody has the right to know, or to be told about an event such as this.

Oh, and by the way, it looks like your brother has pulled you into the dark side of illiteracy! Like really, you are typing like NGC-Ruler... and it is weird. :eek: