I was in New York for a school thing from September 8, 2004, to September 12, 2004, and I went to the World Trade Center site on September 10, 2004. It really brought tears to my eyes, and you feel an immense sense of national pride when there. The two light beams were incredible, too.

It was only like 6 am for me, I wasn't even awake yet. My dad heard it on the radio on his way to work, and called home to tell us... THAT got me up pretty quick... I couldn't believe it. I thought there must have been a misunderstanding or something.

Then, once I got to school, there was an assembly first period, and most people had no idea yet. That's usually too early for anyone to know the morning's news yet... it wasn't even 8:00 yet. So the dean told us what happened, said a prayer, and we sang the national anthem and God Bless America. The rest of the day, the TVs were on in every classroom, and we weren't doing anything, so being typical Zia, I left and went home. If I'm gonna watch the news all day, I'd rather do so in sweats or pj's.

No disrespect, but it's ironic you would post a 9/11 tribute on this board, seeing as how the mob was involved in the theft of steel and other materials from ground zero. Again, my apologies if this came off as insensitive, but I found the looting of such a sacred site by mobsters deplorable yet somehow expected. Expected in the sense that we almost laugh every time Michael Jackson is picked up on a molestation charge. Just Ironic, that's all...

Memo to AllEyesOnChris:
We're not mobsters here, nor do most of us condone anything they do.

Any more ironic than you choosing the picture of a mobster to represent your avatar? Someone who is responsible for the death of others, and someone who makes his living off the misery of others? Lets not confuse why we "admire" our movie and tv mobsters with the reality of what they do.

I remember that day so well. And my heart breaks when I think of it. My community was hit very hard, as we're only about a half hour from NYC. It seemed that there were funeral processions everywhere you turned, for weeks and even months. We lost so many young men and women, so many children were left without their mother or father. My brother lost his friend, who was a lieutenant with the fire department. It was so sad to see Joe's photo and hear his name read again, and know that he's not here to see his son go to college or see his daughter growing up. I just remember watching the smoke cloud from the conference room of my office that day and wondering how anyone could survive that.

I insist that we watch the memorial from Ground Zero every year. The reading of the names seems endless, and each of those parents this year brought me to tears, but I feel that it's the least we can do to honor their memory.

It was a horrible day. We just stood in shock and horror looking at the skyline and there were no more Twin Towers. One of the worst things I remember was how everyone went downtown looking for their loved ones, showing pictures and stopping anyone on the street asking if they saw their loved one. Everyone looked like zombies, everybody was crying. It was awful.I guess we were all hopeful, there was a chance someone could tell them something, just something to hold on to. I am so blessed I didnt know anyone personally from the attacks. But almost everyone in New York including me, knows of someone who lost someone, friend or relative, or had a story of how they escaped.

What kind of escape stories have you heard? I'm just curious because you hear a lot about how people died, but I haven't heard too much about people escaping.

After the attacks, everyone had a story of someone they knew who had a story or a friend who had a story. Basically, you just heard lots of stories about people who ran into buildings to escape the smoke, people running towards the East River, ducking in alleys, etc. It was very sad, and it smelled like dust and smoke for weeks after the tragedy, almost like a charcoal smell. The saddest thing was all the pictures posted up and people holding pictures of their loved ones just wanting to know something if anyone saw their loved one. It was awful.

Buttapcanrican:
That's one thing I'll always remember about the aftermath of 9/11. I'll never forget the news just showing story after story of loved ones trying to get on camera just to show a picture of someone lost in the rubble. That was gut-wrenching and such a horrible time and I hope it never happens in the U.S. again.

So you hope something like that happens again? but not in the U.S. i find that disturbing.

I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant.

So you hope something like that happens again? but not in the U.S. i find that disturbing. [/b][/quote]That's not what Goombah meant, though I can certainly think along those lines, to some extent.

After 9/11, I seriously think it was time to take the fucking gloves off 100%, and avoid the political bullshit, which Bush did to an extent. But God forbid if I was President, I suspect that most of the Middle East would be a fucking parking lot by now if I even thought they were planning on attacking the US.

Hello, Mignon;

It should be clear to you that God cannot stop someone from avenging wrongs done to them with a suicide-bombing (I am willing to bet you a suicide-bombing has already happened this morning in the Middle East). It's pointless to eulogize; men, women, or children who have not done anything of significance because they were victimized, especially when their deaths only profit the government of a country with propagandistic purposes. Moreover; it's not very honorable to attempt to gain any sort of acceptance or accolade by mourning or panegyrizing those who one never knew personally.

I would not be very surprised if another terrorist attack took place on American soil before long - bonds with Israel aside - as these so-called 'terrorists' can most easily sneak into this country through the unguarded Mexican border which people of every race & creed can be found trespassing for many reasons (only to be returned to Mexico from where they attempt to sneak into the country again): be it drug-trafficking, or kidnapping of American citizens, or other illicit &/or amoral & repugnant activities with impunity.

Hello, Mignon;

It should be clear to you that God cannot stop someone from avenging wrongs done to them with a suicide-bombing (I am willing to bet you a suicide-bombing has already happened this morning in the Middle East). It's pointless to eulogize; men, women, or children who have not done anything of significance because they were victimized, especially when their deaths only profit the government of a country with propagandistic purposes. Moreover; it's not very honorable to attempt to gain any sort of acceptance or accolade by mourning or panegyrizing those who one never knew personally.

I would not be very surprised if another terrorist attack took place on American soil before long - bonds with Israel aside - as these so-called 'terrorists' can most easily sneak into this country through the unguarded Mexican border which people of every race & creed can be found trespassing for many reasons (only to be returned to Mexico from where they attempt to sneak into the country again): be it drug-trafficking, or kidnapping of American citizens, or other illicit &/or amoral & repugnant activities with impunity. [/b][/quote]Sorry, I'm usually fairly agreeable here, but your post just made my blood boil. How can you sound like such a jerk? Do you think that we feel compassion for those families to gain acceptance? Even if you didn't know anyone that perished that day, you feel compassion for their families because they've suffered a horrendous, heart-breaking loss. And you pray to God that nobody ever has to feel that kind of pain again. Does that mean that nobody ever will? Of course not. But you pray anyway, because it is only humane to hope that it will never happen again.

So you hope something like that happens again? but not in the U.S. i find that disturbing. [/b][/quote]I've seen some stupid comments made on these boards, but yours takes the cake. If you are going to make such a moronic statement, do us all a favor and keep it to yourself.

ohh well, maybe is late for this post, but wasnt around in these days. That awful day 9/11, I was in home, cuz I took a sabatical year, so, I always woke up pretty late, that day, I woke up pretty early 9:30 pm (same time than nyc) and put my tv on, my local channel was talking about the nyc incident. I thought, OMG, this is not possible, plus I have some relatives there, so I was worried for them too, was a pretty sad day, not only for americans though, for all, see all that people dying on live was shocking, all that suffer, is a day I never can forget though, I was 20 year then and 3 years later when I rewatched the whole stuff on tv,I started to cry, cuz till now, I cant understand why stuff like that can happend in our world, inoccent people dying and not only there, around the world, maybe is human nature, who knows, anyway my prays are with the persons who lost some relatives that day, god bless you all.

First of all - Wow.

Secondly, actually I personally knew someone who was on one of the flights. And died.

If you don't agree with us honoring the people who died in 9/11.. then why would you even open the thread? Just skip to the next one and be on your merry way.

I never said anyone felt, or feigned, compassion for the families of the victims for acceptance (compassion is an understandable feeling given the situation). I said it was senseless to panegerize those dead if one did not know them personally or if they had not done anything honorable that the person was aware of.

Perhaps because I've felt more tragedy than most people I am unable to feel very sensitive for those who I don't know, or those who don't mean anything to me. What they or their family must endure is their business; not mine. Agony is integral to life; one must learn to suffer.

Of course my opinion is just that & my right to express it is no different from yours in this board, as long as it is presented respectfully.

I didn't know anyone personally who died on 9/11 (thankfully), but that still doesn't mean that I can't mourn them for the way in which they died & under the circumstances. Are you saying we should be insensitive if personally were not affected by the tradegies. What about the Holocost? Is is wrong to feel compassion for those that suffered for NOTHING!? I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, I'm just wondering why we had to know somebody to feel emotion?

Like Zia said, it was very early here in California. My routine is, right after my alarm goes off, I turn on the tv to CNN/MSN and saw them talking and showing footage of the first plane. I was really surprised and confused. Then within minutes the second plane hit and I knew then it was more than an accident, as I assume everyone did.

The whole day at work, the tv was on and everyone was in a daze. My heart broke for all those people and all of NYC. It definitely brought every American together. We all felt the pain and horror to a large degree.

I wish I could say it won't happen again, but I am very pessimistic in that respect. However, I pray I am wrong.

TIS

I didn't know anyone personally who died on 9/11 (thankfully), but that still doesn't mean that I can't mourn them for the way in which they died & under the circumstances. Are you saying we should be insensitive if personally were not affected by the tradegies. What about the Holocost? Is is wrong to feel compassion for those that suffered for NOTHING!? I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, I'm just wondering why we had to know somebody to feel emotion? [/b][/quote]Well stated Irishman. I, too, didn't know anybody who died on 9/11. But that doesn't mean I can't mourn and show my compassion for the innocent lives lost. Such a deeply tragic event like 9/11 brings out tremendous emotion in all of us. God forbid, if I did know someone who was a victim, I can't imagine the grief that was endured. I have the utmost respect for the spouses/families of the 9/11 victims who are fighting to ensure that we learned from our mistakes that lead to 9/11.

I never said anyone felt, or feigned, compassion for the families of the victims for acceptance (compassion is an understandable feeling given the situation). I said it was senseless to panegerize those dead if one did not know them personally or if they had not done anything honorable that the person was aware of.

Perhaps because I've felt more tragedy than most people I am unable to feel very sensitive for those who I don't know, or those who don't mean anything to me. What they or their family must endure is their business; not mine. Agony is integral to life; one must learn to suffer.

Of course my opinion is just that & my right to express it is no different from yours in this board, as long as it is presented respectfully. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Yes, just as my opinion was presented. And what in God's name makes you think you have cornered the market on suffering? Everyone suffers; it's part of life. However, you definitely implied that we only eulogize those victims, even though we didn't know them, to "gain acceptance".
And I quote:
>>Moreover; it's not very honorable to attempt to gain any sort of acceptance or accolade by mourning or panegyrizing those who one never knew personally.<<

I feel that we do it because we are human and we feel for others that have suffered. I also believe that, while there is pain in every life, sending someone you love off to the office, only to see their building collapse on television a few hours later, is beyond the usual tragedy that befalls each life. To lose someone you love is a horror, but to lose them in such a public way that is repeated over and over in the public eye, to lose someone you love in such a senseless way, is beyond agony. I cry for the victims of September 11th and their families the same way I cried when I saw the Murrah building in Oklahoma, when I saw Lori Hacking's mother on TV the other day, when I see anyone who lost someone they loved, and I am moved to tears by their grief and courage to go on. To isolate oneself from the suffering of others is supremely selfish and self-absorbed, in my opinion.

If I may ask, what tragedy have you suffered that would cause you to be unable to feel agony for the people who died on September 11, 2001?

I didn't know anyone personally who died on 9/11 (thankfully), but that still doesn't mean that I can't mourn them for the way in which they died & under the circumstances. Are you saying we should be insensitive if personally were not affected by the tradegies. What about the Holocost? Is is wrong to feel compassion for those that suffered for NOTHING!? I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, I'm just wondering why we had to know somebody to feel emotion? [/b][/quote]Well I will say it: Guineapig's opinion IS incontrovertably wrong.

For the sake of communication, you shouldn't make assumptions like the ones you're making about someone you don't know personally.

I was very clear on my first post, but here I'll try to explain again my viewpoint:

I understand the feeling of compassion for those who experienced loss during those attacks & those who either died during or survived them, even when considering that what they had to endure is commonplace in much of the Middle East (even worse for them in a sense because the people who die there haven't lead such prosperous lives as the people working on the WTC or living in America). The attempts made by the American Media, & our current government to attempt to show bereavement for their citizens are simply a little too transparent for me, but clearly not to those jumping on the bandwagon (those my original post targeted). Perhaps you are genuinely compassionate & do deeply feel for the loss those families experienced (truly an admirable thing), but I doubt every, or even most, with their 'proud to be an american', or 'united we stand' stickers feel the same way. It is also a little ironic because it's clear only a small fraction of those citizens would give up their lives for their country & their 'freedom' - most believe lies that Muslims hate us for our 'freedom & democracy.'