Where Were You?

[Kaos]

I can't believe it's been 18 years since terrorists brought the towers down.  

I heard today that a high school junior wasn't born when it happened. The average college student doesn't even remember it.  To them it's no different than the Civil War, World War II, Vietnam.  It's a page in the history books and difficult for them to apply to the world they know today. 

It explains a lot.  Explains how morons like Bernie Sanders and Occasionally Cortez can generate enthusiasm among that crowd.  It partially explains how people like Ilhan Omar and Talida Rashib get elected to Congress.  The younger voters just don't have a point of reference for the fight against communism and socialism from WWII. They don't have a personal memory of people jumping out of the windows of the twin towers a hundred floors up to avoid being burned alive.  

Over the last 18 years we've somehow allowed the concept of patriotism to be equated with ignorance and intolerance.  American pride has become a redneck attribute.  

I still remember the American flags flying everywhere after the towers were hit.  Cars, houses, buildings, store windows all decorated in red white and blue.  How quickly we've lost that unity worries me.  

I won't ever forget where I was when the attacks started. Was driving into Tuscaloosa for work having been on a plane from Dallas late the night before.  Was flipping channels and heard Rick and Bubba sort of snickering over a "fahr"  By the time I got to the office the second plane had hit.  We were all watching various reports on TV and online.  I had a friend who was sending me photos he was taking from the roof of his apartment building in NYC.  Our boss told us to all get back to work because the world wasn't going to stop and we needed to keep the ad revenue up.  He was overruled by the mob.  Most of us just refused to go back.  

Where were you?  Did the world change for you eighteen years ago?  

[Saniflush]

I had just finished knocking off a morning piece at my then girlfriend's house in Pelham.  Heard my phone ringing and ignored it since there were still things happening horizontally. 

Kept ringing about every couple of minutes so I got up to see who the fuck was ruining my escapades.  Turns out it was my oldest brother telling me a plane had just hit the first building.  Ordinarily I think he would have just thought it was an accident like most others but I had been telling my family ever since I got out of the Corps that something like this was going to happen here, it just had not yet. 

Not long after that, the second plane hit as I watched it live.  I remember feeling pissed off and helpless for days afterward.  Even went down to the recruiting station and tried to re-enlist until they politely told me the Corps didn't need any 31 year old corporals that had been out 9 years. 

The world did not change 18 years ago.  The world for Americans and Western Europeans changed 18 years ago.  The rest of the world had already been living in the shitshow but Americans by and large had always been insulated from it.  I don't think it affected me nearly as much as it did a lot of others because I really did expect something to happen on our soil.  I had seen and heard too much overseas and felt like it was only a matter of time before we would have the problems first hand like most of the rest of the world already did.

[djsimp]

I had only been at my new job for a month that started this machine I operate now. I was just happy to have a job with insurance and not have to worry about the weather elements. A co-worker came busting out of his office yelling "we're under attack". The rest of the day was a wash needless to say as we were all glued to the news. Lots of different emotions I remember. Not sure if it changed much in me except making me more determined as a patriot. I hadn't been too long removed from my service in the Army. I did contemplate re-signing but was talked out of it. Like mentioned, I had just been hired in this profession that still pays the bills......and 17 kids.

[Snaggletiger]

I had just finished knocking off a piece that morning.  My arm was killing me.  The phone rang so I answered it with my left hand, which is awkward since I'm right handed.

I was actually pulling into the parking lot of my law school, getting ready to go into class.  I had been listening to a sports talk show out of Montgomery all the way in and they were signing off just as I parked.  The last thing they said was, "And here's a strange story.  A plane just hit the World Trade Center in New York."  That was it.  I thought the same thing, as Sani referred to, that somebody screwed up.  I pictured a Cesna losing control and clipping a building.  That was about it.

Walked in the building and the library was immediately to the right and I saw people gathered around a TV in there.  I could see smoke rising on the picture and thought I'd better see what this is about.  We all kind of stood there watching the story unfold, wondering how this could have happened.  Terrorism simply didn't enter anyone's mind....until we watched the second plane hit.  Now, it was total disbelief, which was reinforced when the reports of the Pentagon strike and the plane going down in Pennsylvania came in.  It suddenly got real.

I think most spent the day wondering how wide spread this was and if our loved ones were in any danger.  This had never happened before. Not in America.  The eeriest feeling was driving home that night and seeing every gas pump with lines around the block.  You kind of got that sense that everyone felt the same.  Not enough information to be mad yet and not enough to know the scope of what was going on or if it was over. 

[djsimp]

K, until you mentioned it, I hadn't really thought about how long it had been and the fact so many young bucks, including my own, were not alive to experience something like this. That thought reminds me of the Challenger disaster also. Such events as Pearl Harbor and 911 can/have reshaped the American society. I can't help but think that if those events had not taken place, said American society may have derailed years ago. I am curious, is 911 now studied and taught in our schools?

[Kaos]

K, until you mentioned it, I hadn't really thought about how long it had been and the fact so many young bucks, including my own, were not alive to experience something like this. That thought reminds me of the Challenger disaster also. Such events as Pearl Harbor and 911 can/have reshaped the American society. I can't help but think that if those events had not taken place, said American society may have derailed years ago. I am curious, is 911 now studied and taught in our schools?

Some people did something....

The high school my daughter went to taught Arabic as the foreign language.  Not French, not Spanish, not Portuguese. Not Italian. Arabic.  There were posters up proudly touting the Five Pillars of School (and if you studied Islam you know that that's about).  

What was taught -- as best I could tell -- was that the attack was carried out by some crazy people which had nothing to do with Islam or anything like that. Any religion or group could have terrorists.  

it was completely separated from the forces driving it and lumped in with Columbine, Waco, Oklahoma. 

Can't criticize Islam that makes you a PHOBE!!! 

[djsimp]

Some people did something....

The high school my daughter went to taught Arabic as the foreign language.  Not French, not Spanish, not Portuguese. Not Italian. Arabic.  There were posters up proudly touting the Five Pillars of School (and if you studied Islam you know that that's about). 

What was taught -- as best I could tell -- was that the attack was carried out by some crazy people which had nothing to do with Islam or anything like that. Any religion or group could have terrorists. 

it was completely separated from the forces driving it and lumped in with Columbine, Waco, Oklahoma.

Can't criticize Islam that makes you a PHOBE!!!

Like.....wtf. Seriously? You, I, we all know, that the Islam bs was what motivated 911. 

This has my interest peaked. I'm going to have to ask someone in the know at the school my kids go to. If this isn't in the American History books it should be.

[bottomfeeder]

I was sweating my balls trimming out some HUD homes on Dauphin Island Parkway. The news came over the radio and we then went to the marina to see some of it on TV. I told my coworker, "They're just trying to shut us down. Let's go back to work."  I thought it was the Russians, lol.

Caught all of the updates that night one the news, but it never slowed down my work.

Screw the terrorists. I had too much work to do.

[Kaos]

This is how it's being taught: 

https://www.good.is/articles/teaching-9-11-a-decade-later-what-do-textbooks-say

Talking about it has the potential to fan the flames of nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment


The timing of a unit on Islam aligns with the Sept. 11 anniversary. He incorporates talking about what happened into the unit because he believes it's important for teachers to work to counteract negative perceptions and stereotypes of Muslims.

"I want kids to understand that one in five people in this world is Muslim," he says. "We ride the bus with them, we play sports with them, they are our friends and neighbors." Shoham is clear with kids that the terrorists "were hateful, intolerant murderers." However, he says, "we can't allow ourselves to be consumed with the same hate and intolerance that brought down those towers."

No matter what approach teachers decide to take, it's critical that they use reputable sources that are factual and nonpartisan. "If there's any event that should be taught in a non-political way," says Altoff, "it's September 11."

[jmar]

Occupied my Dad's condo who had recently passed. I was a steel melter in those days and operated a 20 MT furnace overnight and hadn't been asleep long.  
When the phone kept ringing continuously I finally picked up and it was my little sister saying John go turn on the tv, you have to see this. And as soon as I did I saw a replay of the first plane, what I thought was a small plane enter the tower.
And of course I was motionless as the second one hit.

Fastforward:
Two years later I remember seeing the rows of really large flagpoles erected in the front lawns of nice homes as I had a rental car heading north from the Indianapolis airport for a job interview I purposely bombed on because I was struggling with my marriage and the prospect of relocating.

Some people have since remarked that the patriotic fervor lasted about six months but from my perspective it was as much as two years.

My heart goes out for the survivors, the first responders as well as those who are still dying from the effects of that attack. 

But I cannot speak of the tragedy like many people as if it went down as described. It did not! Not even remotely true. 
In short, 
we were left with the Patriot Act. 

[GH2001]

 Explains how morons like Bernie Sanders and Occasionally Cortez can generate enthusiasm among that crowd.  It partially explains how people like Ilhan Omar and Talida Rashib get elected to Congress.  The younger voters just don't have a point of reference for the fight against communism and socialism from WWII. 

History has been glossed over in this regard. The history books have brainwashed the youth into Hiitler being right wing aka the GOP. 

No sir. 

He simply hated the homogenous communal nature of the USSR. Same totalitarianism, different flavor - which was more on the nationalist side in Germany. Everything else about Germany was socialist 

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party,  that was active between 1920 and 1945, that created and supported the ideology of National Socialism. Its precursor, the German Workers' Party, existed from 1919 to 1920. Nazi political strategy focused on anti-big business, anti-bourgeois, and anti-capitalist rhetoric.

These are also the same people we are fighting to a degree - just a different kind of war. 

Never Forget...although same have. Or just dont care. 

[AUTiger1]

I started to skip class that morning.  I wanted to sit around the house all day and do nothing since I was off work.  Decided to go to class anyway since at the time I was dating Ms. AUT1 and I knew she would want to go to lunch and hang out a bit before evening classes.  Going down the road I remember Rick and Bubba saying that a plane had flew into the World Trade Center.  I was like Snaggs, that it was something small. When I got to school we were glued to the TV's.  It was unreal to me.  I was stunned and in shock that it happened.  I remember thinking we are the United States.  The most badass country in history.  This doesn't happen on our soil.  I left school and went home.  I got gas that evening and the line was backed all the down the street a good 75 to 100 yards.  They ran out by 6:00PM.  I got home and started watching new coverage.  I went from stunned and in shock to being angry as hell.  I do long for Sept 12, 2001 again.  There was unity.  Everyone was an American, flags were flying everywhere, the Health South buses had lines of people wanting to donate blood for their brothers and sisters in New York.  Red Cross was having issues dealing with the amount of people that wanted to give blood and people wanting to donate anything it could to help.  I miss that America and weep because I will never see and experience it again.

[Saniflush]

I miss that America and weep because I will never see and experience it again.

You may get to...although it may be called Hong Kong.

[CCTAU]

You may get to...although it may be called Hong Kong.

Oh he'll get to experience it in the form of reparations....