Where were you on 9/11?

[marathoner452]

So many others have written far more eloquent tributes than I would be able to manage, so in lieu of the political rant that I know this post would turn into if I let it, I'll put the question to you-where were you and what were you doing?

I went off to college not 3 weeks before 9/11.  That day I woke up and went to the college cafeteria for breakfast, then walked down to the post office with one of my friends from high school.  Then I went back to the library to catch up on calculus homework.  At 8:46 that morning I was probably staring out the library window looking out over the St. Mary's River at the crystal clear blue day, not the kind of day when planes fly into buildings and buildings fall down around us.  At 10 am I went upstairs in the library to watch a movie on the French Revolution for history class.  Halfway through the movie the professor turns it off, tells us what happened, and a girl whose dad worked in the Pentagon leaves but I don't think much else of it.  The movie finished, I went to lunch and contemplated how bagel cutters look a lot like guillotines.  I left lunch and walked past the information desk where someone was picking up a bicycle.  I saw a sign on the desk about how we could watch news coverage on the events in the campus cinema down the hall, so I decided to find out what was going on.  I sat down in the cinema and looked up and it hit me:  this is not a movie gone wrong.  This is real life.  This is happening right now.  We will, or should, never see the world in the same way again.

One year later I ran the Run to Remember 5k in Baltimore.  I've run it every year since.  

I also ran the Marine Corps Marathon in DC on October 27th, 2002, just over one year after.

Some people called us the "9/11 Generation," those of us who came of age around that time.  I think they're right.  For good or for bad, we were changed by that day.

So whenever my younger friends ask me what it's like to go off to college, I say I really don't know and hopefully they won't have a tragedy like that right after they start school.

So where were you?

~Bethany

Comments

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I was on duty at the Siena Heights University Security Center. A junior in college and in the midst of my third cross country season as a Saint, I had grown accustomed to just going about my daily grind until 3:30 and then going to practice, pushing my body to the limit, and then relaxing or going to class after.

My boss, who knew me as the guy who was always standing while on duty (sitting down is difficult for me, as you, and everybody else who knows me well, are aware), walked into the office without looking at me. She goes right to the back phone and calls in a guard to lower the flag to half-staff. Then she says, as she looks through some papers, "Adam, go into Residence Life and look at the TV. When you come back, tell me what you see."

So I walk down the hall to Res Life, greet the Housing Director and the Director of Res Life, go into the room with the TV, and watch in bewilderment, horror, and raw anger as the first tower falls. I walk back to the office, look at Cindy, and say, "The end of the world as we know it." And I was right. Nothing will ever be the way it was on September 10th, 2001, ever again. But we can try.

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I don't know if we should try. The world is not the same anymore. To admit that does not let the terrorists win.

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

What I think I meant was that we can work towards peace and understanding. I know the world will never be the same, but there's no harm in trying to make it better than it is now.

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I can agree with all that, but the way I took what you said was that to change the way we see the world is to admit defeat. Which it's not.

The world isn't black and white. That's too simplistic. And I know you know all that and I know this is an emotional day for everyone, but that's one thing that bothers me. That if we change the way we live our lives as a result of 9/11 then "they" win. Like there should be an "us" and a "them" in the first place.

I'm probably not making any sense right now. I should probably just shut up until we're done with the day of the 5 year anniversary.

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I agree that the world isn't black and white, and that the way I said what I said sounded like we were admitting defeat (though if you saw my post this morning, you'd know I feel the exact opposite). I don't want things to change just because of this, as you know--I'm interested in peace and justice because right now we are a world tearing itself to pieces and people like us are the ones who will help it to become stronger and better than it could ever be without us.

You're making sense, and I understand where you're coming from. One thing I've just never told you is that I did lose somebody, though I didn't know until 2 months later, so today holds some significance. And there's no need to shut up--you're being honest and rational here (as you've always been), and I have some emotional stock in this (as I always do).

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I did see your post. And the fact that you lost someone that day helps me understand it a little better.

It's an emotional experience around here too. For those of us living on the East Coast at the time, it was even more scary. Like having my mom call me up and say we're leaving for Michigan because she thought the WTC in Baltimore was attacked in addition to the Pentagon.

DC is within commuting distance from home for me, or kinda, since it took 3 hours to get here today but you know what I mean. We have more emotional stock in 9/11 than do most people in the Midwest or on the West Coast.

I saw the WTC site when it was still very raw. It was only about 2 months later and they still had the remains of the towers sticking out and the lost persons notes on the fences and everything. You don't forget that easily.

~Bethany

[steelvictory.livejournal.com]

Same as you, just starting St. Mary's. I didn't have class until noon on Tuesdays my first semester, so I woke up around 9:30 and wandered out of my room in QA to use the bathroom. A sign on the door say "All classes after 10 AM cancelled" or some such. I laughed, and assumed it was a joke. Went back into my room, got dressed, checked my email and webcomics, and decided to wander over to a friend's suite to pick up a book before lunch and then class. Down in the QA lobby, there were more signs. Okay, now they might be serious. But the weather is beautiful, so why would they cancel class? I finally see two other people, two RAs, walking into the building. I ask what's going on, and they start rambling about planes and the Trade Center and the Pentagon and then head off again. I assume they're crazy, because the Trade Center and Pentagon are in two different cities, and resume my course to LQ. (At this point I'm wondering where the hell everyone is. In retrospect, they were probably all watching TV!)

I didn't get the real story until I made it to my friend's suite. The suitemates and I headed over to the campus center to watch CNN in Cole Cinema. After they showed a replay of one of the planes crashing into the tower, I realized that I couldn't deal with this, and headed up to the Grill to get lunch. Since I had no class, I headed back to my room and basically just curled up in bed with lunch and a book. Eventually Leslie came to find me, and we spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies. The gravity of the day's events didn't really sink in until the next day, when Prof. Bates had us all talk about traumatic events in our lives.

What a way to start our college career. Can I just say that I'm happy the plan did not go through to have a 9/11 scholar speak out our commencement, simply because it happened when we were freshmen?

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree that not having the 9/11 scholar speak at graduation was probably a good thing, but the one we did have just about bored me to tears. And I was a history major and the Librarian of Congress should have been really cool.

I couldn't take the news after a certain point either. I went windsurfing because it was a beautiful day.

~Bethany

[steelvictory.livejournal.com]

Leslie and I told one of the other girls in my hall to let us know if anything else crazy happened, and then watched Independence Day. Because we figured that whatever happened, it couldn't possibly get as bad as that movie.

[canrenell.livejournal.com]

I was a junior at Susquehanna University and was on my way to Graham Greene class. One of my sorority sisters passed me in the building and asked if I had heard about the planes/trade centers. I had no idea what she was talking about, kinda thought she was kidding, and just went on my way to class. When I got to class, our professor talked about it a little and then let us out early. At the time, I still didn't understand what it all meant so I remember just being happy that we got out of class early.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I think we all thought it couldn't really have happened, that it was all a bad joke, at least at first. Things like that take awhile to come to terms with and understand because they're just not supposed to happen.

~Bethany

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

There's very few shows on 9/11 that I'd want to or even be able to watch, but that sounds like one of them.

I echo your sentiments. My mom was planning on coming down the next afternoon to go out to lunch, and we went to a Chinese food place with no TV so we could get away from the news. All I wanted at that point was something familiar. I hadn't been on campus long enough to make any friends close enough that I wanted to talk with them about it.

~Bethany

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

And what's it called again?

~Bethany

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I won't be home/have access to email until Friday, so I'll give you a call tonight.

~Bethany

[batemanenroute.livejournal.com]

I was in Montreal. I never looked at the news before class, and I had a 10am class that day. I checked my friend's away message from the campus computer lab right before class, and it said something like "Holy Crap, we're being attacked!". I figured she meant a water balloon fight or something.

All the Americans in class questioned our professor, but he wasn't interested in talking about it. He gave a perfunctory "Here's what I know" at the beginning of class, and all the Americans got up and left to find a TV.

I guess I walked home and turned on the TV, though I don't remember much between then and that evening, when my roommate got home. She was from DC, and had to make a lot of phone calls. We hugged, and then sat down with our Canadian roommate to watch the coverage, which was mostly about how this event involved/affected Canada.

However, what I remember most is feeling personally attacked that night and the weeks following. Non-Americans would talk about how we had asked for it, brought this on ourselves, etc, and then a hush would fall over the room or space if an American walked by, and everyone knew who the Americans were.

There was an unfortunate almost-incident involving someone I care about and my fist when she said (as we were watching the footage of the towers falling) that we deserved this.

The "party-line" was that Canada supported its neighbors during this difficult time, but individuals had their own views. It was an incredibly difficult time to be an Expat.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even thought of that, that you weren't in the US at that point. That must have been incredibly difficult.

It was hard enough being here and being able to commiserate/talk about it with pretty much anyone and you would know how they felt because at least at first, it really was "united we stand."

~Bethany

[yukonsally]

I was getting ready for work at the book store and heard it on the radio. The severity didn't sink in until Lori and Kay started discussing it.

[inked2x.livejournal.com]

I had just found out I was pregnant with my daughter on 9/11/01. I was standing in one of the residential areas of the prison where I taught watching the TV when coverage came on. I remember I put my hand on my belly and thought "What kind of a world am I bringing a child into?" (I have since decided that she will probably take over the afore mentioned world so I really have nothing to worry about.)

[meeshabpuck.livejournal.com]

I woke up to the gasps of horror of my suitemates when they turned on the TV and heard that a plane crashed into the south tower. I thought it was just a little biplane--two, maybe four passengers at the most--no big deal. I called the doctor. I was at the hospital the previous night because my knee was acting up and I couldn't walk. Instead of investigating what was going in the common room after I got up, I tried to get ahold of the orthopedist who was supposed to help me with my knee. I cried first that day because the specialist said it couldn't see me for at least two weeks. My aunt fixed that situation. I feel a little better, and then I hear a second gasp. My suitemates say that another plane has struck the towers. I hobble into the common room in time to see a replay of the plane hitting the south tower and exploding. I share my outrage and tears with my classmates then head off to class. I'm late because of the news footage, plus I'm on crutches. My classmates don't know what happened. Neither does the professor. Thirty minutes later, we get word that a helicopter crashed into the pentagon and that school would end at 11 am--nothing more about the towers. My prof holds us until 11:15. I am trying desperately to find a phone to confirm my appoint for that afternoon (my aunt's fix) and struggling around on crutches. I'm not hungry because of pain (both internal and external ... while I am not from NYC, my mom raised me to love, adore, and respect that city ... i had tears in my eyes when I first laid on the skyline that I can remember). On our way back to the suite, two of my suitemates tell me that the towers collapsed ... I have no idea what they could mean ... none ... i pictured the tops falling off because of the impact ... we get back to the suite and on every channel we have including lifetime, mtv, and nickolodeon, they are showing footage of the towers collapsing. I go into my room and cry, staring at the panoramic poster of the skyline that I had purchased the previous week. I tried to get ahold of my mom, but couldn't ... no outside lines. I worried about my mom and my brothers, but mostly my uncle and cousin who according to my latest knowledge at that time worked in the financial district in Manhatten.