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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI think where one was when the 9-11 attacks happened really impacts one's feelings
My wife and I had a trip planned to Ireland to visit our daughter, who was in the midst of a study abroad. We landed at Shannon, and headed for a pub to have lunch with my daughter and her boyfriend. We noted the TV being switched to Sky News, and watched as the second plane hit. My parents were back in the US staying with our younger daughter. They were in the US - we were in Ireland - and our 10 day trip was utterly surreal, as we worked to try to find out what we could and make sense of it all.
We found out that the Irish were very kind to us - such a deep connection with the NY firefighters and police of Irish descent. Churches were opened and had books to sign for moments of remembrance. Some of the radio stations played somber classical music. We found newspapers and read then voraciously.
So 9-11 will always have a bit of a dislocation for us - a distance. We didn't know any one impacted. We loathed Dubya and all surrounding him and felt he was in office due to election theft/manipulation, and were quite surprised at all of the "unity" statements - no one we knew felt any better about Dubya. We felt it was a tragic event, of course. But we weren't here to sit in front of the TV and soak in all of the I suspect non-stop coverage. We had a lovely 10 days in Ireland, saw lots of our daughter, fell in love with Dingle and Kinsale and so many other places.
Getting home was interesting with the highly increased, visible security. It was a relief to get back to my parents, and our daughter. It became all that was talked about when I got back to work. There were the typical range of opinions.
I will always think of 9-11 as an event that led to so many errors, so much erosion of our freedoms, personal privacy - and to so much profit for the various cottage industries that took advantage of it all. I am a skeptic/cynic by nature, and what has happened since 9-11 really hasn't surprised me at all.
So - this post is really the most I've thought about the event all day. It will soon be dinner - there is a Red Sox game - prior to that we will watch an episode of Silent Witness. No TV, no recaps, no further thoughts. On with life we go. But, my, has our plight in the US gotten worse since then - thanks to republican politicians, right wing hate media, republican presidents, and all of the assholes who call themselves republicans.
elleng
(130,126 posts)I/we lived in DC, husb and I were driving into town/our offices when we heard the 'news.'
Remember Bush's proposed 'missile defense?' As the 2d plane hit its NYC target, I said 'so much for missile defense.'
ProfessorGAC
(64,413 posts)They suspended all flights about 15 minutes before boarding.
It was during that suspension that the 2nd plane hit. I saw it on the little TV at the newsstand.
I just picked my stuff & headed to the car. I knew we weren't going anywhere that day.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)to PA, and from PA to DC. We spent the night in D.C. Coming home Sept10th we decided not to stop in NY, where we both grew up. Just went on home. Got up the next day, turned on the tv and wtf.
Scrivener7
(50,773 posts)kind of came to an unspoken agreement that we didn't want to watch it in real life any more.
We came down from the roof and watched it on a TV in the school library. (We were all school personnel, but none of us were teachers.)
We saw the second building get hit on TV. We were all sitting in chairs in kind of a semicircle around the TV and when we looked away from the TV after the second building went down, we had all somehow come to a kneeling position in front of our chairs.
MANative
(4,105 posts)MiniMe
(21,676 posts)We could see the smoke coming from the Pentagon out the window. They stupidly had the Metro shut down briefly, I ended up catching a ride home with a friend. So weird, not a plane in the sky. Took forever to get home.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,450 posts)I was washing up breakfast dishes.
My ex was at home too doing work.
He was hemming and hawing if he wanted to go into the office or not.
There was a window in the wall in the kitchen by the sink that led into the livingroom so I could watch tv while puttering in the kitchen.
Then his boss called him ,told us to turn on the news. I turned it on and saw the tower go down. I was shocked. He was too as we looked at the screen. After a few minutes his boss told him to take the day off.
We watched the coverage all day.
My ex looked at the time on the laptop,he figured if he drove into work like usual he could have been hit by the plane that hit the pentagon. He drove on the road past the pentagon every morning at the time the plane hit.
Later
We went to a buffet for lunch. We could see the tv from our booth.
It was so quiet in the restraunt it was spooky.
Then we went home.