9/11/2001 - Never Forget

[Rukario]

The September 11 attacks (called September 11, September 11th or 9/11), were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists from the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets.

The hijackers intentionally crashed two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; both towers collapsed within two hours.

Hijackers crashed a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

A fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania before it could reach its intended target in Washington, D.C. after the passengers attempted to take control.

Nearly 3,000 died in the attacks.

So that we can remember and honor those that gave their lives, I have created this post and this image (click for full size):


Lets hear your thoughts, see your remembrance art, and the like..

Please comment on this post with your feelings and thoughts on 9/11 and what it means to you and yours.

[ChaosSonic]

Firstly, good job on the OP.

Well, I was young on that day, and while I did feel scared that day, I soon brushed it off as a sign on me being naive to it all... Growing up I've began to learn about that heinous attack on my hometown and felt more proud to be an American because of it, spirituality stronger as one nation. As of this writing today is that day; so my condolences go out to the families and loved ones affected.

Never Forget.

[OokamiReki]

I personally know someone whose dad was almost killed during the attack. 9/11 will never be forgotten and will always be remembered as the most tragic loss in the U.S. However, with all of the sacrifices made from those trying to save lives, and the others who have lost theirs, the U.S has since documented countless stories on the events that happened during that day. It will forever be passed down through generations of U.S citizens, so that all may remember 9/11.

Thank you to all of the heroes and victims of 9/11, and for the fallen, may your souls rest in peace forever.

[AWsquared]

I can't believe it's been 11 years already. I was only 9 when it happened and in 3rd grade. I remember I was running late for school that day and going into my little brother's classroom to watch the news on TV. Although I was shocked at the time, it still didn't phase me how big of a deal it really was. I remember there was nothing else but coverage about it on every channel on TV and even a week later, there was still tons of coverage. I was annoyed that they wouldn't stop talking about, but didn't understand how tragic it really was.

Now I realize how much of an impact it put on our country and how much it affected everything from the economy to the amount of security we now go through at the airport or even just at the store.

So many people's lives were affected by the terrorist that day and it definitely made us grow as a country. Thanks to all the heroes and the victims who are now safe from harm.

We will always remember 9/11 and never forget.


Side note: Really good OP there. The picture is wonderful. I'm not sure if I can make my own art, it depends on how much time I have today. If I can I will and post it here.

[Leaf Storm]

11 years is...wow, and yet the pain from a 10-year-old Megan is still there inside me.

I was clueless and didn't know what was going on that day, didn't think it was a big deal. But as the news and the media didn't stop covering it, I realized it was something huge and watching the clips over and over makes me cry on the inside, let alone brings me to tears.

We shall never forget.

[Cirno]

Can't believe it's already been 11 years! I remember seeing all of this unfold outside my school window, living in NY and all. Didn't quite understand what was going on at that age, but it's really surprising to look back on things now and realize what was actually occurring right out in the neighboring borough.

Never forget!

[DarkAlucard]

I was on the school when the news bring the notice (I was 15 years old). Everyone in my class, were shocked when saw the broadcasted scenes on television. It seemed like a joke, but it was the sad truth. Although I disagree with how commercial has been handled this tragedy, I join the families who lost a loved one on that lamentable day. Rest in peace. Never forget....

Note: Sorry about my bad english, isn't my native language...

[Cosmotone8]

I can't believe that its been 11 years already. I wasn't old enough to remember the attacks, but looking back it brings tears to my eyes.
NEVER FORGET

[rpg man]

My brother Died in this....:`(

Don't remind me....

Oh oh...#11 post...

[Suicune™]

Time does fly... it's astonishing that it has actually been 11 years, Never Forget.

[Spherical Ice]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

All this talk on the Internet is glorifying acts done by Muslims. I wonder what Muslims think about what happened eleven years ago.

Are you seriously suggesting that the entirety of the Islamic community collectively planned to do something? I don't want to start a flame war, but I think that's a rather...well, dumb thing to say.

I send my condolonces to the families of those who died in 9/11.

[Fire Flyy]

Truly a sad moment in American History, it's a shame that the power of hate can be so potent. Condolences to the families of the victims, many of whom showed what it truly meant to be a hero. Seeing this on TV as a 5 year old was truly beyond my belief.

[ZachLMedia]

This was certainly a tragic accident and of course it should never be forgotten.. in fact, my AP US History textbook last year from ca. 2003 or so already went up to the 9/11 attacks!

I was only 6 years old when it happened, and being in 1st grade (and elementary school), I had no idea what was going on.. that could have been different had I have been in middle or high school. It wasn't until I got home to watch the local news with my parents that evening to finding out what happened.

My condolences go out to those of you on PC with connections to people who died in such a tragic accident. We will certainly never forget this day.

[Yuki's Sword]

This was certainly a tragedy... I was in preschool when it happened so I didn't know anything about it. But as I got older I learned about it and honestly what happened that day was terrible and I won't forget what I learned about it...

Never forget 9/11... never forget the amount of lives that were lost and most importantly never forget about the Twin Towers or the World Trade Center...

[AzaleaLightning]

Kudos, OP. This is a really great thread, considering how much blatant disrespect I've seen regarding 9/11 this year and last year.

Even on The Today Show, absolute shame.

I was too young to understand it (I had just turned 8) but that doesn't mean we shouldn't acknowledge it.

[Bloodex]

Rest in peace, victims of September 11.

I'm actually crying now. I wrote this in my blog, a tribute. I hope it's not against the rules, I'm so sorry if it is. But I want people to read it.


Never forget. Please.

[Shining Raichu]

Wow, eleven years. It was already 5pm in America by the time I found out, since it all happened while I was asleep. I woke up at 7:10am on September 12th here in Australia, just like I did on any day and I walked out of my room into the hall and saw my mother in the living room watching TV. This was unlike her, usually she would wake me up at 7am on the dot and be frantically rushing around to get us ready for school, but she was just standing there mesmerised by what happened.

I was 10 years old at the time... that's weird to think about too. I'd never even heard of the World Trade Center or the Twin Towers or anything like that before that day. I'd probably seen them in the skyline on wide shots of New York City in the rom-com movie I watched, but I'd never really given them much thought. Mum kept my sister and I both home from school that day, partly so we could watch history unfold and partly because everything was uncertain and she was scared to let us leave the house. If people in Australia were being kept home out of fear, I can't imagine what it must have been like not only in New York, but all across America.

There was glare on the TV so we closed the blinds and were watching it in silence then all of a sudden we heard this horrible loud engine noise. Mum jumped up immediately and looked out the window expecting to see a plane flying at our house or something (lmao, they bomb the World Trade Center and my house) but it was just the garbage truck. It was a Tuesday I think; the garbage man always comes on Tuesday.

For weeks afterward, I was getting updates every day when Mum picked me up from school. I remember one time she told me about another building collapsing in a delayed reaction from the aftershock. Then there were the conspiracy theories and people coming out of the woodwork with prophecies they'd apparently written which would foresaw the event happening. I remember the phrase "two brothers will fall" from one of the TV shows talking about that. There was even one conspiracy involving the Wingdings font - something about how if you spelled out the date in Wingdings it illustrated what happened? (I just tried it out then but that didn't work... though I swear when I tried it at the time it worked perfectly and freaked me out) I don't remember all the details anymore, and I'm kind of glad I don't.

I also remember them getting all the classes together at school and telling us that we all had no reason to be afraid and explaining to us that Australia was in no danger. I don't even know if they knew that for sure at the time, but they seemed pretty convinced so it put my mind at ease...

I think that's all I remember. The TV coverage went on for weeks, basically livestreaming Ground Zero and the recovery effort. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and walking out to find my parents watching it. It's weird to think about now.

Anyway, I'll never forget. They said we'd never forget where we were when we heard the news (kind of like with Princess Diana) and I scoffed at the time but they were right. To everybody who died in the attacks, rest in peace.

[Lightning]

This is the first year in a while that I've actually thought about 9/11 past "oh, it's the week before the anniversary... guess that's why every single channel has nonstop specials about it". My mom was watching a documentary about ATCs last night and there was some new (?) voice recordings and transcripts of traffic controllers interacting with NORAD trying to get a handle on the situation. It was ridiculously heartbreaking to hear the communication breakdown (since they simply were not equipped to deal with the situation--and why would they have ever conceived it??) and it was just... I dunno. So uncomfortably tragic. I try to avoid specials and documentaries and dramas about the day for this reason. I don't handle it well.

I still remember the day quite clearly and I can so vividly remember staring out the window every time I heard a plane that day once I got home from school. I was home alone for a few hours and I was so scared that something would go wrong with one of the flights I could see and that something might happen to my parents before they got home. Kind of ridiculous considering it was hours later and nothing else had really happened (and neither of my parents worked in tall or important buildings [and we didn't live anywhere near NYC or even the US, really]) but I was twelve at the time and that really shook my idea that North America was undeniably a 100% safe place to live. I don't feel the same way anymore and I know that was a freak occurrence but despite my young age, I think I'll always remember that day, how I found out, and how I felt. It's weird to me to think that I commonly interact (here or elsewhere on the internet--less so in real life) with people for whom the date doesn't really have a special meaning... that they were too young to remember anything significant about the day or hadn't even come into existence yet. It's kind of surreal, in a way, since it impacted society so greatly in the years following.

The day was scary and terrifying and has had a severe impact on Western society since then, but a lot of--well, I don't want to say "good" but let's just go with "interesting" (although it is not the word I am looking for)--things came out of it too. Hear me out. When the order came to get all flights grounded or out of US airspace, every overseas flight well on its way to the US was redirected to Canada or Mexico. I lived in Halifax on September 11, 2001. Of all the Canadian airports, Halifax took in the largest number of rerouted planes. We may not have had the ridiculous population surge that Gander, NFLD had (town of 10k took in about 6.6k passengers!) but there were a lot of people that had to be accomodated. Many families opened their homes to random strangers who had nowhere to stay. Had I been older, my family would have done the same but (my mom told me today) the one reason we didn't was because I was only twelve at the time and as aforementioned, I was home alone between school hours and my parents' arrival and little kid + strangers in house... well, I can understand why we didn't, though I wish we had. One of the neighbourhood moms went around asking for donations, though. A lot of families put in about $50 each and she went out and did a mass grocery shop to take food and necessities to the hundreds of people camped out in gymnasiums or other makeshift shelters. The idea that so many families could, at the drop of a hat, open their homes or wallets to help out stranded individuals who were there essentially by accident still makes me happy. I may not be a huge fan of the US all the time (or even most of the time!) but I really appreciate the relationship Canada and the US have and that's one of my favourite examples of our countries inspiring great deeds and stories together. I don't want this to seem like a "YAY CANADA" post since that seems weird and inappropriate on this day but I kind of just wanted to give an international perspective from someone in a city who was quite tangentially connected to the disaster. In a lot of ways, 9/11 really brought a lot of countries together in sympathy and horror and everything in-between. It wasn't just a disaster that happened to America... the whole world felt it as well and every country will remember this date along with the US.

I don't normally talk about 9/11 at all. For the most part I "got over it" many years ago since honestly, it didn't affect me directly or anything but this year is kind of different. Might be because it's the first one I've spent with my family in quite a few years or maybe it's just because we were watching that documentary last night but I don't think I've thought about it or reflected on it in a very, very long time otherwise.

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu

There was even one conspiracy involving the Wingdings font - something about how if you spelled out the date in Wingdings it illustrated what happened? (I just tried it out then but that didn't work... though I swear when I tried it at the time it worked perfectly and freaked me out) I don't remember all the details anymore, and I'm kind of glad I don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingdings#Controversy

Sort of but not really. I believe it's since been changed to offset the negative rumours.







...I still think these threads belong in Other Chat rather than Announcements though. :P

[Hikari10]

Wow, 11 years ago this terrible event happened.

I feel so sorry for all those who were killed in the disaster and I was only 9 at the time of the actual event so I did feel a little scared.

May they rest in peace.

[Curious.]

Time's gone so fast. 11 years is a looong time, but I know, that I'll definitely not be forgetting those who were lost and I send my condolences to all that have suffered as a result of this tragic event.

[Rodriguezjames55]

Im so lucky my uncle works by their and their was no damage (aside from the twins )
i didn't know what was going on i was 5 Now were paranoid about terrorist in NYC

[Sector Revenge]

I'm astonished that this happened the same year Dale Earnhardt had that horrific crash in NASCAR back in February of 2001. 2001 was just a terrible, terrible year for us, Americans. At the time I thought the world was really ending, don't mind me, I was only 11 ha. I witnessed both of these events, neither will be forgotten & were extremely touching to the heart. Security has been tighter now than it was back then due to this. Prayers are being sent out to the victim's families. Hope all has moved on to a happier life rather than stuck in a dark place....for 11 years...is a long time.

[AlexTheRose]

It was a really big tragedy. But I also think it was an unnecessary one. I'd rather not go on about it, but I really think there's something bigger behind no wreckage in the Pennsylvania field (just a big hole), and the lampposts in the Pentagon still standing (there being a missile-like hole barely big enough for a plane cabin to fit in).

Not to say I don't honor their deaths - it was a really big thing that happened there. I kinda feel it didn't have to happen :(.

EDIT: My sis was born the day after in 2001. There :).

[-Lapras-]

Remembrance threads for the infinite number of ground zeros inflicted by America on foreign soil when?

Of course it's sad though.

[Rodriguezjames55]

Originally Posted by -Lapras-

Remembrance threads for the infinite number of ground zeros inflicted by America on foreign soil when?

Of course it's sad though.

This is a memorial thread unless you don't have respect for the dead say that in another thread