5 years ago today....

LongIslandPiney

Explorer
Jan 11, 2006
484
0
I know this may be far from the quiet peace of the pines, but I feel it is important to bring this up. Where were you on Septemeber 11, 2001? I was just waking up, in a rather difficult time in my life since I had lost my mother the year before and just trying to adjust. I didn't have cable at the time, and relied on over the air (TV antenna) reception. A friend called me and said the World Trade Center was on fire. I didn't believe it, and turned on the TV and found only channel 2 was on the air (they had a back-up transmitter at Empire State Building). This was a time when I wasn't really all that into going to the pines, I was much more of a city person, and frequented New York City, especially the World Trade Center, frequently. In fact, if I hadn't been feeling ill that day, I was going to go to New York and pick up a copy of a book that I had my eye on in the Borders store in the World Trade Center mall. At first I thought it was just an accident, maybe a pilot lost control of his plane. When the 2nd plane hit I knew it was an attack, and the beginning of a war. I was thinking...how are they going to put the fire out, and rescue all those people. When the south tower collapsed I felt like I was gonna throw up. I almost did. How could such a huge structure just collapse and turn to dust, taking thousands of lives with it? I knew it was only a matter of time before the north tower fell, and then watched it fall live on TV. For the first time seasoned newspeople were just silent, nobody could say anything.
I couldn't sleep at all that night. I mean...what kind of piece of scum would want to kill all those innocent hard working people and detroy a wonder of the world?
I avoided the city for months, and never really grew to enjoy it again. The World Trade Center was the main place in the city I went. Without it, there really wasn't any other area I could get into. People were scared, and there were alot of restrictions trying to get around the city. In a way, it was responsible for getting me into exploring nature instead. The pine barrens felt much safer for me, and I didn't have to deal with fear and restrictions.
Now it's been 5 years. I was fortunate not to lose anyone I know in the attacks, but I still feel the loss. A part of New York was destroyed. And that gap in the skyline still remains. Unfortunately, the powers that be, still do not want to build the World Trade Center as it was. I feel building anything less than 2 110 story steel towers is an insult to our spirit. How can we allow such animals to take a piece of New York away? We built them then, and we can build them again. This time with the superior technology to make them stronger and safer.
We sadly cannot bring back those lost, but we can bring back a part of New York.
 
When I was getting ready for work (a little bit before 9am), I remember hearing an airplane go over my house REALLY low (so much so that the windows rattled). When I got to work, one of my co-workers said that the WTC was hit by an airplane. We tuned in one of the local Philly tv stations on the service department tv set and pretty much everyone in the Ford dealership watched in horrified fasination. It was very quiet all day; I remember watching the sign in front of the dealership getting replaced. no one was motivated to do anything, everyone was in shock. The only sale all day was some guy who came in to buy out his leased vehicle. The numbed effect lasted most of the week.
 

woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,344
333
Near Mt. Misery
My wife was working in NYC about 30 blocks away when it hit. She called me and said turn on the TV I heard a plane crashed into the WTC. After turning on the TV with my wife on the phone the truth became more and more apparent, the second plane, the pentagon, we were under attack!! She said everyone was freaking out. The last I spoke to my wife she was headed to the bridge to walk to Jersey. Then my sister called and my brother was missing. He was supposed to have been in the tower that day. So for most of the day I thought my brother was dead or in the tower and i wasn't sure where my wife was (but I knew she was pretty safe). My brother made contact with us that evening. He did not go to the towers but was stuck in traffic with no cell phone service.

The whole thing was so surreal. So weird, it felt like it wasn't happening. You know, despite everything that was going on I remember being aware of the historical significance the day was going to have.

Jeff
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,957
8,704
I was getting a colonoscopy. You have to have someone drive you there and bring you home, so my wife was taking me to my moms and my brother was going to spend the day with me. My wife drove home and heard it on the radio and called me at my moms to turn the TV on.

We watched until it was time to go and at the doctors office he said to me that I would never forget the day. It is hard to forget both of those experiences.

BTW, did anyone watch Peter Jennings that day? Now I always tuned to his channel, but on that day he really was pathetic. He was so busy talking to someone else, that the first tower fell and he missed it. He wasn't on camera, just talking to someone about the events and must have not been watching the monitor. We were yelling at him at my moms house to shut up and get with it. Finally, someone said something to him and he basically said "what did I miss". From then on I stopped watching him.

Guy
 

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,828
3,010
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
I decided to spend 9/11/01 at home catching up on a design project. I was busy drafting on the computer and thinking how much I would get done at home with no interruptions. I was also keeping an eye on my e-mail from work, and noticed an odd one saying that our boss told people they could go home if they were upset by the news from NYC. I had no idea what that meant, so I turned on the TV just before the first tower fell and watched in horror for awhile.

After getting over my initial shock and calling some people, I took the rest of the day off, went into the pines and hiked down the Batsto. I remember thinking how this would change our lives forever, but nature was carrying on just like it always had.
 

LARGO

Piney
Sep 7, 2005
1,553
134
54
Pestletown
I was at work, and my wife called frantic about the first report and was in hysterics as she watched the second occur live while speaking to me. I couldn't quite grasp it. It had to be a mistake. Then the phones lit up in my work and everyone was getting the same. I don't really have the right words to describe the feel of those moments.
No, nothing was to be the same.
 
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