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<p>Yes. I had forgotten that.</p>
<p>We are on the flight path for commercial aircraft, but I don’t normally notice the planes. But in the days after 9/11, I did notice that we never saw or heard them. All I heard were military aircraft, which fly so high that you can’t see them, and the sound is different. Weird. </p>
<p>We are also on the flight path for the helicopters that go back and forth between DC and Camp David. But it was a while until that started happening again.</p>
<p>To this day, I can’t bear the sound of circling helicopters or prolonged sirens. It takes me right back to the horrors we experienecd in NYC that day. And it’s funny who small things that had slipped out of my conscious mind will come back at the strangest times.</p>
<p>For months, everytime I heard or saw a plane fly over midtown NYC, I panicked. </p>
<p>I had been on the Hershey’s earnings call when suddenly CNBC (typical background TV for all trading desks) switched to a view of Tower 1 with flames pouring out. The call was nearly done, so I hung up and called my neighbor who was in Tower 1 in '93 and walked down 50+ flights of stairs. We were talking when the second plane hit. We ended the call quickly, as we both realized this was not an accident. I’m glad I spoke with her, as all phone circuits (land & call) were busy after 9:30ish and my nanny was frantic she couldn’t reach us, but the neighbor went over and reassured her we were OK. </p>
<p>After the second plane hit, one of the guys on our trading desk said “everyone call your parents and spouses to tell them your OK”. This was a great suggestion, as my mom knew I regularly attended meetings at WTC and used to teach for a industry group based there.</p>
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<p>I don’t think that is true.</p>
<p>9/11 change our lives as surely and deeply as anyone in the NY/NJ area. It completely changed our lives as a military family, beginning with the plane that killed friends in the Pentagon and continuing to this day in the wars that 9/11 spawned.</p>
<p>I agree with RobD’s statment, but for different reasons, “Not watching any of it. Can’t. Got to watch it live from my kids school in NJ. Don’t need to see it again because it’s burned in my memory forever.”</p>
<p>My husband passed away suddenly less than one month before 9/11. I watched the coverage that morning, but could not bring myself to watch it again, was already in much grief.</p>
<p>I plan to avoid the media events (including newspaper articles) about the 10th anniversary. I am participatin in the Danskin Triathlon in Sandy Hook NJ on Sunday morning and will gaze over lower Manhattan as I biking and running in my own personal tributes to a close friend, along with a church member and business contacts that were killed. </p>
<p>It took me a while to get over losing the buildings themselves. I watched them built as a child as we drove along the NJ Turnpike to visit my family in CT, taught in WTC1 for several years and came through the PATH station daily for the 5+ years I worked in lower Manhattan. My kids also were thrilled with the buildings. We have countless family pictures taken in Liberty State Park (NJ) with them in the background. </p>
<p>I just noticed last week the new tower has reached over the Hudson County ‘hills’, such that I can see it on my daily train ride through ‘the swamps of Jersey’.</p>
<p>I remember being so full of shock and anger that I couldn’t cry at all on Tuesday. It was on Wednesday, after dinner, that the tears finally came.</p>
<p>All these new shows will have advertising – that’s what I was referring to (not the original programming that aired live). I still feel the same – if you were there in any way shape or form that day, you don’t need to see it again to remember it, and all these networks producing their version of 9/11, the movie, are doing it mostly to make money. </p>
<p>Here’s a horrible side effect – you see headlines like this and think it’s about 9/11:
[Burning</a> Man photo snapped from Earth’s orbit - CSMonitor.com](<a href=“http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0906/Burning-Man-photo-snapped-from-Earth-s-orbit]Burning”>Burning Man photo snapped from Earth's orbit - CSMonitor.com)</p>
<p>guys? I promise I mean no offense when I ask this, but it’s a legitimate question, I actually don’t understand it. why does everyone make such a big deal about 9/11? many countries are often bombed and genocide and murder takes place everyday. awful things happen. why is 9/11 different?</p>
<p>^^If for no other reason than that we are a continental nation and had collectively believed the distance across the oceans would protect us – at least in the homeland.</p>
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<p>because 9/11 brought the fight to the continental US. Sure, bombings do happen, but many in the US thought that we were safe here. 9/11 showed all of us that this was not the case.</p>
<p>Obviously there are terrible things in the world, but it is undeniably different when the terrible things are happening to you and to people you know.</p>
<p>People are actively trying to kill us. This reality could no longer be ignored.</p>
<p>Truth be told, the US got too confident. The “we are safe” mentality is a bunch of you know what. Had the US invested more time and effort into keeping an eye on things (if you will), something like this would never happen.</p>
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<p>I don’t get this - why would people think this headline referred to 9/11.</p>
<p>“I remember just looking up in the sky and not seeing any airplanes for days.”</p>
<p>My husband flew one of the first planes in the air after 9/11 (airline pilot). He said it was unbelieveably quiet, as only two carriers were flying. Very bizarre. They had a jumpseater, who was a mechanic from the Middle East. He said they were a little uncomfortable initially, but the guy was so friendly and self conscious that they felt sorry for him.</p>
<p>“why is 9/11 different?”</p>
<p>It is completely different when terrible things are happening to people you don’t know, halfway around the world…and when it’s happening to people that you do. In one case, it is very sad and disheartening, the other case sends an uncontrollable amount of grief into your heart. It is far more personal. Wouldn’t you feel a different level of grief and horror if something happened to a friend or family member, as opposed to a story about some random person you would never know? Even for those who didn’t know people who were killed, probably know people who do. Or have spent time in NYC, seeing it is the center of the universe for the US.</p>
<p>It has taken me a couple days before I wanted to respond to the following query: “Why is 9/11 different?” </p>
<p>The events of 9/11 happened here on our homeland and in our backyard. This was not some attack on a military base or against our soldiers it was an attack against our citizens, our family and our friends. This event was responsible for America forever looking over our shoulders and never feeling safe or trusting again. We as Americans never felt this level of fear or mistrust and for that reason alone we will never be the same. </p>
<p>Here in America we did’nt worry about events like this because this type of horror is not in our making. This is the behavior of animals that have no understanding of freedom or pride. The people who perpetrated this action were cowards and we were the target of their warped minds. So to asnwer your question 9/11 is different because America is different. Now, I hope that answers your question that others have very nicely tried to explain.</p>
<p>There were untold heroic acts that day of which we will never hear, but this one has been documented, and it does help remind us of humanity’s nobler qualities:</p>
<p>[Man</a> In The Red Bandanna - ESPN Video - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6929979]Man”>http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6929979)</p>
<p>Skyhook (#22), I was old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination, and the others that followed. It left a mark. Just yesterday I was watching footage of Obama speaking outdoors in Detroit, and feeling anxious because I saw a large parking structure with lots of sniper locations right near him.</p>
<p>momma-three, your story gave me chills. Thank you for posting it.</p>
<p>poetsheart, I was in a state similar to what you describe. Our local school decided to stay open, knowing that many families would be directly affected and unable to deal with their children. I spent the day watching TV and trying to find out about people I knew who worked in the area. At the end of the day I had no memory of what I watched, but I did have an awful headache. Phones were not working, except that my mother somehow managed to get a call through. </p>
<p>The next morning, I dropped the kids at school at went to CVS. I ran into two male friends/neighbors. One of them had been working the previous day in the second tower to fall. He told us about his experiences. He was clearly still in shock, had made it out with his staff only because he ignored the PA announcements telling people to stay put. </p>
<p>I knew several people with relatives who died in the towers or on the planes. A number of people here lost their jobs in the months following, and some people made major changes in their lives. </p>
<p>The day still has an otherworldly feeling for me. I remember the bright, Kodachrome blue sky without a cloud, and the eerie peace of the streets here, 30 mins from Grand Central. No one was out.</p>
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My DH was in the Pentagon on 9/11 not far from where the plane hit. I would like to note the brave people at the Pentagon, who went back to work in a burning building on September 12. They wanted to show the world that although we were injured, we were not afraid.</p>
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Yes, that is what I remember most about 9/11: the day was surreal. After DH made it home, friends & family called or stopped by our house; they had to touch DH or hear his voice to believe that he was safe. It was a day when the unbelievable was real.</p>
<p>Post #82…I am in tears.</p>