?Never forget what happened on this day 12 years ago. It seems everybody knew what they were doing at the time of this horrible event. I was still a child, but?I can remember this. My mother was crying her eyes out, and my dad was so overwhelmed. We didn't have any family members in the towers at the time though. One of my best friends was supposed to be on one of the planes that hit the towers. I didn't believe him at first, but he brought me something one day that soon changed my mind. The plane ticket.

If you can remember what you were doing when you heard the?news, post it here. If any of your family members were in the towers at the time, we shall remember them forevermore. Never forget.

It's so strange... our school made an announcement about this today, but they started it off with "Something important happened today 12 years ago..."  My mind immediately started wondering what historical event the school could have faced that long ago, and as the announcements continued, they spoke of 9/11.  That hit me rather hard.  I sat there and blinked for a few moments.  It's been TWELVE years already?  I could hardly believe it, as it -certainly- doesn't feel that long ago to me!   Then my mind started roaming and I realized that everyone in my room had been 2 or 3 years old when it occurred.  For them, it's not a memory.... it's an event they've been told about.

It was kind of strange to sit there and realize for the first time, that the people around me didn't know it like I did.  I remember when it first happened, thinking about the far future... how I'd be one of those grandparents to say  "Yep, see that event in your textbooks?  I was a teenager when it happened."  We are often awed by listening to our elders recount such big events, and I was just amazed by the idea that it would happen to MY generation. I think that's why it stunned me so much when I thought of it today.  I don't really consider myself all that removed from my students because I started teaching so young, so I was able to view things from a completely new perspective today.

Do I remember what I was doing?  Of course I do!  I had just moved from Alaska to Oregon, and it was my freshmen year of high school. It was the second week of school, and I was in gym class. The gym was this really oblong, white room that didn't really fit the proportions of most school gyms, and there were TV's in the hall next to it.  I remember sitting down for the coaches to take roll, and the kids were whispering about the Pentagon. Never having been strong in history or politics, I had absolutely no idea what the Pentagon was, much less the twin towers. The intercom came on and I could barely hear what was said, but they did mention the event.  As I listened to the kids around me, I got the gist that our country was being attacked.

Even thinking about that now, my throat chokes up.  For most of you who have only heard about the incident... those of you who are younger... you'll never know the emotion associated with that day.  To you, it's a big event on the pages of a textbook. To me, it's an emotion which carries terror, pain, uncertainty, and loss.  Our coaches didn't do anything but stand and talk to each other for the next hour while the kids talked about it among themselves in hushed whispers. The school hallways were eerily quiet as kids rushed from one class to the next, and when I got home, my mother was crying.

My mother never cried over the news.  Like us kids, she had no interest in politics or the goings on of the world, so when we saw her sitting on the couch and crying, we were even more frightened.  She gathered us in a hug, sobbing and telling us how much she loved us.  The day was full of silent mourning for thousands of people we didn't know.

Later that year, I saw a picture in a Reader's Digest.  I still have it.  It was taken around 9/11, and it shows a 3 or 4 year old blond little girl. She's sitting on her adult brother's shoulders, lifting both hands into the air, and in one hand is a small American flag.  Behind her and her brother are a crowd of crying people, and this little girl is looking up at the sky with tears in her eyes.  The photo still makes me cry to this day. I wrote a poem that was completely inspired by that photo, and I consider it one of my best.  I hope to have the photo framed with the poem one day, because I don't think any other photo has touched me as strongly.

Now excuse me while I go take a moment and wipe my cheeks dry....

Oxydeous :
goodboy :

Wow... those are some amazing miracles...

I barely remember that day. I would have been 4 as well, and we were living in Canada at the time. From the moment I was old enough to understand, I've always been thankful to the amazing people who did what they could to help. I will forever remember 9/11, and I'm very happy Osama paid with his life.

I was 3 at the time that this happened. It was indeed a long time ago and I barely remember it because I was so little. It has been 12 years since that day. I can only imagine what it must be like in 50 years or 100, sort of like the titanic's 100th anniversary, I wonder how people will celebrate and remember this event in history. Anyways I am glad that you dedicated a thread to this, I think it is only appropriate that someone did the honors.


I wasn't even in school yet when this happened, I was a toddler pretty much, but at the time I didn't think much of it, only because I was so small! But I can imagine how I would react to seeing it happen if I was older. I would've been in shock. My parents were watching this on the news and being a kid I didn't think much of it, but their facial expressions said it all and I knew something was wrong. We had just moved to Fredericksburg  Virginia when this happened actually, in that same year. So I was the only child and then my sister was born a month later. So it had been a good chunk of my life ago when this happened. Let us remember the importance of this day and let it forever be remembered....Let those 3,000 people be remembered....

I was only two years old at the time, so I don't remember any of it. I would like to share a poem that my history teacher showed me though. I DID NOT WRITE IT.

Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven
Author unknown, believed to be Paul Spreadbury

Two thousand one, nine eleven.
Five thousand plus arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait.

A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying,
"Let's sit, let's chat."

They settle down in seats of clouds.
A man named Martin shouts out proud,
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The Newcomers said, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki and green then say,
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine!"
The Newcomers said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear,
"The only thing we have to fear ..."
The Newcomers said, "We know the rest,
trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves,
You can't bury freedom in a grave."
The Newcomers had heard this voice before.
A distinct Yankee's twang from Hyannisport shores.

A silence fell within the mist.
Somehow the Newcomers knew that this
Meant time had come for them to say
What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day.

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports,
Worked our gardens, sang our songs,
Went to church and clipped coupons.

We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought.
Unlike you, great we're not."

The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see!
You died for freedom, just like me!"

Then before them all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams.
Death, destruction, smoke, and dust
And people working just 'cause they must.

Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell.
But not alone!

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene,
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze.
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '44.

The man on sticks studied everything closely.
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw. "Mostly
I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow - but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives,
Daughters and sons, and so many lives
are suffering now because of this wrong.
But look very closely. You're not really gone.

"All of those people, even those who've never met you,
All of their lives, they'll never forget you!
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one!"

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said,
"Take my hand," and from there he led
five thousand plus heroes, Newcomers, to heaven.
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven.

I did copy and paste it, so some of the text might get messed up.

tgags123 : Wow.. that's much better than the poem I wrote.  That made me cry... thanks so much for sharing!!!  Agggh... now I have to go wipe my cheeks again!

God bless those harmed and/or killed in the event.

I was a machine gunner in the Marines and we simply went down to supply to change out our woodland BDUs for desert.  We started training immediately following that for desert combat.

No one from my familiy have been killed during the event.but god bless whoever died.

Its a pity to this day that organisations and even nations think its ok to target civillians, id happily hang them all.

tgags123 : How could you be only two years old 11 years ago, and you are 30? Strange...


But, anyways, it has been a few days since 9/11, too bad I did not find this thread earlier. God bless all injured and/or killed.

DittoDude44 : I'm 14. I thought you knew? I already told Geeo and he said it's not a big deal.

Eniitan : One thing that still gets me is how people from other countries were affected by this. It is sad that pretty bad things happen in other places, and it usually doesn't hit Americans very hard. They see it, think "that is really sad. I feel bad for them", but it doesn't really hit them. Then you hear that there are tears and nationwide news coverage in other countries when something really bad happens here. Not saying all Americans are like that, but I just don't see devastation in most people when something happens in other countries. We can learn from England.

But anyway, I was 13 years old. I was in my Civics class at the time. My civics classroom had 3 couches and students rotated weekly on who got to sit in the couches as their assigned seat. It was my week to sit on the couches. My science teacher came into the room and said to turn the news on. Pretty much the rest of that day was shot as far as school goes. No lessons took place. We were actually on lock down. Now, I live in Kansas, which is FAR from New York. But we were on lock down in the event that anyone out of the building might have gone crazy during this time. We could hear police sirens blaring constantly as they patrolled the city to make sure that this event didn't drive anyone to do something drastic. That was scary. But the news was on for the whole school day. Police blocked off the school zones after school to make sure kids could get on the buses safely as there were quite a few car accidents due to hysterical drivers. Most buses were followed by police cars as well.

rcarter2 :  Wow.. that really does sound quite scary.  I remember how everyone was affected, but I was also in Oregon at the time, so although we might have been on lockdown, I certainly don't remember that being the case.  I can't imagine being locked inside all day and listening to the sirens and knowing people were doing crazy stuff.  I never even considered people having car wrecks due to being in hysterics...

That's really moving. (Not in a good way.)

i was 20 years old at the time.  i was working from 730am to 4 pm at the time.  i woke up that morning and turned on my  tv to watch my morning show, but something was telling me to turn it to cnn.  when i did i couldnt believe what i had seen.  the first tower was smoking.  then on live tv the second tower was hit.  about an hour later they were getting reports of the pentagon hit.  they got footage of it and thats was the kick in the head for me.  due to this horrible attack my uncle jumped out of a window of the first tower.  now i pray for the one who lost friends and family  that day.

Singelli : In response to your first post here when you mentioned the younger kids who may have been alive but not knowing the feeling. That is very true. But something that someone brought up a couple days ago. Our grandparent's thought the same thing about our parents about JFK. After 1963, all the adults could tell you where they were when JFK was shot. 38 years later, all the adults can tell you where they were when the towers were hit. Scary to think about what is going to be the next event that everyone remembers where they were when it happened.