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With the anniversary of 9-11 less than a week away we’re preparing a special post on ToR. We’ve always made a post for 9-11 on ToR but this year, with the ten year anniversary, we thought we’d ask you guys to share your stories with us and we’ll post them all in a special post on the anniversary of 9-11.
9-11 affected us all. We’d like to hear your stories, where were you when it happened? How did it affect or change your life? E-mail us your stories at thinkingofrob@hotmail.com and we’ll post them. Hoping to hear from many of you around the world. If you want to make a pic edit or send us your pics of 9-11 / ground zero send them in too, we’ll post them as well.
Thinking of Rob 
I remember being at work on 9/11. Somebody called in and told us to turn the television on. What we saw was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. It almost didn’t look real. I mean, who could have thought that something like that could happen here? It was so disturbing…everyone was crying. Nobody really knew what to do. We prayed a lot. I was sickened. It was the worse day ever.
I cannot imagine those people that were there and lost family members in the most tragic and despicable event that took place on US soil. My heart went out to them then and it goes out to them now. My those that perished, RIP.
May there be a special place in Hell for those responsible for taking mommies and daddies away from their children for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
Keye
Please e-mail us your stories =) Keye I copied yours and will add it to the post =) Thanks for sharing with us.
i remember i was on my way home and all the streets empty i told my friend this is not normal ,i reached home my mom and all my sisters in shock i asked (whats happened ?why u all look terrified?)my big sister answer me( the doors of hell been open) i look to the t,v all i know its bad thing happened that moment Dust and people running scared for there life ,i ask why this happened ?What did these people deserved to die so? nothing at all .i start to cry for all who lost a mom a dad a friend its not right and one day God his justice will come for all the killers in this shocking day .
im from Arabic country and a Muslim i dont agree to kill people in any way those who don this horrible thing must go to hell ,Buildings and cars can be re-built but can u bring people from the death ?no we cant .may all the people who die in that day rest in peace and we know they r now in a better place
Momena Kayed
Amman ,Jordan
I was at work when at noon someone who went home for lunch came back and said she heard on the news that 2 planes flew through the Twin Towers. I couldn’t believe it at first. I was like frozen. Then when I came back home at 5pm the telly was still on and my hubby and daughter were follow the whole afternoon what was happen in NY. I was shocked when I heard the news. Still every year when the date is there I get tears for what happend back then. This was a terrible day and my thought are still with the people who lost their loved ones.
Sylvia from Belgium
I remember very well the 9-11. I was working into a military base in Italy. When the first text message said that one of the two towers had been hit by a plane I immediately thought it was a mistake. But when the second was hit, everyone had already guessed that something was wrong. I still remember the anguish and dismay of people, most American soldiers around me, and even more images that still leaves me speechless.
Stefania, Italia.
Hi guys,
I’ll be adding your stories to the main post. People please continue e-mailing us your stories =) Thanks
As a volunteer firefighter and rescue member, 9/11 really hit home for me. I wanted to be there to help with the recovery. But since I couldn’t go to New York I did what I could from Labadieville Louisiana. We had a can shake and raised over $5,000.00 to help with replacing a fire truck for NYFD. Louisiana raised enough money to replace two trucks. We have a firefighters convention every year hosted by different fire departments at the 2002 convention the fire truck along with New York firefighters were there and the 2nd truck was uncovered to our surprise. I never felt as proud as I did at that moment!! The conventions start on Thursdays and end on Saturday. The following Monday I had to have a kidney removed but I was not missing that convention!!!! After my kidney was removed on August 13th I started walking right away and was released to go back to firefighting and rescue on September 6, not even a month later!! I missed a total of 13 calls and it killed me to miss those calls. As a female I received every award I could as a volunteer and joined because no one was around during the day. I responded to many calls alone, even in the not so good neighborhoods. Everybody knew me and watched my back. In 2007 I had to give it up after 14 years due to back and leg problems. I cried worse than a baby when I had to turn in my firefighting and rescue gear. I will always have the memory of that special convention and recorded it in my heart. Thanks for doing this, Penny.
I have a friend that lives on Long Island, their father works right across the street from the towers and a sister who worked further up in Manhattan. I was beyond worried for them. I actually got through when I called my friend on the phone. She, of course was screaming in hysteric’s. They got one call from their father and he was watching people jump from the towers.After that one call they didn’t hear from him until he got home, after having to walk the whole distance something like a 6 hour or more walk. He found his daughter on the walk. As he was leaving the building, bodies were falling all around him. They stopped showing that on American news..
I am a fan of Rick Springfield’s and our fan base if very close. WE lost one in our fandom to 9/11, her name was Marnie. There is a page dedicated to her, to keep her memory alive. We all post to her memory every year about this time.
I think it’s so wonderful that you are doing this…. the individuals that passed that day must never be forgotten. The firefighters and all the workers who helped should never be forgotten. (my hubby is a volunteer fireman as well, and $$ was raised and sent out) Those families and friends left behind.. never forgotten.
Hi guys,
Thank you for your stories. I’ll add them to the other post that we’ll be posting. For others please email us your stories =)
I remember that on that day, at the time the planes hit the towers I proposed to my husband and he excepted, it wasn’t till the next morning I was in yahoo chat feeling all happy and everyone was talking about what happened and i searched and found out what happened to the towers, what time it was and converted it to OZ time to realize that the crash was the same time I proposed.
We had a student visitor fom Finland, he was here with a group. Some afternoon the children were in a pub, they talked, played, some coke went down. Late noon the teacher who was with them, said, she got a phone from home, the Twin Towers in NY were attacked. First nobody believed, the second everybody started crying, how will they go home from Hungary to Finland if the airports would be closed. When my son and his friend came home, they said what happened. Then I switched on the TV, and just stood in front of the tv frozen and cried.It was very-very sad evening, though America is so far from here. But the monstrosity is monstrosity wherever it happens. I thought the innocent victims, the brave passangers on airplanes so much. And later WF made Remember Me. It is a beautiful memorial.
I see that you’re very involved with 9/11 and I don’t know – you might have already seen this but this is pretty interesting and cool (if that’s okay to say?)
http://lightbox.time.com/2011/09/07/revisiting-911-unpublished-photos-by-james-nachtwey/#16
Pictures and article, very close-up.
Great pics thanks.
I was working that day in a factory doing assembly work. We didn’t have access to any tv or radios on the line but someone off the line had a radio on his work bench. He heard the reports and word travelled through the plant. We were all in disbelief, surely this was just an accident. During our lunch break, we heard the truth – it was no accident, and not one but four planes had been hijacked. I tried calling my boyfriend who was working near an Air Force base that day but I wasn’t able to reach him – cell phone towers were maxed out with people making phone calls. I eventually reached him, he was fine.
My roommate was at work that day too, he was on a conference call with another branch of his company in NYC. That company’s NYC office was in the World Trade Center. While in the middle of the early morning call, the line suddenly disconnected and they heard in Ohio was static. No one from the WTC office was heard from again.
Later that day, I was driving home from work and everything seemed normal except the sky. My commute took me near the local airport, which is a fairly large international airport. On any given day, you’d see half a dozen planes in the air along with several on the tarmacs either taking off or landing. On 9/11 and for several days afterward, the skies over Cleveland were empty. It was the eeriest thing I have ever seen.
I still can’t believe it’s been ten years. While I didn’t personally lose anyone on 9/11, I have friends that did … and I think the United States as a whole lost her innocence. My thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those who lost someone from the attacks – as long as we remember, they will never be forgotten.
Actually, I do not have a story to post, I just wanted to share an e-mail that I sent out this morning to my friends and co-workers. I felt this went along with the theme of this thread.
Good Morning,
I decided to change the wallpaper on my computer, in memoriam as we approach the 10-year anniversary of one of the most infamous acts of violence ever committed on American soil.
I am not really sure why I felt compelled to update my wallpaper from my standard island landscape, but I did, overwhelmingly so. Let’s be honest, I have two 17” monitors at work and I only see my wallpaper for about 1.5 minutes a day, but for those lovely 1.5 minutes I get to lounge on some magnificent white sand beach, on some tropical island with a name I probably cannot pronounce, whilst a very attractive man brings me an endless supply of frosty daiquiris and Little Debbie Zebra Cakes. (Hey, don’t judge me, it’s my daydream!)
I googled ‘9/11 memorial wallpaper’ and looked for something that would… I don’t know… provide some resolve?? Or maybe inspire me?? Or pay tribute to those who fell and to those who overcame?? Maybe, with the passing of time coupled with more maturity as an older and more experienced individual, maybe I could realize some newfound clarity or perspective?? I’m not sure what exactly I was looking for, but what I found was so… so simple. After viewing several of the familiar heart-breaking images, amid all of the horror and destruction and unity and loss and love and courage, I was… reminded.
Reminded of the promises I made myself so many years ago. Reminded of my personal promise to be a better mother… a better wife… a better daughter… a better friend… a better employee … in general, just to be a better human being. Reminded that every day is a gift. Reminded that life’s daily inconveniences or difficulties or hard times, more often than not, pale in comparison to what they could be. And that our strife and our struggles, big or small, they too, should be considered gifts. For without them, we could never truly appreciate the beauty, the wonderment and the love in all that surrounds us. Without them, we could never be grateful for all that we have. Without them, we could not dare to dream of a better life and be bold enough to attempt something truly noble. Without them we could never be inspired… we could never be awed. (It’s almost comical how the word “awe” is such a small word, yet embodies so much meaning.)
I thought I would share some of the images I found. They are very sad, very inspiring and filled me with a deep hope for a better future for the world as a whole.
http://www.google.com/search?q=september+11+wallpapers&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&rlz=1I7DMUS_en&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=b-5oTrbhLIWHsgKK4bSIDg&ved=0CBsQsAQ&biw=1152&bih=666
I hope all of you are inspired to see life and everything it has to offer a little differently every once in a while, just as I did today. I was lucky enough to blindly stumble upon this blissful moment of clarity and I can hope to do so again. Soon.
Very Humbled, Truly Inspired and Thankfully Yours,
CG
9/01/11 ~ Never forget.
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” — Nelson Mandela
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela
Thanks! We’ll add it to our post.
I honoustly don’t remember the day itself because I was 8.
But when I get older, the more I wanna know the truth.
Some people will say I’m talking nonsense but I’m convinced that George W. Bush knows more about the attack.
Some reasons why I think that:
1. He said he saw the first plane hitting the tower. How? The first footage of the first plane was a couple of hours later on television.
2. Why he didn’t stop reading when he knew that America was under attack?
3. In one interview he said: “You’re with us or you’re with the terrorists”. I’m against both of them. So I’m an outsider. If he wants us to choose between them then he is for the new world order, and the new world order wants to reduce the world population to 1 billion people!
4. The CIA gave names of the terrorist a couple of hours after the towers collapsed. How? You don’t identify people that are crushed or just a blood spot in 3 hours and the CIA gave wrong names because the terrorists that they said weren’t the terrorists, well some of them might be. But some people were just people from Afghanistan that were working at that time.
5. NOGAD. When a plane lost his direction. NOGAD should ask first what he’s doing around New York. If he doesn’t respawn that shoot the plane out of the sky. What happened? NOGAD did nothing!
6. Why weren’t there any jews in the Twin Towers? That couldn’t been coincidence.
7. Why he declared a war to Afganistan? He only said he wants the terrorists out. But they are all over the world! I’m for world peace but George W. Bush wants a new world order! Why is it called the United States of America? Why is there Europe?
8. I still got many more evidence for Bush but that’s way to much for writing all that.
I was at work. I had on a radio when the news came on about the tragedy. I went out to tell co-workers to turn on the tv. This was also mu youngest sons 12th birthday, & my husbands birthday. My son will never forget that birthday…
I was there! I’m not even american, I was there on vacation. And Was taken by surprise with a call from family at home. Saw the towers on fire before they collapsed. Didn’t seem them collapsing. Since nobody explained to me that history was about to happen; I entered a MC Donalds for some breakfast. When I spied ppl running on the street I rushed outside and the towers were gone. Then I was scared… I saw ppl screaming on the streets saying that they worked there… I remembered the fastfood employees who serve me three days before when I went up to the observatory… But even beig so close I don’t think you can grasp the pain of those who lost relatives or friends. And like you said that’s what the movie is about. It tells the story of a person, a family, who obviously wasn’t preparing for the tragedy but it hit them anyway, it interrupted their lives, theirs plans.
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I was 6 at the time, and even though I’m now sixteen and it’s been ten years already. To me feels like yesterday. I remember my first grade teacher telling us before we got dismissed Something really bad had happened and we needed to help our parents feel better.
I remember my mother crying at the television screen and my father in complete shock.
I was a young child and didn’t realize the magnitude of what happened and when I did I felt denial, I was scared,and I didn’t believe it until I had full understanding of how so many people suffered.
I think that it’s something that scarred everyone.
Not just the united states.