9/11
What 9/11 Means to Me
My mother met my father at the World Trade Center in 1976. It was love at first sight, and I came into being in 1977. She had worked there for the Department of Unemployment Benefits.
Although I was born in Jersey City, NJ, I was raised in New York. WTC was always a symbol of my state, along with the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building.
A lifetime later, on September 11, 2001, I was working in a Florida office when it happened. It was a surreal morning for me. I was out on the production floor working on processing some images, and a co-worker of mine, Lisa Glatzer, was on the Internet. It was a pretty full office at the time, and she said that a plane had hit into one of the towers. Someone scrambled to put a radio on.
My mother had called my cell phone and was in full panic mode; she was watching it live on television and saw the 2nd plane hit. I had believed that the 1st plane was a pilot error. When the 2nd plane hit, I got scared. Rumors began to spread on the radio and Internet feeds that it was no accident. As information was filtering in, and the buildings began to crumble, I thought that our nation was under attack, and we had finally experienced the beginning of World War III, and that I would see the end of the world.
Just out of conditioning, my first reaction was the Russians, since I had been raised during the Cold War. But I had been following Osama bin Laden since 1999, when I read that he and Saddam were teaming up. At that time, before the original DailySkew, I would type up fake news articles on my computer, and did a Super Villain Team-Up with them, after reading the real-life article.
The stories came in about the Pentagon and another plane, and I truly was overcome with a sense of dizziness and a manic fear that the US was under attack and in a state of emergency. Of course, my bosses wanted everyone to stay calm and continue as is; after all, we were in Broward County, nothing happens there.
I’m a sensitive guy when it comes to death, and I needed a break, but as much as I wanted to go to Tamarac and watch the news with my family, and I had to press on at work. Back then, there were a lot of mean and selfish bosses at my office, so I didn’t take off-especially since it was no BIG DEAL to the Powers at Be (none had lived in NY- the true capital of the world).
I remember seeing the Democrats and Republicans united together.
I remember the speeches, the footage, the horror stories, and the grief and sadness.
I remember the conspiracy theories.
I remember George W. Bush’s delay before we started the bombing. I knew as a nation, we had to bomb something, and we eventually did.
I remember Osama bin Laden being the most hated figure in the U.S., but we never got him.
However, the biggest shock to me was how a bunch of terrorists could take over planes and fly off course. It was (and still is) unimaginable to me. I guess I was naive and gullible: I thought that everything was run by computers, that satellites observe major things like that, that airlines would have been alerted instantly if a plane was off-course, and that the air force or military would have intercepted the planes.
For me (and Tony Vahl) September 11, 2001 was the end of the world as we knew it. It was the end of the era of security in the U.S. Indeed, the world has changed so much since then. In many ways, the world has been shaken upside down- from major events to the most minor changes in every day life and customs. There is no question that the great divider of U.S. history will be pre-9/11 and post-9/11.
For those of you who do not know the magic and relevance that the New York Yankees have meant to New Yorkers, forgive me but I must bring them up; part of the healing process for New York was for the Yankees to get into the World Series- and they did. To show the world that New Yorkers, and a nation, would never surrender, it was destiny that the Yankees’ dynasty continue with a World Series win. But things didn’t turn out as expected. In the most exciting series ever, the Arizona Diamondbacks won with a lucky bloop hit off Mariano Rivera- the best relief pitcher of all time. This reinforced Tony Vahl’s and my view that the world truly will never be the same again.
9/11: Seven Years Later
Things are very unpredictable in this new earth we live in. In many ways, the terrorists have won, because our freedoms have been reduced in the name of national security. Our ways of life will never be the same. Middle East conflicts have come onshore in the form of terrorist threats and thwarted plots, and divide us as nation. Americans are in the midst of an idelaogical war right now- read any message board, watch any TV show, read the comments on Youtube videos.
Yes, for a very short time after the attacks, politicians put aside their differences and the MEDIA just wanted to get to the bottom of the matter. Police officers and firefighters were worshiped in the northeast. Rudy Giuliani was the spiritual leader of the nation. President Bush was a popular icon, whom we looked up to for strong leadership. There was a sense of community and national identity- at least in the north east. It was cool to be patriotic, even in South Florida. Everyone supported our troops and demanded military action in Afghanistan against the evil Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Thankfully, the Internet archives still show proof of how things were different.
Now, on September 11, 2008, 9/11 is a political issue. There have been many laws, actions, and events that have occurred since September, 11 2001 that have been beyond controversial and unpredictable- truth is stranger than fiction. Guantanamo Bay was set up, the army used excessive force to extract information, there was an American Taliban, an anthrax scare, The Patriot Act, phone taps, a suspension of rights for American citizens at airports, a War in Iraq, the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime and his execution, the idiot shoe bomber, the revelations that some of the 9/11 terrorists were trained right here- in Broward County, and countless other things. It could be argued that in a world wide opinion poll, President Bush is now hated more than Osama bin Laden. The 9/11 conspiracy theories are too numerous to mention.
It seems as if any 9/11 tribute by the Republican Party is immediately labeled as “right wing propaganda” by the Democratic Party.
But the fact is, everyone had used 9/11 as a way to further their goals or to cash in. Rudy Giuliani tried to run for presidency based on 9/11, and he was revealed to be a fraud. I even ranted and raved back then on the original DailySkew that Marvel comics went overboard with their 9/11 themed comic books because they were making a profit off it.
In the end, the illusion of America being an unstoppable super-power was erased that day. When our government mishandled Hurricane Katrina’s preparation, damage control, and horrific aftermath, it only further stripped down any remnants of the illusion of safety, security, and power that I thought protected us. Any sense of national or cultural identity or community spirit is long gone.
So what does 9/11 mean to me? I could never forget the victims.
Never forget.
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I am the mother who brought this genius into our world. it was before 9-11. 1977 to be exact. i met my husband at the World trade
where i worked! it was brand knew really. there were 84 floors that
were completed then. my two good friends Nancy and Margaret and
i would ride the elevator and
if i am remember the 108th floor,
it was under construction. it was named “the windows of the world,
we saw the
second King Kong being filmed there. kong was a robot and i looked out of my office window from
the 29th where i worked and watched
the movie crew move kongs body.
now my son has written a “what
9-11 means to him” on his daily skew. we never type our names to our comments about the yankees or
anything else that my son posts,and
when i read what came from his
heart today, i just had to say:
“i am the mother”.
I remember the almost unanimous support for president Bush from all his critics, (including even George Carlin) after this happened because he wasnt saying anything that anybody would disagree with.
He was saying “we are not going to let the people who did this to us get away with this” etc..
I remember all the American flags everywhere the next day, I remember the dems/repubs in congress holding hands and singing God Bless America on national television.
It really was a different world back then.
It seems much longer ago than seven years.
Its easy to see what went wrong with this new unity, and it seems now that all the old partisan divisions and culture wars have resurfaced worse than ever.
Its common for many people now talk openly about moving away to another country.
But its easy to see that 911 has become an excuse for a lot of other things that shouldn’t be happening, and the mentality people was just kind of put back where it was before because our government merely took advantage of the situation.
If there is another terrorist attack the first suspicion among many people will be the question of whether our government did it and are lying about it.
Thats pretty much what 6 out of 10 people think now.
Cooperation and empathy were not the only emotions of the day; they were simply the publicly expressed emotions of the day.
Many of us didn’t just feel sad or angry or proud in the face of the day’s horrors — or when President Bush and the media requested it.
We also felt indifferent, confused, selfish, annoyed and, in some cases, even happy or excited.
We had thoughts that we couldn’t explain or control, thoughts we didn’t express, except perhaps in whispered conversations.
I was actually moving the week of 9/11 and I just wanted to find a way to get out of work so I could pack. When the attack happened, I was thinking, This is so cool. I can go to the dentist and still have time to get everything done.
I agree, we walked to a friend’s apartment in SoHo at about 10 p.m. on Thursday the 13th. The streets below 14th were deserted of cars, and for the most part, of people. A light haze of smoke and dust hung in the air. It was still and warm and surreal. And incredibly beautiful. I wished that New York could be like that more often. How many times will the middle of Broadway feel as if it were a country back road?”
It was there where I started to hate cops and firemen. The cops in the middle of the night were kind and friendly and appreciated the coffee and the food and the company. We all shared being freaked out together. But come daybreak? A bunch of fat cops throwing our food around because it wasn’t good enough — we didn’t have skim milk for coffee, or it wasn’t the right kind of bread.
I agree…really, what’s all this shit about the fireman being heroes? That’s their job, to be heroes. That’s why they signed up. Once a month you go run into a burning building and grab a cat and the rest of the time you sit in the firehouse and play cards.
I hated the New York Times profiles of all the deceased. It’s just that everyone they wrote about — all 2,000 people — were depicted as really nice, really devoted parents who came home every night at 5 p.m. to make dinner, play with the kids, never missed a soccer game, and proposed to their girlfriend in a really sweet, creative way. I would read these profiles every day and think, yeah right. Was everyone in the WTC a super amazing person? Someone who worked there must have been an asshole
I’m tired of reading 9/11 tributes…I mean I LIVE in NY..and found it amazing how former mayor Rudolph Giuliani was transformed from a crazed, intolerant zealot into a sensitive and compassionate leader. Wasn’t his new subdued personality just the effect of his cancer medication?
My first thoughts: I was upset that Bush would get an undeserved boost in popularity. I also worried that support for valuable domestic programs would be diverted to the war effort.
I sort of felt, hey, they finally caught up to us. All the dirt the U.S. has thrown finally came back around to kick us hard where it hurt.
Karma.
I had a thought, when it first happened — the kind of conspiracy thoughts that liberal college students have who studied poli sci and read too much about Nicaragua or Colombia — that maybe the Americans let it happen so that they could use it as a tool to get serious in Iraq.
Wow…FUCK ALL OF YOUR SELFISH COMMENTS. So glad you can shrug things offs and get back to your pathetic insignificant lives.
i cannot believe the comments that people have written about the world
trade bombings! they were all negative! some people said that the firemen were ass holes, and that they felt so serene on the 13th
of sept. because the streets of new york were so nice and quiet!
are you people all so fucked up
on medication that you can’t realize people died in new york city and we were hit by foreign
people who thought that they were
going to go to Nirvana if they all
smashed into the most beautiful buildings in new york city because
of a promise of
having 13 virgins after
they died? and their mother’s are elated when they have baby boys be cause they know that they will become famous and get food and clothing when they allowed their
sons to play out their war games?
the heroes of 9-11 were more than just firemen and policemen,their
were ordinary citizens who helped
one another during a horrible and
frightening experience! i saw dogs
save peoples lives by going back into the w.t.c. and look for their
masters who were blind or in wheelchairs! i worked in the w.t.c.
and one of my co workers was sick.i
wonder if she ever
got out alive. how very quickly some people forget about how new
yorkers all came together that horrible day! from mayor to ball
player, to movie star and the common man! new york is a town of
beauty and museums a madison square
garden. i want to know how we never detected airplanes flying over us?
I agree with the last comment.
I guess cops and firemen aren’t allowed to be grumpy after searching through debris for DAYS and breathing in atomized remains?
I dont mean to double-post, but i have to wonder if some of these comments are a joke.
9-11 was one of the worst things that ever happened, and everyone of the firefighters, police, and rescue workers who were there to help others are all heroes in my book.
if you other posters are trying to be funny by putting those people down,
stop it.
we owe these people a little respect for their efforts even if they are no longer among us.
I get sick of the way 9-11 has been politicized too, but thats no excuse to make fun of it.
we really need to remember now what we knew then, that it was an attack on all of us and we should take this stuff a bit more seriously,
not everything is a joke you know.
some of you people are really stupid and you should go fuck yourselves.