I always feel off on this day and I think I need to get stuff off my chest in order to move on with the day. I’m going to assume people know what I mean when I say 9/11 and talk in a more serious voice than I usually do. These are the attacks that feel like they changed the entire world. So, where was I?
First, I want to say that I come from New York State. Not New York City, which is apparently something I have to say to some people. To be specific, I come from Long Island, which is the southern offshoot of the state. NYC is 45 minutes away and I spent many days traveling there for family outings and gatherings. I still remember being happy whenever we would visit my parents’ friends because we’d have to pass the building where the Ghostbusters fought Zuul. So that’s the type of stuff I’d think about when I was asked about NYC.
14 years ago, I was a junior in college at SUNY Oswego. This was a state college in the Upstate New York on Lake Erie. It was a normal day when I woke up and went to check my email. Windows was trying to update, my roommate was gone, I had my shirt on backwards for some reason, and had time before my Cultural Anthropology class. A friend suddenly sent me a message on AOL Instant Messenger about attacks on the Twin Towers. (Wow. It’s weird even typing that instead of Ground Zero. They were always my big landmark when we crossed one of the bridges into Manhattan.) Anyway, this friend was a fellow tabletop role-player and I thought he was pitching a game idea. Then he called me an idiot and told me to turn the news on.
Well, there was a plane smashing into one of the towers and I checked to make sure I didn’t accidentally put on a movie. Everything after that was a blur, but I managed to shower, get dressed, eat, and make my way to that Cultural Anthropology class. I sat next to my friend Dave (aka Nimby) and we talked about what was going on. Neither of us knew what to really say. To this day, we still aren’t sure when we talk about that day over texting, which seems to be our tradition.
We stopped talking when the teacher came in. This is a man who was loud and boisterous, claiming the perfect predator was the marine sniper and just a presence in the room. He was deflated. The lesson for the day was going to be how cultural differences can cause conflict. All he did was put CNN on the big screens and tell us that there sadly is no better lesson. Five minutes later, he said we were dismissed and people without a TV in their room could stay to watch the news. I just wanted to get out of there because I realized I had friends who could have been in the area. One missed his train to one of the smaller buildings that got hit and another didn’t turn up on AIM until late afternoon. Apparently, she saw the first plane go over her head and then bolted once the explosion happened.
So where did I go since classes were cancelled? Not sure why, but I wandered to the Student Union with Dave. I think he went somewhere else before I went inside for food or something. What I found was a building filled with televisions showing the news and packed with the students from NYC/Long Island. I ended up sitting with a girl who I think I got in a tiff with the previous semester. Her uncle worked in one of the Towers and she was waiting for news, so we just sat there watching the TV. She did get a call that he had gotten out, which led to her leaving to have time alone. It was strange because I think a lot of people wanted to be alone with their thoughts, but not be physically alone. I saw a lot of people just sitting quietly together and not interacting. Just having the presence of another human being feeling the same way must have been comforting. I just felt lost and wandered back to my room where my roommate and I played video games to get our minds off stuff. Another reason was because I kept worrying that one of my family members or friends in the area was there, so I was always grabbing the phone to call someone.
The years have passed, but some images are still vivid. Specifically, the videos of people falling. Those make me tear up because it seems so frightening and the movement of the body seems so . . . unnatural. Almost like I still can’t believe what I’m seeing even though I see it every year. Think I’ve written enough about this. Not putting any pics or tags here. Something more cheerful will be up in 30 minutes. Just going to end it here before I get cynical. Later.
Legends of Windemere 
My wife and I were in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – and none of our Arabic neighbours were able to look us in the eyes they felt so ashamed at what had happened…
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Wow. I never really thought about what it would be like for people in Arab nations. I mean, it crossed my mind that many of them would be upset about the loss of life. Just never considered their reaction to a non-Arab in that moment.
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There were only a few we came across who celebrated Charles – but there were MANY more who didn’t and soon made the celebrants either shut up or go away…
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I don’t remember ever seeing any articles or videos on the ‘celebrating’ until a few weeks later. Even then it seemed very cherry-picked by the media. Reminds me of how bad things happen to our ‘enemies’ and you see people celebrating on Internet forums. Really sick.
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We didn’t use the internet much at that time, so missed all of that cr*p thankfully.
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At the time, people were behaving on there. Think it was a few months later that it started getting bad. Now all these years later and I find myself praying aliens don’t look at the Internet forums to decide if we’re worthy to exist.
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They’ll already have seen the Nazi Nuremberg Marches of the 1930’s and decided to be rid of us Charles…
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Maybe we’re being avoided because of all this. A species that achieves space flight would be very smart. Noticing how we treat each other might make them think we’d be worse to them. Odd how we got on this topic.
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Could explain why there seems to be radio silence for SETI LOL 😈
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Excellent point. 🙂
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i went in to work to check for manuscripts. I read unsolicited manuscripts for a publisher back then. The news was onscreen in the chapel. Work stopped as everyone gathered to watch the plan collide with the tower. So horrible. Everyone cried. We stayed glued to a TV all day that day and every day for days. The shock of it was tremendous.
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Shock was definitely the best word.
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Yes. I remember the eeriness of a sky without planes overhead. We jumped when a military plane flew.
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Wasn’t there a point where the only planes in the sky were fighter jets and Air Force One? Remember a documentary that mentioned that.
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Wonderful tribute. I’m glad you did it.
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Thanks. I was surprised I hadn’t done it before.
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There were so many disturbing sights that day. The one you mentioned always brings me to tears as well. Can’t imagine the thoughts while falling 100 stories.
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In some ways, I don’t want to try and imagine it. I guess one thing to counter it are the pictures of people helping other people in the aftermath.
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Yes. Better thought to keep in mind.
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A great blog post, Charles. And a real good timing.
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Thanks. Kind of a last minute thing.
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Especially for a last minute thing – excellent!
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It came out longer than expected because the memory just kept going.
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It still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. I was on maternity leave with my youngest daughter and my mum shouted me into the living room because she just caught footage on the television. I didn’t want to believe it. It was like stepping into a nightmare. Thanks for sharing, Charles. Sorry I’m late in reading it.
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No problem. Good thing about a blog is that the posts, usually, stay there and wait for people to read. 😉 It is interesting hearing how people from other countries reacted. Being in the USA, I only saw the local reaction for a while and then it seemed to be all about the first war.
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There was so much footage here, but we were a little removed from it and that created a feeling of helplessness. That’s what I remember. Feeling such shock, and horror and sadness and wishing I could do something. I’m not sure what, but something.
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It’s funny how there were people in other states who felt removed too. Still, it definitely changed everything.
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There are some things we never forget. Thanks for sharing.
I also remember how strange it was not to have airplanes in the sky–we live across the river from Philadelphia airport. When the planes started flying again it was a bit scary at first.
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Don’t doubt it. Being in Upstate New York at the time, I never noticed the difference in the sky. How long were they grounded for?
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I just looked it up. It seems that they started allowing flights again after a few days. It seemed longer.
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Things still feel like a blur during that entire week.
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