Never forget

[Loving_life35]

I know it’s a few hours early if 9/11 but twenty years later we still have not forgotten!

 

[Skyflarie]

I remember being 8 years old and being in third grade watching this with my teacher before class (we often watched the news before the rest of the other students filed in). I remember telling her "things will never be the same".
I guess the last 20 years kinda showed that.

Never forget those who lost everything.

 

[patman12]

It will never be forgotten but it may slowly sink to Pearl Harbor level of remembrance over the years. I think that’s just how time, aging of people that lived through it and younger generations not feeling the pain impact national tragedies.

But man, 20 years. Seems like yesterday for those of us that saw the events unfold that day.

 

[Betterthanmost]

Day was just wrong for me. Woke up around 0400, had a terrible ear ache, could not stand up straight, had to wait for school clinic to open up, was lying on a hard chair when I saw smoke in TV..
Later told I just had water behind calcified earwax.

 

[Ring 6]

It will never be forgotten but it may slowly sink to Pearl Harbor level of remembrance over the years. I think that’s just how time, aging of people that lived through it and younger generations not feeling the pain impact national tragedies.

But man, 20 years. Seems like yesterday for those of us that saw the events unfold that day.

Only a small percentage of Americans today were alive when Pearl Harbor happened and the majority of the populations parents were not alive. A lot of perspective is lost over generations removed from the event.
Within another generation there will be virtually a 100% new population that what was on the planet that day.

 

[DaBruinz]

I forget who wrote this on the board back in 2003. It was either @Patsfanin Philly or @PatsFanInVa (if it was neither, then I'm truly sorry to the person who wrote this. Please PM me and I will make sure to attribute it properly)

This was written by @Patsfanin Philly (found my post from 2012 attributing it to him) . It touched me deeply then. I normally repost it on my FB page on 9/11. For tomorrow, of which it is the 20th Anniversary of this great tragedy, I share it with you. My Patriots family.

Memories of 9/11

Six years ago on the second anniversary in 2003 , I was in NYC and saw the Towers of Light...and put pen to paper......


I refuse to live in fear.

I am an American.

I will travel whenever I want in this great land of ours

undeterred by the threats of others.

I will take my children to our treasured landmarks and historical sites.

I will not retreat from an adventuresome journey

because of others with a disdain for our way of life.

It is the legacy of our forefathers, who shed their blood

on battlefields throughout the world, to protect

our democratic institutions.

I will show my children this country in all its majesty,

from the beauty of a Pacific sunset to the bright lights of Broadway

to the beacon held high by Lady Liberty.

I will show them Ellis Island,

the gateway to a new world with the hopes and dreams of millions.

This nation was forged by an amalgam of spirited people

who believed in self-determination.

I will not bow to those who challenge that notion.

It dishonors the memory of those who have gone before me.

I refuse to let the actions of a few destroy my will.

I will show my children the monuments to our presidents

who persevered in times of crisis and triumphed over evil.

I will show them Arlington National Cemetery

and the graves of those who fell in the defense of freedom.

I will show them a field in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania

Where citizen soldiers fought back

and gave their lives in the latest struggle.

I have seen the horrors of that fateful day.

I have watched as flags ruffled in the breeze unbowed

as the smoke rose from the ashes.

Its pungent odor and acrid smell did not destroy our spirit.

I have heard the countless untold stories of heroism

that will stay with me forever.

To live timidly disgraces their honor.

I will keep that dream alive.

I refuse to live in fear.

I am an American.





-MKK 9/11/03

 

[DaBruinz]

On the 9th Anniversary of 9/11, I wrote the following and I share it with you now.


9/11 Remembered

On 9/11, 2001, at 8:46 am, I was at work in Salisbury, North Carolina. A fellow colleague of mine ran into the shop and was telling people that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. I can remember standing there in shock and then going into the main office, where there was a TV set up. They had the news on.. At that moment, 9:03 am, I stared in sheer terror as I watched the second plane ram into the WTC... 34 minutes later, still not having recovered from the shock of the first two planes, the news flashed that a plane had hit the Pentagon..

I was numb. I watched both towers come down... Tears streaming down my face as hundred of rescue workers lost their lives trying to save others.. I wondered about my dad, who traveled so much.. And had taken those flights on previous occasions.. Was he ok??

As many as 20000 people were thought to be in the WTC Buildings in NYC. Another 10000 or so in the Pentagon.. No one knew the exact number because the business day had just started..

I wanted to leave to go to NYC.. I wanted to help dig and try to find people.. But, I couldn't.. Rudy Guiliani came on the air and asked people from other states to stay home.

The news rocked us again. All flights were cancelled until further notice.. I looked outside and did not see any contrails.. The sky was clear.. Eerily clear..

I didn't sleep that night.. I was numb.. I cried.. I was scared... I had friends in NYC and in Washington DC.. I hadn't heard from them.. Were they safe??? I didn't know.. I'd heard from my dad.. He was shaken.. I'd only heard him shaken like that once before.. When there were bomb threats on the base when we lived in Germany.. I felt selfish and ashamed because I was relieved that my dad was safe..

It's 9 years later and I'm crying again.. The pain hasn't gone away. It hasn't subsided. I haven't forgotten. How could I? I could have been on one of those planes.. I could have had friends or family on them. Millions of people were directly affected.. Hundreds of millions indirectly.

I've not forgotten.. When I looked up a few days later to see the contrails in the sky, it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen,,.. But it wasn't the same..Life was different now... Machine Gun toting soldiers at the airports.. Flags flying across the country. We had been drawn together, hardened. So I thought... But others have forgotten. Too many have forgotten.. Too many think it won't happen again.. Too many have become complacent and forgotten the price of our freedom.

The price. Paid by the innocent. By the heroes. By the soldiers who do their duty every day. But I won't forgot. Not now.. Not tomorrow.. Not ever. The guilt of forgetting would be too much to bear..

9/11/2001 and 12/7/1941. The days when Freedom was threatened. The days when the world refused to let a sleeping giant lie. The days that we all should remember lest we become our enemies... The days that our enemies should regret...

 

[mgteich]

One of my office team was on the phone with someone in one of towers that morning. Almost all the employees of that company died quickly, including the person that we talking to.

 

[Loving_life35]

Steelers fan stopped to an all time low for me. I posted something on thier board about 9/11. One guy said it was tragic but if ravens fans were killed then it’s worth it bc we don’t deserve to live.

 

[DarrylS]

Was painting the side of my barn in Maine, listening to NPR, went in and turned on the TV.. it was all very shocking as my bro in law worked in the Pentagon. Around 11:00 my grandson 1st grade had a huge bugout and we had to take him to the hospital for an evaluation. He calmed down, early afternoon my sister and I were contacting each other about her hubby, no sign of him still. We wanted to watch the coverage, but did not want to upset grandson.. finally about 7:00 PM my sister called and her husband was ok. He had left the pentagon and had no $$$ to call and no way to make change, he walked for a bit and finally took the train home, leaving his car at the Pentagon.

My sister worked for the Rand Corp in DC and was at a meeting and saw the smoke from the Pentagon, she got up to take a look at it and was told to sit down as it was just a fire.

For the grace of god, did not lose anyone on that day, but lots of anxiety for all. I suspect many people have similar stories to this

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

DaBruinz, Thanks for the shoutout.... I was part of the National forensic team that helped identify those on Flight 93. We were on site on 9/12/01 and I penned the following when I returned home .

.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflections on Freedom and Flight 93


As I stood on that mound of dirt and looked out at the Pennsylvania field that September day, I was reminded of a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that, "the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge." That recovered strip mine in Somerset County is hallowed ground, as hallowed as the beaches of Normandy, Iwo Jima, Lexington Green or the fields of Gettysburg. It was there that 40 people rose up, joined together to fight back and gave their lives. They were a cross section of America in its truest form. Young and old, married and single, Christian and Jew, straight and gay, black and white, from coast to coast and between they joined together to fight an unspeakable evil.
We'll never know how many people sleep comfortably in their beds tonight thanks to those heroic passengers. It might be your spouse or parents or your children or your nieces or nephews who might have been the intended targets of the hijackers that day. Instead, they made the ultimate sacrifice in that time of challenge.
There were other heroes that day in the Pentagon and at the World Trade Center. From all the military personnel who waded through deadly fire and smoke to rescue unknown comrades because it was the right thing to do to the police officer who died after repeatedly pulling injured survivors out of the burning tower to lead them to safety and going back in to rescue more. Then there's the fire captain who led by example reaching the 78th floor with his men in the hope of rescuing survivors only to lose his life there. I thought of the lawyer who worked in the building next to the World Trade Center who was a part time paramedic. He grabbed his emergency bag, donning a pair of gloves and while others were fleeing to safety went into harm's way to rescue others and died there.
I thought of these people as we served and felt the awesome responsibility to help identify them and bring them home to their families. It was in that time of challenge and crisis that they acted the way we all hope we would have acted. I thought of them as I drove past nearly three hundred miles of flags of every size and shape on the way back home to my family. Suddenly, the colors took on a new meaning in a much more personal way. I understand now why the red is a symbol for the blood spilled in the defense of liberty and purity of the white and the valor of the blue. The flag stands for all that is right with America and is as representative of its freedoms today as it was when first sewn over two centuries ago. When my children ask of heroes, I'll tell them of those who fell on 9/11.

-MKK 2001

 

[Kontradiction]

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the 9/11 documentary called “One Day in America” on NatGeo is exceptionally well done. Removes any political commentary and tells the story from the eyes of several survivors.

 

[Loving_life35]

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the 9/11 documentary called “One Day in America” on NatGeo is exceptionally well done. Removes any political commentary and tells the story from the eyes of several survivors.

I watched one on prime video called phone calls from 9/11 and it recalls one guy who literally was cleaning out his desk to start a new job and he never made it out. Another victim she was 19 and was at the towers for a company merger meeting (it lasted an hour) and was about to go downstairs to fly back home when it hit

 

[sb1]

Saw a 9/11 feature on NFLN. Melissa Stark still a smoke show at her age.

Wasn’t there a MNF game in Philly that year where something happened in the stands like a white smoke cloud going off people were very paranoid that it was an attack? Even Al Michaels said something about it

 

[sb1]

Only recently I heard the phone calls from the towers just at the moment of their death. I wish I hadn’t.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Tragic day
Rip all victims
World changed...our life too

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I really think 9/11 should be a day of remembrance and/or a federal holiday every year. Every business in the country should be closed. Get rid of labor day if needed.

 

[lancerman]

Probably the most formative world event of my lifetime. People throw around the term post 9/11 a lot, but it can’t be overstated how different America was before and after. We were all cut deep by that day.

I’ll never forget being in class and seeing teachers whispering to each other and at the end of the day being told “you all might hear some things when you go home today, just remember we have resources if you need it”. Then coming home to a quiet house and my somber mother. My grandmother was flying out of Logan that day, my family apparently spent all day making calls to make sure she was safe, thankfully they got confirmation before me and my sister were home.

I wish we could reverse time and go back to before when we didn’t all have the baggage of a National trauma like that weighing on the country. Maybe it’s my age, but there was something a little more optimistic and carefree about America that was lost that day.

 

[ashley]

To think that happened 20 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday, a young, frightened 9 year old girl watching in horror when I got home from school with my family the two towers collapsing. Such a sad day. I try to watch the tributes today but I can't hold back tears when watching all the families still suffering.

Never forget.

Ash

 

[Kontradiction]

Probably the most formative world event of my lifetime. People throw around the term post 9/11 a lot, but it can’t be overstated how different America was before and after. We were all cut deep by that day.

I’ll never forget being in class and seeing teachers whispering to each other and at the end of the day being told “you all might hear some things when you go home today, just remember we have resources if you need it”. Then coming home to a quiet house and my somber mother. My grandmother was flying out of Logan that day, my family apparently spent all day making calls to make sure she was safe, thankfully they got confirmation before me and my sister were home.

I wish we could reverse time and go back to before when we didn’t all have the baggage of a National trauma like that weighing on the country. Maybe it’s my age, but there was something a little more optimistic and carefree about America that was lost that day.

That’s crazy that your school didn’t let you watch it. The TVs came on in my second period class after the first plane hit. It was right as we were walking in. Minutes later, we saw the second plane hit live.