September 11 - My Memories (827 hits)
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Submitted by Rizzo (View user info) at 2006-09-09 21:53:17 EDT
I walked into the bathroom around 8:40. When I walked out, the world had changed.
Back in my office, every woman was around the radio. A plane had just struck the World Trade Center. How did that happen?
My mind raced with trivia. I knew that a military plane had once hit the Empire State Building. Could this have been a fluke? The radio was reporting that it was a prop plane. That made sense. Commercial planes didn't fly routes over Manhattan.
I called my dad and told him to turn on the TV. He was stoic as always, watching the building burn. We had no TVs at work. Every major Internet news site was slammed with traffic. We couldn't even get the pages to come up. I was working frantically to bypass the proxy servers to get a peek at what just happened.
"Oh my God," said my dad, calm as ever.
"What?"
"You're not going to believe this. Another plane. While I was just watching. Another plane, it hit the other tower. A big plane."
"We're being attacked, aren't we?"
No response from Dad.
The phones began to ring in the office like crazy. One of the employees had a husband who worked in the World Trade Center. We quickly found out he was working in Midtown that day. Thank God.
No TVs. No Internet sites. The radio was reporting worse and worse news.
We shut down telemarketing for the day. We were all informed that we were not allowed to leave work.
Back on the phone with Dad. Confirmed reports that the South Tower collapsed.
"What happened?"
"It's gone."
"You mean pieces of the building are falling off?"
"No, it's gone. Totally gone. It fell down. It's gone."
Another report from the office staff. A plane hit the Pentagon.
My heart sank. I was truly scared. We were being pummelled, the greatest country in the world. We were being beaten from within.
More reports. Planes in the air headed for Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles. Would Philly be hit? One Liberty Place evacuated. Two Liberty Place evacuated. The Capitol evacuated. Another plane in the air over Pennsylvania, headed straight for the Capitol. All commercial jets grounded. The president was in Florida making a speech. The vice president was in a bunker somewhere.
Around lunchtime I snuck out of the office and drove to Circuit City. The eeriest part of the day was looking at the sky and seeing no planes. None, like a horror movie. I pulled into Circuit City because I had to see what happened. I found the TV section. Two hundred TVs all tuned to ABC News. I got to watch it, the buildings, one by one fall to the ground. One hundred fifty people were in the TV section with me. One hundred fifty, and all in stunned silence as we watched America's destruction unfold.
I was the first to speak. Whoever was there must have written the movie Jarhead, because years later I sat in the movie theater and watched one of the characters utter this exact line, the one I uttered to all those people in Circuit City:
"We're going to fucking war."
Five years later, we're still at war. And sometimes I wonder if we're really winning.
I got a raise that day. I didn't even care.
User Reviews
Submitted by Timmaaaaah (user info) at 2007-01-10 05:17:03 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Not again, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-01-10 05:04:14 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
ha ha
Submitted by Quint (user info) at 2006-11-01 16:02:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I wrote the movie Jarhead. And yes, I was that guy at Circuit City getting talked into the stupid extended warranty (which incidentally was a fucking rip off).
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-11 17:50:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
well, we're not winning THAT war, since we decided to start a war up in Iraq
p.s. we're not winning that one either.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-09-11 16:44:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
fuck anything with 9/11 in the title
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-09-11 09:42:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-09-11 05:48:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
shamless link whore ---> http://www.ubersite.com/m/90913
Submitted by paint_it_black (user info) at 2006-09-11 04:38:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2006-09-11 04:24:49 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by dr_weazel (user info) at 2006-09-10 20:07:54 (#)
Ranking: -2
-2 for this little gem:
"the greatest country in the world."
Jesus fucking Christ, do you people REALLY believe this crap? How fucking brainwashed are you?
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not the smartest thing to say.
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what u gonna do?
bomb him and his family now?
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2006-09-11 04:24:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by dr_weazel (user info) at 2006-09-10 20:07:54 (#)
Ranking: -2
-2 for this little gem:
"the greatest country in the world."
Jesus fucking Christ, do you people REALLY believe this crap? How fucking brainwashed are you?
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not the smartest thing to say.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-09-10 21:12:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
GO EAGLES!
Submitted by AlexorGM (user info) at 2006-09-10 21:12:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by dr_weazel (user info) at 2006-09-10 20:07:54 (#)
Ranking: -2
-2 for this little gem:
"the greatest country in the world."
Jesus fucking Christ, do you people REALLY believe this crap? How fucking brainwashed are you?
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amen, brother.
Submitted by dr_weazel (user info) at 2006-09-10 20:07:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
-2 for this little gem:
"the greatest country in the world."
Jesus fucking Christ, do you people REALLY believe this crap? How fucking brainwashed are you?
Submitted by KindaNews (user info) at 2006-09-10 18:19:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-09-10 15:56:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by paint_it_black (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:26:39 (#)
Ranking: -2
My heart sank. I was truly scared. We were being pummelled, the greatest country in the world. We were being beaten from within.
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BWAHAHAHA H AH AH HA AHAH AHHAHAH AH AHA HA H!
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yeah, that part was terrible on so many levels, i don't even know where to begin.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-09-10 15:52:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
One hundred fifty, and all in stunned silence as we watched America's destruction unfold."""
America's DESTRUCTION!?
Four planes and a handful of buildings?
Wow, that's a little bit of a hyperbole right there.
At least, this should help you answer your interrogation. No, you are not winning the war. Because these people are ready to blow themselves up whereas you think your country was destroyed because of an attack, which when number in terms of loss of life and material, was pretty minimal. I'm not saying it wasn't tragic, but when you remove the emotions out of it, it was really just a tiny scrath to a giant's ankle.
Bin Laden was right when he said that the West is more vulnerable than it looks.
These people have nothing to lose, we do. And we like to show it.
Submitted by Chillax (user info) at 2006-09-10 08:30:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Forgot to rate.
Submitted by Chillax (user info) at 2006-09-10 08:29:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"Five years later, we're still at war. And sometimes I wonder if we're really winning.
I got a raise that day. I didn't even care."
Take a look at this:
"The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now - with somebody - and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives. It will be a Religious War, a kind of Christian Jihad...led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy.
We are going to punish someone for this attack, but just who will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows?...This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not garanteed - for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W Bush. All he knows...[is that] now that he, the goofy child-President has been chosen by Fate and the Global Oil Industry to finish it [the war] Now. He will declare a National Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why. If the guilty won't hold up their hands and confess, he and the Generals will ferret them out by force.
The numbers out of the Pentagon are baffling, as if Military Censorship has already been imposed on the media. It is ominous. The only news on TV comes from weeping victims and ignorant speculators. The lid is loose. Loose lips sink ships. Don't say anything that might give aid to the Enemy."
- Hunter S Thompson, writing on the *12th September 2001*
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2006-09-10 06:44:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Chazzy (user info) at 2006-09-10 06:31:25 (#)
Ranking: -2
"the greatest country in the world"
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wah. waaaaaah.
Submitted by Chazzy (user info) at 2006-09-10 06:31:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
"the greatest country in the world"
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2006-09-10 06:01:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I remember watching fox news (because I didn't have the comedy channel), and thinking I was watching a movie, which pissed me off, because that meant somebody had haxored my cable box and replaced the only channel I found remotely amusing with a made-for-tv movie channel.
"Why are they pretending it's a fox news report?" I wondered.
Eventually the penny dropped and I thought "holy fuck I need some pringles", rang some friends, pushed open the double doors that led into our bedroom and woke my wife.
We sat up for most of the night watching, and fox became a staple for the comedic relief provided through harrowing times by the likes of Bull O'Really and Shaun Insanity, from 9/11 to the sniper guy, the completely lawful invasion of Iraq and that Scott Peterson guy, who I'm sure sits in his cell at night thinking, "Fuck you O.J.". I especially liked those Taliban guys, like the envoy/ambassador to Pakistan guy with the eyepatch and his minder who looked like a mujahidin version of Jaws from James Bond.
I hang on their every word. They were awesome, sometimes I even thought fuck this could easily been Ali G. I remember one night servicing Mrs Ranger and hearing them through the aforementioned double doors. I pretended to change position and gently pushed against them with my outstretched foot so I could hear more easily. Almost immediately they closed softly together, blown by a breeze from an open kitchen door.
"Stupid fucking open kitchen door.." I thought, and again made a show of changing position, and AGAIN pushed against the doors with my foot, this time harder.
"Are you trying to listen to the tv Danger???" my wife asked in that incredulous oh fuck off you fucking are manner.....
i still can't believe she left me....
steve, e.d. brian.
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2006-09-10 05:29:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Two things.
1, I find it hard to believe that you counted all those people. And 2, I seriously doubt it was exactly one hundred and fifty. How much more of this is made up? The 200 tv's? Is that a lie too? And I looked on the map and there's no place called Circuit City, although I believe the Jarhead guy bit.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-09-10 04:41:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-09-10 02:22:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by whysenheimer (user info) at 2006-09-10 01:38:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by Levity (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:59:54 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:49:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
This post got slammed by alters.
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Said the alter.
and btw, this is the internet.
We are all alters.
And look at what I see before I post, as do you:
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Submitted by Levity (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:59:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:49:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
This post got slammed by alters.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:49:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This post got slammed by alters.
Submitted by paint_it_black (user info) at 2006-09-09 23:26:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
My heart sank. I was truly scared. We were being pummelled, the greatest country in the world. We were being beaten from within.
------------------------
BWAHAHAHA H AH AH HA AHAH AHHAHAH AH AHA HA H!
Submitted by whysenheimer (user info) at 2006-09-09 22:28:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I was the first to speak. Whoever was there must have written the movie Jarhead, because years later I sat in the movie theater and watched one of the characters utter this exact line, the one I uttered to all those people in Circuit City:
"We're going to fucking war."
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Amazing insight. I'm sure the screenwriter was indeed there, and felt incredibly lucky to have overheard your breathtaking analysis, as no one on earth could have possibly formed the words in such a compelling manner.
Hollywood wants YOU to write for the movies. Get to LA right now, you genius, you.
btw, the film is about the Gulf War (1990) and based on a memoir from 2002, and the line was not new.
Its first documented utterance was by Silas "Bubba" Eudell, just before he left to fight in the Revolutionary War.
Submitted by Maltese (user info) at 2006-09-09 22:11:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I always thought you were an Aussie. Huh.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-09-09 22:00:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I remember begging my friends who work in Center City to get out of the city. They did.
That front page of the Inquirer is burned in my memory.