September 11th...5 Years Later

[J-Dude]

Come Midnight (where I am), it will have been 5 years since that fateful day, September 11th 2001. A day of sadness, a day of anger, but mostly a day of brotherhood with our fellow man. It was a day where the world saw evil in its most despicable form, and stood up to help, to save, to rebuild and to love.

I hear a lot of people saying things like that the American government orchestrated the attack. I've also heard people from other countries tell us that the tragedy of the World Trade Center was nothing, and that we should get over it, that we're crybabies who can hit, but not be hit.

I ignore them as best as I can. Because whatever they say, I know the great growth we all went through on 9/11 was real. It was a miracle of the human conscience. Ordinary people becoming heroes, helping each other, total strangers for no other reason than that it was the right thing to do.

I feel it's important...no...it's essential that we remember the kind of goodness that can exist in this world. That we can indeed forget our petty differences in the name of the greater good. I remember seeing a lot of good that day.

I decided to make my own homage to the day, recognizing both the good, and the bad.

http://respect911.ytmnd.com/

This is a 3D rendering I made of the WTC after the strike, standing alone under the magnificent, cloudless blue sky of that day. I worked as hard as I could to make the towers true to life, and to make the smoke true to life as well. I didn't have the heart or time to add anything like the holes or damaged sections. I also positioned the towers properly to each other and put the Sun on the same side, and used light tracer to simulate the light. I was glad since the building's materials include pure white that the lighting was correct enough to show the orange-beige glow from the Sun.

As a hopeful addition, I added a lens flare on the top right (not the Sun) to act as angelic heavenly light shining on the towers. Finally, I added a message in the space with Photoshop.

This ytmnd includes part of the theme to the movie "World Trade Center" in the background.

This is my own way of respecting the people lost that day. I hope it's adequate in honoring them.

I will never forget...


(PS: This is NOT a political discussion. Anyone with anti-US sentiments or political ideals, check your baggage at the door)

 

[|Overlord|]

I was actually watching Path to 9/11 last night (1st part of it, 2nd part is aired tonight). A pretty interesting series of events leading up to/prior to the September 11 attacks.

And to think already it's been 5 years since it happened, I still remember the day it happened and I stayed home from school watching all the hype about attacks on television, but then again so were most of the schools, I was home sick.

 

[Sonic the Vampire]

I was off sick that day too. I got up earlier than I expected to and mom told me to turn on the TV, fast. I thought it was an Earthquake, but I flipped on the TV just in time to see the first tower fall. I think I sat and watched TV for two days after that in disbelief.

 

[Xenith]

I agree that the events that took place on the 11th brought American's together in the best way possible, but I also think that same brotherhood created a huge mess soon afterwards. We were united in helping one another, we were united in giving our liberties away, and we were united in attacking soverign nations. I'm not anti-US, I'm not pro-US. I just think we're worse off as a nation, as a people, after 9/11.

Be that as it may, there is no amount of words that can clearly describe how proud I was of America and NY that day. The city everyone said was *******s and people who were rude or were snobs immediately began protecting each other and saving each other's lives the moment they realized what was happening. Some might say it was just human instinct, but I believe its more than that. After centuries of cohabitation with people from all over the world, NYers are closer to one another than most would like to admit. It's that unity, that ability to live with so many people from so many nations and backgrounds that allowed countless lives to be saved that day.

Its ok to show respect for those who lost their lives, but don't forget about the people who survived and the people who continue to suffer today because of that fateful day. More than 60% of those who were there for extended periods of time now suffers from some respiratory ailment they didn't have before. The firemen, the policemen, the medics, and most importantly the average NYer are all heroes.

 

[Arthos]

Concrete Dust kills.


And alot of it was released. The Death toll caused by the events of that day will continue.


As for me, I was walking to english class in highschool that day. For better or for worse, we were changed.

Thats all I will say on this matter.

I'm also keeping an eye on this thread for moderation purposes. No offense, but subjects like this are, unfortuantely, a flashpoint.

 

[J-Dude]

@Arthos: I'll do whatever I can to keep people from mouthing off. Like I said, people need to check their baggage at the door.

~~~~

I was in 8th grade when it hapenned. It was about six/seven O'clock when my little brother woke me up harriedly, telling me I had to get up because an airplane had crashed into a building.

He overreacted at things so much back then I felt angry that he'd bugged me like that because of some local news story he'd seen while flipping through cartoons. I got up to humor him because he wasn't leaving me alone.

I went downstairs and saw my Mom drinking coffee while staring at the tv shaking her head in disbelief. I looked on the tv and didn't recognize the towers at first. I thought it was downtown L.A. I knew the Twin Towers existed, but I always remembered the Empire State Building better.

When it finally hit me as to what I was looking at, I was amazed that such a thing had occurred to such a large building. I thought it was an accident until they rolled the videos of the crashes that had hapenned only thirty minutes before.

It dawned on me that this was no accident, but I couldn't think of who would do such a thing on purpose. I only learned the name Osama Bin Laden that day.

A long time passed without incident for what I could tell of the reports. My Dad had joined us while I was getting ready for school. We all thought that was the end of it. I offerred to my Dad that the top of Tower 2 might slide off, seeing how the 767 had pactically sliced it in half.

I remember how confident he was that the towers were too structually sound to be too terribly damage. None of us figured the fire-proofing material had been blown off and that the steel was weakening. By the time I had to go to school, we saw Tower 2 fall.

I thought from the news coverage that I had been right, because the top of the tower had certainly pried loose and had totally disconnected. I didn't know that under all that dust, that the tower had continued collapsing like dominoes and that it was gone.

I arrived at school and met with my two best friends, each of whom had been watching beforehand as well. We raced to the library where the librarian had turned on the television, and several students had crammed inside.

It came as a shock to me to see that the tower I had witnessed was totally gone, not just the top. Taking that in was a mind-job. We were there in time to see the first tower go down as well. I remember one of my friends shouting "No!", and I remember being so overcome with anger for reasons I still don't understand, that I plowed my fist as hard as I could into the carpet and bruised my knuckles.

When we went to class, nobody, not one teacher was in the mood to begin class. The principal had ordered them all to turn on the television sets. There was so much to say, and yet nobody said anything. I think my first period teacher was crying. The principal spoke to us over the intercom to console us all, and asked us to join him in a moment of silence and prayer (keep in mind, this is a public school).

Throughout the whole day, we all sat in horrific wonderment. We all scanned the horizons during our lunch and recess, having heard a rumor of a 5th plane heading towards Los Angeles. It was totally silent that day. All airflights had been grounded, airports closed, which had not hapenned in American history.

I remember coming home and seeing the image of the wreckage at the tower's base at ground zero. The picture of floodlights filtering through the dust, while a section of twisted casing from the tower's shell reached into the air will be *****ded in my mind forever.

Of all memories I've ever had, nothing shook me like 9/11.

 

[Kurt`]

Yay, CNN airing unedited original broadcast of that day from 8am to midnite...

 

[Arthos]

I appreciate that J-Dude. Moderation is not just in the hands of the moderator, but also in those of the forumers.

Such is the world we live in, that monsters like this exist. Perhaps our policies created such people, but perhaps not. That is for scholars and historians to debate. All that matters is that I personally believe we get our just vengeance. Unfortunately... we're looking in all the wrong places.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

Wow 5 years. I remember it like it was yesterday too. I was in ninth grade, a freshman in Prout (stfu Kurt). And it was 9 am. My Gym teacher didn't show up, and no one understood why, until kids told us that the new york wtc had been hit by an airplane. It was surreal, and at first i didn't believe it, but then I got home. A very sad day for me. Because thousands of people died. But also one of the happiest days of my life, I think I gave my father the biggest hug that day, knowing that my father, a captain for United Airlines, wasn't on those flights. He lost 2 of his best friends that day. Nice ytmnd.

 

[Grega]

T'was a sad day. Not cause it was the WTC or the US. I dont care about that. What i do care about is the people who died. So many dead for some stupid strike against the US.

Makes me wonder why god ever made humanity.

Oh well as much as i dont suport the current US government. I salute all that died in that tragedy.

 

[Skiwan]

I was walking home from school when it happened, i was quite shocked when i saw it on the news, maybe i was too detached from the situation but it didnt feel real to me.

 

[Random]

I was at work and saw right after the first plane hit on my break. I was amazed, like i was watching an action movie. When it sank in that it was real, such a terrible feeling came over me. To see actual people jumping out the windows to thier death. I can only imagine the terror going through thier minds. I hear the new Freedom tower is going to be the strongest building ever created. Not to mention the tallest building in the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Tower

 

[Jariroth]

Everyone probably hates me after this, but i didn't really care much... I was only happy that it didn't happen somewhere near. Thinked about it a couple of hours and then i was off to other things... Well i was only 13 years old and just entered new school, so i had other things more important.

 

[Random]

Everyone probably hates me after this, but i didn't really care much... I was only happy that it didn't happen somewhere near. Thinked about it a couple of hours and then i was off to other things... Well i was only 13 years old and just entered new school, so i had other things more important.

Hardly something to hate someone over. Atleast your honest. I heard people making sick jokes about it and stuff the day after. I was amazed. Alot of America wanted vengence after that day. I just want people to stop killing people.:S

 

[DiebytheSword]

I was at work when it happened, and I worked at Aventis Pasteur, a large manufacturer of vaccines. Our factory had enough variola virus to start a Smallpox plague, and when they couldn't find flight 93, and only knew it was lost somewhere over Pennsylvania, there where fears that it might have been heading towards our factory. They sent us all home early as a result. It's a day I'll never forget. I lost two cousins in the trade center, and 5 of my other relatives were in the tower or worked near enough to it that it concerned me. I didn't find out about them for many days, but at least five of my seven returned.

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Your first day of school is not more important than the horrific deaths of 5000 people. NOTHING is more important than that. But you were young, that is probably the main reason you felt detachment.

Me, I had a much more terrifying experience. You see I started watching the news very early; since I live in Boston it was live coverage. It was just after the first plane hit the first tower. The newsmen, the authorities, everyone involved...no one suspected anything more than it being a terrible accident.

Then, in the middle of live coverage, the second plane hit. And the whole tone changed. First they thought it was an uncanny coincidence; then the reports of the other two planes came in. And it was then that people started to realize that the whole thing was done intentionally.

The way this was realized was interesting, because it was only because someone argued with the terrorists over a parking space at the overcrowded Logan Airport in boston, that anybody found out anything. The unmarked van that these people had been in was searched and sure enough, the flight manuals and other evidence were made apparent.

The towers didn't collapse until well after I had started watching the news. The first one did so without warning; a live news reporter was nearby, unaware of what had started to happen. I saw a man--an average man, not a policeman or a fireman--tackle her and hold her against a wall, covering her with his jacket, while the camera man backed away quickly, getting the shot of the tower falling.

Living in Boston it hit close to home; both of those planes had come out of Logan Airport. Some National Guardsmen and swat teams patrolled the city for many days afterward, watching for potential threats, hunting down the trail of those discovered. At one point I was in Copley Square as Swat teams raided a the big hotel there, forcibly clearing me and my best friend from the area along with many many others. Seeing the heavily armed people running by me like that, it almost felt as if we were at war.

Those first few days afterward were very sobering. The terrorists had been living in my hometown of East Boston for a long time before the attacks; they had gone to flightschool with a friend of mine from college. I had probably walked by those guys on the street; stood behind them in line at a store, or driven next to them in traffic.

I have always had very little faith in the american people the last ten years or so. But that day showed me another side--that deep down the pure-heartedness of the american people still lives on. That ordinary men and women risked their lives to aid other people, some of whom they'd never even known; would that happen anywhere else? In some places, it's plenty possible. But in America you KNEW it would happen, because to Americans on the day it HAD to happen. Because that is what you do. That is the American thing to do.

In the days and weeks after 9/11 people seemed to no longer be concerned with each other's differences. It has been said a million times, but after 9/11 we were no longer separated by race, creed, or religion. In a way I think it brought out the best in a lot of people.

So people keep touting this vengeful "Never forget" stuff. Honestly, they are encouraging you to remember the destruction and the losses. Me--I won't ever forget Septemeber 11, 2001, but for different reasons.

I will never forget the people who managed to use their cell phones to get located and rescued several days after the collapse.

I will never forget two men who risked their lives to carry a woman in a wheelchair down from one of the highest floors in the building.

I will never forget the public servants, the police and fireman and national guardsmen, who tirelessly dug into mountain after mountain of debris even days later on even the slightest shred of hope of finding survivors.

I'll never forget that guy who tackled that unwitting reporter woman against the wall and protected her with his own body.

Most of all I will never forget this picture:

I think it says it all -- that, underneath it all, this is what being American is all about.

 

[wheres_]

Can't say this affected me all that much, people don't fly planes into buildings over nothing. I'm sorry if that sounded really harsh or offended anyone, it's just my opinion.

It's sad though, very sad.

 

[Optimus Prime]

"It has been said a million times, but after 9/11 we were no longer separated by race, creed, or religion. In a way I think it brought out the best in a lot of people.

Yah sure, if you ignore all the Muslims who were racially slurred, whose school buses were stoned by their fellow Americans, and whose children were beaten up and bullied in school at an unprecedented rate, after Al Qaeda took responsibility for the attacks. Then yeah, I guess it brought out the best in some people.

I'm not here to stomp on this thread. But not all the aftermath of 9/11 was holding hands and singing camp songs. And it would be a shame to sit here and reflect on the events of 9/11 and pretend like what I just said prior never happened, and only remember how Americans were all "united as one under stripes and stars".

 

[Skiwan]

Your first day of school is not more important than the horrific deaths of 5000 people. NOTHING is more important than that. But you were young, that is probably the main reason you felt detachment.

I think what he ment was what was relevant to him, see I bet you dont have anywhere near the same response everytime one of those 3rd world countries has a huge earthquake/hurricane/volcano erruption etc, and hundreds/thousands of them die, I bet you cant remember the dates nevermind what you were doing on those days.

There's nothing "American" about helping eachother in a crisis, do you think everytime something bad happens in other countries they do **** all to help eachother? Its human, not American. I know patriotism is bred into all Americans from birth, but for once, with something as significant as this disaster I'd wished that you all figured out that it doesnt matter what country we're all from, we're all the ****ing same, once you realise pride doesnt have to be about your nationality, thats when society can really progress, and you'll realise what real liberty and freedom is about.

Im sorry to derail this thread in any way, or offend anybody, but its by far the most insulting thing when somebody claims that helping each other is something unique to their own country, like the rest of us are ****ing savages or something.

Pride your last line should have read "I think it says it all -- that, underneath it all, this is what being human is all about."

 

[Random]

Yah sure, if you ignore all the Muslims who were racially slurred, whose school buses were stoned by their fellow Americans, and whose children were beaten up and bullied in school at an unprecedented rate, after Al Qaeda took responsibility for the attacks. Then yeah, I guess it brought out the best in some people.

I'm not here to stomp on this thread. But not all the aftermath of 9/11 was holding hands and singing camp songs. And it would be a shame to sit here and reflect on the events of 9/11 and pretend like what I just said prior never happened, and only remember how Americans were all "united as one under stripes and stars".

I thought you live In Canada? What makes you think you know anything about the U.S. That type of stuff you mentioned is not limited to America alone. Go look at the dark pages of your own Country. Besides you think that stones getting thrown at a School Bus compares to this?http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/victims_list.htm