I was in week 7 or 8 of unemployment and my friend called and told me to get to a TV (which I didn't have at the time). I drove to my parents' house and the second plane hit while I was in the car. I was pretty much glued to the TV the rest of the day.

It was as much of an attack on america as was Pearl Harbor in my mind. Hell, I was studying International Relations and living with a bunch of International students, who were basically shocked that the USA had been attacked in such a manner. I don't even recall too many arabic students being against our invasion of Afghanistan.

wait haq's running for office?

I'd vote for him. But only if he still talked to me on IM.

Right, so if you believe symbols of our country are in fact our country, then the statement makes more sense. I guess I don't. In the end I guess it's semantic--"our country is under attack by terrorists" implied a more sustained effort. I'm not saying we weren't attacked, she just put it in the grandest terms possible, because that was her tendency.

Sorry if I don't sufficiently prostrate myself before a solemn "thread of rememberence."

But I think that 9/11 is readily distinguishable from Pearl Harbor, in that Japan was a distinct foreign sovereign in cahoots with other military powers that had demonstrated the will and ability to spread their political rule to other sovereigns.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Pearl Harbor was black and white, and 9/11 a little bit gray. It was funny, I read the other responses before yours, and I kind of had to realize that I think about most issues through the prism of how you can sell it. So, in essence I fall kind of in the middle on these issues, but I also don't really care about that, because I see things in how they are framed or can be framed. Kind of strange.

Again, semantics, but I will disagree with you, and to be honest, the Bush administration on this point.

Al-queda, while not a sovereign country is an organization with political and military wings not unlike a government. They had previous to 9/11 stated a declaration of war against the United States and its people and had acted thusly in the various attacks leading up to 9/11. They have also stated the goal of establishing a state or states reflecting their worldview.

So why then have we not declared war on Al-queda, the organization responsible for 9/11 and the other attacks and the organization who has declared war on us instead choosing to declare war on a series of beliefs and methods known as "terrorism"

i didn't have class that day, so i was still asleep. my roommate came in and said, "thought you might want to know that planes have flown into the world trade center and the pentagon." it didn't really register right away, so i said, "that sucks," and was ready to go back to sleep until remembered that my dad was in D.C. for a conference. we spent the rest of the day worrying about him and my roommate's brother who is an NYC cop, and we went down the the union and watched the coverage on the huge movie screen they have there - that's when they were still showing the bodies jumping out of the buildings. everyone was crying and in shock.

I remember sitting in class that morning, the day after my birthday (I was a junior in high school). It was my American Studies class. I was sitting next to a kid name Dave, whom I wasn't really friends with but we had spoken a few times. Anyway at around 9:30 the assistant dean came in and told Dave to report to her office, to which Dave responded "Jeez, how did I get in trouble already." Class ended around 9:50 and I wandered to the student lounge like I usually did at that time, and the TV was on. That's when I first learned what had happened. I watched the first tower fall in utter disbelief.

We had an all school meeting at around 10:05 and the headmaster talked to us briefly about what was happening. Once that got out we all went and gathered around the closest TVs we could find.

That's when I saw the second tower fall.

I heard Dave's brother Steve yelling behind me and turned around to see him sobbing while a bunch of people tried to comfort him. That's when I learned that Dave's father worked in Tower 2. That's when I learned that Dave's father worked for Cantor Fitzgerald.

I went home and watched TV until I didn't have the strength left to watch those replays anymore.

Two weeks later when football and other sports returned, I watched as Howie Long eulogized Dave's father during the pre-game broadcast (they had apparantly been college friends and teammates). And I cried.

I'll never forget any of that as long as I live.

This is something I wish I could forget

but they weren't mere symbolic targets. They took on symbolism, but they hit two of the most important financial buildings in the country, the home of our military intelligence and were headed for the fricken white house. Not to mention the 3,000 people.

if they wanted to blow up symbols they would have gone for the liberty bell and the statue of liberty.

this may be a small "things will never be the same moment" but i remember watching an Eagles game a few monhts into the season when things had started to feel a little normal. Somene accidentally sprayed some pepper spray and the Eagles bench got a wiff of it and BOOKED to the other side of the field mid play. Everyone assumed there was another attack. I think a few months before everyones reaction would have been, "what's that weird smell?"

i forgot about that completely.


and Jewels, don'e sell attacks on the Liberty Bell short. Remember that whackjob with the sledge hammer?

I remember the Nebraska-Rice football game being one of the first sporting events to be played after 9-11. ESPN broadcasted it on a Thursday night and they had a whole ton of patriotic stuff like having the Firemen, Police and ROTC people doing the tunnel walk instead of the players, who were already on the sideline. It was unreal, I remember tearing up during the anthem, and that never happens to me.

At work- going from floor to floor, taking vital signs when the news hit.

I was in a tower-like building in Houston that is actually a twin of another building next to it (in the Greenway Plaza area right behind Osteen's church). There are only 31 floors though. We all watched CNN in disbelief and were sent home early.

i was watching the zapruder film and eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

Driving my pitiful little car to my shitty new job.

The radio had an AP feed of someone on the phone who had called in from a near-by building in NYC, describing the first crash (which was described as a "small personal plane"), and then she got silent, said "oh god no" and then you could hear the second plane crash in the background.

damn you really are embarrasing, on so many levels. uh huh, they were real unsophisticated. those that loss family might disagree.

and yeah, my crappy house happens to be nicer than anything you'll probably ever be able to afford. ever. so yeah, you're damn right i care about it.

good luck in your struggle.

yikes. I'm pretty embarrassed by that

this is plain retarded (part about the house). haq is above saying anything but you do understand he is attending one of the best law schools in the country?

yeah, and still.

the porn industry is the largest money making industry in the world...(er, so I've heard-but definitely NOT seen).

yeah dalen...do you know WHO HE IS?