Where were you when the world stopped turning?

User avatar
Iowawolf
Master Hunter
Master Hunter
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 7:53 am
Realm: Moon Guard, Hati's Realm
Gender: Male
Location: Trueshot Lodge with Hati

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by Iowawolf »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2NXDJ4FabE

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day many years ago for me I was living in Iowa didn't even know it happened until I went and turned on the tv couldn't believe this had happened on our shore.
Image
User avatar
Teigan
Illustrious Master Hunter
Illustrious Master Hunter
Posts: 5164
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:05 am
Realm: Proudmoore (A), Thrall (H)
Gender: Male
Location: Somewhere in a cornfield

Re: Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by Teigan »

I was in college, living on campus. I woke up late, so didn't turn on the radio for the news, and rushed out the back door of the dorm that didn't lead through the tv lounge, and off to class. This was, remember, before cell phones were such a thing. The news and the world wasn't at our fingertips. At that point, the planes had already had crashed. While I was in class, taking notes about chemistry, the towers fell. I don't think anyone in class knew what had happened because everything seemed normal. I took the long way back to my dorm after class, savoring the perfect fall day. It was bright, sunny, just a little chilly. The sky was that luminous blue that you only see in the fall. The leaves were starting to turn. When I walked in the front door of my dorm, which opened in to the tv lounge, there was a huge group of students huddled around the tv and and they were dead silent. On the tv screen, there was the New York City skyline covered in smoke. I asked what had happened, and a young man turned to me and said numbly "the World Trade center is gone."

I watched the news with them for a while, and then used the old rotary phone bolted to the lounge wall, and called my mom. My dad answered, and I was so confused because he should have been at work. He was a scientist at the USDA at the time, and the lab had been shut down because no one knew if the attacks would continue and the threat seemed so great that even a small USDA lab in the middle of the Great Plains seemed to be at risk. It felt like the world had gone mad in an instant.

A friend came to find me and we sat outside the dorm, smoking cigarettes and staring at that blue, blue sky, wondering if the world was ending, if there would be more attacks, what would happen next. We didn't understand what was happening or how it could have happened.
User avatar
cowmuflage
Petopia Artist
Posts: 11993
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:00 pm
Realm: dath remar
Gender: female
Location: New zealand, auckland

Re: Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by cowmuflage »

I dunno. All I remember was seeing it on the news. I can't say it affected me all that much I mean it was an event on the other side of the world, I do remember thinking to myself "if something like this happened here would they of cared and would they of had it on their news? I'm not sure they would of"

I mean I was 11 at the time.
User avatar
Wain
The Insane
The Insane
Posts: 13511
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 1:54 am
Gender: Male

Re: Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by Wain »

I was up late in the evening, online, and a friend in the USA announced over the line "omg a plane just hit the World Trade Center". Everyone just figured it was an accident and nobody had any idea of the enormity of it at that time.
Shaman avatar by Spiritbinder.
User avatar
Ana
 Community Resource
 Community Resource
Posts: 18637
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:19 am
Realm: Light EU Twintania/ Azol-Nerub EU
Gender: Female
Location: Copenhagen- Denmark

Re: Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by Ana »

We lived in Sweden at the time and watched it on the television. I remember yelling out to husband who were in another room that something really bad had happened. I remember crying even though at the time I did not know anyone who lived in the Us... but the thought of so many ppl dying were terrible.. still is

Image

HUGE thanks to Makoes, Syleye, FeralClaw, Pingupuff, Karin,Bowno, Varethyn, Ashaine, Kishay, Aki (Täräin13), my friend Marie and some lovely ppl on Fligth Rising for my lovely sig

User avatar
Niabi
Master Hunter
Master Hunter
Posts: 1195
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:28 am
Realm: Greymane-H, Rexxar-A, Staghelm-A/H, Nesingwary-A/H
Gender: Female

Re: Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by Niabi »

My husband and I had just woken up to get ready for work. We often turn on the news at this time so we can receive traffic updates before we walk out the door. A plane had just hit one of the towers. The news reporters had very little information to work with. Was it an accident? Did the plane malfunction? Was the plane hijacked and why? How were they evacuating the people from the buildings?

Once we found out there was a high possibility of this being an act of terrorism, I grew deeply concerned as, at the time, my husband and I both worked at a highly popular, world-recognized, tourist destination. We made the drive down to work, listening as new information came and facts were presented. Once we arrived at work, there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty as to whether or not we would open to the public that day. We learned that the Pentagon had also been hit and I grew more and more uncomfortable at the idea that my husband and I were dab smack right at the center of what could very well be another potential target.

My superiors (my husband and I worked in different departments) insisted we prepare for the day as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on. At some point though, the head honchos of the company decided the risk was too high and that we would not be opening to the public. Everyone in my department was sent home and everyone who had yet to come in for their shifts, were called and told not to come in. My husband however, was not so lucky. He was a manager for his area and despite everyone else being able to go home, he was told to stick around and "let any tourists who show up know that we are closed for the day"! I was livid (not at him but at the situation). I knew them having him stay was bullshit! What!? You don't think the visiting tourists are going to be able to figuire it out on their own when they see the closed gates and lack of employees!? My husband is a lot nicer than I am about these kinds of things and stayed without much fuss. I also stayed and hatched a kidnapping act out in my mind should there be any sign of danger heading our way.

I think it was around this time I saw the second plane fly into the other tower. I watched helplessly as people from the top of the towers jumped to their deaths. I cried for them because I knew as they did, that jumping to their deaths was the only, possibly kinder, alternative. We knew that help could not reach them or would not come for them in time. I begged my husband to just leave ... that no job was worth the risk of his life. I didn't want us to be there if something sinister should go down. He just went about his activities, trying to keep himself busy while having nothing at all to do. I believe it was two or three HOURS later, he was told he could finally go home!

I spent the rest of the day watching the news and crying. My husband sat on the couch with me, consoling me as needed. We called out sick for the next couple of days so that I could recuperate. Our workplace was never hit with anything other than an occassional worded threat here and there (and still does every 9/11 since then). I still think about the what ifs of that day. I still think about all those people who lost their lives. I still wonder if anything like that or worse will happen again in the future. It gets easier to not dwell on these thoughts as much as more and more time passes by. But still, what if time is all that is needed to let our guard down again? It still affects me even to this day.

Image
Avatar & Signature by Jeydis
Come visit my lovely garden of dragons over at
Flight Rising

User avatar
Dead_Jackrabbit
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2018 12:05 am
Realm: Wyrmrest Accord
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Unread post by Dead_Jackrabbit »

I was seven years old at the time. I was so young but that day is imprinted so strongly in my mind. I lived in my hometown of Woodbridge Virginia at the time with my mom. She worked in Washington DC while I went to school just across the bridge in Virginia. It started like any normal morning. My mom dropped me off at my elementary school, kissed me goodbye and then left to make her morning commute to the city. I had my breakfast in the cafeteria, french toast and those little plastic boxes of cereal, and then went to class. I still remember sitting in my 2nd grade classroom and it was silent reading time, but we were allowed to do crafts too. I was always the creative type and I was coloring a crayon picture I drew of a dog which I always wanted when an administrator came over the intercom. I can't remember what she said because I was distracted talking to my friend, I just remember looking up and seeing the look of fear and dread on my teacher's face. All of a sudden, she told us we had to leave the classroom in a neat line and go to the gymnasium. I didn't understand what was going on. We were all kids so I think the staff was trying to keep us from panicking by staying quiet about the whole situation. All that did was frustrate me when they wouldn't answer my questions. Everyone was trying to get a hold of all the students' parents but the phone lines were down. I didn't start getting scared until I saw one of the adults have a breakdown and leave the room.

One of the older kids told us that the twin towers and the pentagon were hit by planes. I didn't believe them at first, but as more of the older kids began explaining the whole situation I realized they were serious. I watched each kid get picked up by their parents and sent home one by one but my mom never showed up. I didn't understand this at the time but the bridges to DC were closed and no one could enter or leave the city which meant my mom couldn't come home. It wasn't just me, lots of kids had family in DC and we were all kind of left behind as the other kids got to go home with their parents. Eventually my grandmother came to pick me up and I went home with her, so I guess they managed to contact her. My grandmother had the news on but turned it off when they started showing footage of people jumping out of the burning towers. She finally got a hold of my mother and put me on the phone with her, and I remember so much tension and fear leaving my body the moment I heard her voice. My mom had to explain to me that the bridges were closed and that she wouldn't be able to come home to Virginia for a few days. I didn't mind, I was just happy she was okay.

After that I just watched a movie and played with my pony dolls, way too young at the time to understand the severity of the events that day. When my mom finally came home to pick me up from my grandmother's house, we had a long talk in the car about what happened, but I couldn't fully process it until years later.
Post Reply