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#1901 | Tuesday, September 10th 2002
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I was at work when I heard about the attacks on WTC.
My partner phoned me, as he was at home and told me what had happened as he was watching it unfold on the TV in front of him, all I wanted to do was get home and hug him.
I just could not believe it until I actually saw the pictures myself and was so shocked and horrified, it was like watching scenes from a film.
When I left work and got home (it was our anniversary) we just sat and watched the TV screen and watched the scenes be repeated over and over again. I just hugged him and cried for ages. There are many images that have been imprinted on my mind forever from that day.
My heart truly broke for all the victims and their families.
My partner was due to fly to NY with his company on that day from the UK, but he changed jobs a few weeks before hand. I am so lucky he made that decision, I just cannot begin imagine the desolation the families must feel. I hope they find solace in the thought that all of our prayers are with them.
Our anniversary will always now represent something much more important and much more symbolic for America and the rest of the world. We have in fact ‘moved’ our anniversary date, as it is not a day we wish to celebrate, it is a day that will remain tinged with both absolute sorrow, but also with hope and unity for the future. I find it so hard to understand why people, other human beings would chose to inflict such pain and suffering on other people.
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Louise | 21 | United Kingdom
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#1890 | Tuesday, September 10th 2002
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I was on a plane and it became the scariest longest day of my life. I was supposed to be on flight 93 but thank God I over slept
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melissa | 21 | Germany
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#1764 | Sunday, September 8th 2002
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I was going to college in Berkeley CA and didn't have radio, television, internet, or the morning paper. I found out about the towers at 10 AM in my first class. We sat in a circle and talked about what we knew, where our families were, and cried together. After class I bought any newspapers I could find, and then went to a cafe that had their radio playing the news. I was so in shock and everything was going so quickly that I used my laptop to type up all the news at it came through, so that I could read it later when it would make sense (as much sense as anything like this could make). I cut the rest of my classes that day. Went back to my apartment, and stayed inside. Called my parents and grandfather to see if they were all OK. My sister had her 15th birthday that day, she's not looking forward to celebrating this year.
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ACB | 21 | California
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#1762 | Sunday, September 8th 2002
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School had just started in late August at Mercer University in Macon, GA. At the time the first plane hit, I was probably asleep or lying in bed awake in my dorm room, dreading going to my first class at 9:25. It was in that class that I first heard that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I didn't think much about it at the time.
That class ended at 10:40 and I went to my next class. When I entered the building, I noticed a hubbub among some of the students, but I didn't think much about that either and I continued on to the classroom. Someone was watching the television in the upper right hand corner of the room, and that's when I saw the first gaping hole. And said to myself "Oh, this looks bad" but I wasn't thinking terrorist attack. I was thinking it was an accident, even though the sky was clear blue.
I didn't hear anybody else mention anything about terrorist attacks, but I wasn't paying much attention to what anybody had to say at that moment. I could only see one tower because of all the smoke getting in the way, so I didn't realize that the other one had been hit as well.
The rest of my classmates and the professor entered the room, wide-eyed, sat down and stared at the screen just like I did. We watched the first tower fall, and I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me or what. My mind didn't immediately register that the tower was falling until I heard this gasp from someone in the room.
Then there was news about the Pentagon being hit and we saw those pictures, and then there were news reports/rumors that Camp David had been hit. Thank goodness that one turned out to be false.
Then we had to watch the second tower fall, and sometime during all this a letter was distributed around campus from the President of the university stating that our classes were cancelled for the day and that there would be a memorial service in the university chapel. I'm not much for religion, but I went because I felt like I had to do something. After the ceremony, I stayed glued to the television set all day long, then all week long, then all month long, and to this day the only thing I really watch on television is the 24 hour news channels.
After that day, we talked about what happened in class for the next couple of days. I remember being pissed off, I didn't even grieve until well after a week of the tragedy. I was too angry and I wanted to hit back at someone.
One thing that has changed for me is my interest in international affairs. I knew some of what happened outside of US borders before the attacks, but my interest really started to peak after this, especially in regards to the Middle East. I can't say I was surprised at the attack, though. I'd seen the "Death to America" chants and ritual US flag-burning in the Middle East on special reports on ABC, NBC, etc for years, so I figured it was just a matter of time, especially when the writing seemed to be on the wall after the embassy bombings and the USS Cole bombing and the towers and the first WWC bombing.
Now I've just heard about some Al Queda guys who were interviewed on Al-Jazeera revealed that the original plan was to attack nuclear plants. In light of that, we were actually lucky that we got the Sept. 11 that we did as a wakeup call, bad as it was. Now I hope the government can prevent them from carrying out those original plans, but I just have a bad feeling. I've become much more cynical of the world and I don't trust anyone outside of family and friends. I don't know who to trust or believe and so I've resigned myself not to trust or believe anyone--not our government, not the European Union, or the UN, or anybody else.
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Kori | 21 | Georgia
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#1760 | Sunday, September 8th 2002
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I was at work in Leeds, England. It was around 14:15 and my phone rang. I answered as I usually did. "Good afternoon. Lloyds TSB Business and Commercial. Paul Speaking." On the other end of the phone my brother tells me that two planes have crashed into the WTC.
I spent 5 minutes telling my brother to hang up and let me get back to work as the whole idea was preposterous. The only thing that was going through my mind was that he was getting me back for playing a practical joke on him on national radio where I won a camera. I thought he was doing the same thing to me. I waited for the DJ to come on and say whether he'd won or not. She never did.
Five minutes into the call my brother pursudes me to turn my radio on. as soon as I did I dropped the pen I was holding and for about 30 seconds I didn't talk or move. I let my brother go and started to tell the people in my team what had happened. I had to give my radio to all of them to prove what I was saying.
Word then spread around the office. Customers were filling us in over the phone as we had no TV and I couldn't sit there listening to my radio all day.
Then the towers collapsed.
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Paul | 21 | United Kingdom
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