9/11 - Ten years on

[Nintendo]

I remember September 2001 quite vividly, because it was one of the worse days and months of my life.


After having just broken up with my first fiancé (on my birthday, the 13th of August) I was a broken 23 year old man. I didn't know what to do with my life anymore, because all I ever knew was Ayako.


She was my world and I was hers, but I unfortunately I was one of those douche bag type of guys back then.


Anyway, fast-forward to late August 2001 when I finally decided to quit my crappy full-time job and sell all my video games I was ready to move on from the break-up.


Incidentally, mid 2000 I had read about the successor to the N64 (Project Dolphin) in EDGE Magazine, so I also had an excuse to restart my video game collection and head off to Japan again to attend Project Dolphin's (Nintendo GameCube) 14th of September launch.


Fast-forward once more to around September 7th when I touched-down in Akihabara, Tokyo. Japan wasn't new to me, because I had already previously been there twice prior, but I must admit that back then I didn't know how to read or write in Japanese and only knew a few Japanese phrases, etc.


With only around $2000 in my pocket, I was in a dangerous situation, but I accepted the fact that the trip was totally unplanned and disorganized.


Anywho~ Long story-short...My Nintendo GameCube holiday was stopped short by terror. Shortly after the 14th of September 2001, I flew home to cry for those who lost their lives on September 11.


We will never forget.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Damn it, you beat me out. I'm the American here.


Anyway, let's all recognize those who bravely fought for the lives of others, be they at the Towers, the Pentagon, or the field in Pennsylvania. That last plane was headed for the White House, by the way, but some guys took the plane from the terrorists and crashed it into the ground.


This event changed history like turning on a switch. We will never forget those involved.


Yeah, I know there's a big conspiracy theory, but let's leave that for another time.


With that in mind, this would be a good time to share your 9/11 stories.


On that day, I still lived in New York City. My dad's apartment actually had a view of the Towers. I was six years old, in school (very close to my home), when my mom came in and picked me up. She had a distressed look on her face, and I didn't know why; rather than immediately going home, though, we stopped at a friend's house. Shortly after, we went home for the day. I think my dad might have left work, too, not sure. Though my mom had considered moving to the Hamptons for a while (much better place to raise a kid than New York City), 9/11 was the trigger. Not long after, we began the process more seriously. Unfortunately, the relationship between my parents began to deteriorate around the same time, but that's another story...

 

[ZXDunny]

I've been reading around the web about the response to 9/11 that America embarked upon, and it's quite surprising. Yes, there's a lot of sadness as people remember those who lost their lives, but one comment on Slashdot sums up pretty much the prevailing attitude I'm seeing:

The terrorists won, beyond their wildest dreams (Score:5, Insightful)


by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 11, @01:39PM (#37367620)








They got us good. They caused the equivalent of a cytokine storm, a massive autoimmune response. We lost important freedoms, likely for good, and bankrupted ourselves financially and otherwise. The world hates us, our economy is in the toilet, the government is hopelessly corrupt, and we STILL haven't won, because no one really wins asymmetric warfare short of turning the insurgents and their country into a smoking glass crater. They did to us what we did to the Soviets not 20 years ago, and we fell for it.

Which gained a surprising lack of retorts convicting the author of being non-patriotic or even just nasty, and the entire thread seems to support this view.


Truly sad that the terrorists really did win a convincing victory that day.


D.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Hot damn, you're right, I hadn't looked at it that way.

 

[Orion4874]

I was in work already when it started. Stopped into a 7-11 for coffee and people where talking about a plane hitting one of the towers. I immediately assumed it was 1 or 2 people in a small prop plane or something. That was until I turned on the radio that is. Listening to the Howard Stern show that morning reveiled how serious this actually was. My daily travels bring me all over New Jersey and on that day I ended down by the Jersey shore. Almost a hundred miles away from NY and you could still see the smoke from where I was. Surreal doesn't begin to descibe it!


Anyway, a few days later I was in north NJ, basically on the other side of the Hudson. Besides the presence of surgical masks on alot of faces you really could notice the glazed over looks and the zombie-like motion that people were walking in. It's definitely something that will never be forgotten by anyone who was alive to remember it.

 

[DaMummy]

i laughed at the reaction of america getting 3 or so of their buildings hit, at the same time realizing how easy it is to knock the biggest ones down, and that its true that the bigger you are, the harder you fall

 

[Blue Protoman]

It's not a question of the buildings being hit. The towers were well-designed, actually. The issue is the lives lost, and the sheer impact of it all. We had no indication of this coming. Also, the Pentagon isn't that tall.

 

[DaMummy]

 

[Binky]

Also don't forget those who are still suffering from cancer because of the asbestos that was spread out as dust when the WTC 1&2 came down.

 

[Orion4874]

Your lack of compassion surprises me and is sad to say the least. What exactly is this post supposed to mean? More people died in other disasters so who cares about this one? There's people that remember and honor each of those on your little list, so we shouldn't because only 3,000 people died? Maybe if someone you knew or cared about had been involved then you'd be able to show that you actually give a damn!


BTW, you actually helped me because I wanted to write something about your first post, being you thought it was funny and all, but I decided against it.

 

[DaMummy]

actually the one right after the 9/11 happened right in my backyard

 

[Orion4874]

I am very sorry that you were affected by that tragedy. It sucks that these things happen but I would be forced to speak up if someone made light of that or any other disaster, especially when innocent lives were lost.

 

[fusion_power]

IMHO every Human life is worth the same. So of course I feel sorry for all the 9/11 deaths. It was a terrible and coward act of terrorism.


But we shouldn't forget, that there are also many other victims in this World, victims of War and Terror, victims of hunger, Dictators and failed Countries or Countries where the gouvernment made wrong decissions. Some people tend to forget this sometimes. 9/11 for example caused much more victims than just the ones in New York. many innoncent people died, not only Soldiers, later in Afghanistan or Iraq.


And there are also Countries where many people unnauraly die but nobody notice it or nobody cares. This makes me sad, I really with they also would have the medial attention like the WTC Terror had and still has. But the medial focus can be very selective, sadly.

 

[Nintendo]

I'm just glad that terrorists didn't strike during the September 11 commemorations, because if they had done so it would have been the dumbest move, as security was heightened during the event...which was probably why they couldn't get away with it in the first place.

 

[WizardStan]

What bothers me is that airports across North America (or at least 100% of the sampling I heard of (friends of mine got married that weekend which involved a few people flying home on the Sunday)) were surprisingly empty. Not empty empty, but from what I heard there was definitely a lot fewer people than even a few days before. The only thing I can conclude, helped along by a few people who made comments as such, is that people were afraid to fly.


If you are afraid to do something because of terrorists then that is the very definition of the terrorists winning.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Not to mention that they inspired our former president to go to war. How did we pay for that? Not with taxes, actually; with foreign bonds. It's almost like a loan to/from a government. Problem is, if we can't pay them back, every single American citizen is FUCKED. Money will collapse, and nobody will be able to borrow anymore. And if we just print more money, it'll be like Germany in the 1930's.

 

[Nintendo]

IMO, y'all should migrate here to Australia.

 

[Blue Protoman]

If it were only that simple.

 

[Nintendo]

But it is! Through peace we can unite as one!!!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WibmcsEGLKo?feature=oembed

 

[sold]

Not to insult anyone or make light of the severity of the 9/11 attacks, but if you lived in the middle east and were witness to the "collateral damage" that American troops cause in the name of "freedom", who are the terrorists in that scenario? Not to mention the fact that Afghanistan as a nation was not directly responsible for the WTC bombings but America carpet bombed every man, woman and child regardless of their personal beliefs and affiliations just to set up a military base. Could someone please provide me with a definition of the word "terrorist" again? Is it just a buzz word used by news broadcasters to make us scared of brown men with beards?


The media propaganda machine that is the U.S.A will make sure we remember 9/11 above all other tragic loss of lives because it bolsters their argument for killing Muslims and taking control of their oil rich land. It's a sad world we live in where people will hate and kill each other over religion and oil.