What did you do while 9/11 happened ?

submitted by [deleted] from self.AskSaidIt

I'll start:

I was in the phase between school and beginning my (first) university studies and worked at a bar in an early shift. I served beer and even then i remember some guests shouting "hoax" on first sight of this event. My workplace was like a 24/7 open bar, so there could be some alcohol playing into that but even then i think it is very sad that in 19 years it seems like we haven't gotten nearer to the truth of these events.

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[–]ANIKAHirsch 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I was let out of kindergarten early.

No one told me what happened.

[–]ISaidWhatISaid 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I was taking a number of Computer Linguistics courses at the time and was in the lab of the CL department of my university all alone by myself when it happened. I was reading Slashdot at the time (a popular tech site and one of the first online forums), when people all of a sudden began posting threads with grainy pictures of these two skyscrapers on fire. Then someone posted the comment: "How does it feel for the doctor to have a taste of his own medicine?", and that was the moment it dawned on me that this wasn't some tragic plane accident I was looking at. Then Slashdot became increasingly hard to reload until it became unreachable. Then a panicked e-mail message came through a MAJORDOMO mailinglist I was a member of, which asked: "What the hell is happening in NY?", to which someone quickly replied with: "It appears that NYC is under attack.". I went to a number of mainstream sites to read the news, but they all started going down due to traffic overload, one after another. CNN, New York Times, BBC, they all went down. The Guardian was the only news site that remained up a bit longer than the others, and that was the first time I myself and many others discovered The Guardian. I didn't really understand what had happened until I went home that night and saw the mobile phone footage of the attacks that people had sent to CNN that they were broadcasting on repeat throughout the night, adding to it as more mobile phone footage from different angles was being submitted to them.

[–]Revision10 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

Planned my escape to Germany to avoid a potential draft.

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

So what was the plan?

[–]Revision10 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Fly to, and live with family in Germany until the US calmed its tits. Maybe.

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Planes are grounded. leaving the country to avoid the draft is a crime punishable by death, and Germany will happily extradite you. And Germany would likely join the US in war. Worst. Plan. Ever.

[–]Revision10 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Sure if they make me wear a GPS collar upon entry that explodes when tampered with . Draft evasion is easy.

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Finding you would be easier than fucking a hooker. You will be the guy with the funny accent.

[–]DIMP 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I went out with a friend and his kids for dinner at an outdoor hamburger place that night after watching the footage of the Towers all day. Everyone was in a state of shock. I told my friend, "This is it, this is the end." And in a way it was.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Approved. Maybe i should've drank more beer myself. I'm always wondering about this.

[–]TheJamesRocket 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It was a normal day for me. I was in 4th grade, messing around with my friends at lunch break. By the time we got back to class, the teachers solemnly told us that there had been a terrorist attack in New York.

[–]whereswhat 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It was odd because the day played out like normal for me, despite everyone losing their shit amid their confusion and horror of it all.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Watched ST: VOY 'Demon' episode on TV, went to lunch and when I came back saw what happened.

[–]Canbot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

For the kids in here, you have to realize this was before smart phones. No kid even had a cell phone, they were only good for making calls and way to expensive. We had a computer lab, but no one got their news on the internet. If anything even the major news outlets wouldn't write a story until the next day, and there would be no video online. Online video, when it was posted was the quality some of the worst gifs that exist today.

I was in my first period gym class. Someone who went to the bathroom came in and started asking if we knew what was going on. We asked what they were talking about and got some vague explanation that was a jumbled mess of rumors including bombings, planes attacking etc. As the day progressed I heard that a lot of teachers were allowing the kids to just watch the news in class, unfortunately I did not have a single cool teacher. As the day went on I got news trickled in from other kids who had been able to watch the news. But it was always second hand and everyone's version was different than the last persons. People really do watch the exact same event and see it completely differently.

I wasn't able to actually get any news on it until I got home. All I knew was that it was coordinated by someone and the US would be bombing the absolute shit out of someone soon. I wasn't really worried about a draft or anything like that. It seemed like such an over reaction to think that we would be needing a draft to deal with anyone. US military dominance back them was far more than it is today, especially over counties like China and Russia. It seemed absurd that anyone would have the audacity to attack the US. I did think there was some risk of the US going to war, but even Desert Storm had zero real impact on my life, so that was what going to war meant to me. Nothing more that a story on the news.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Sad considering they put so much effort into it. :)

[–]Countach_3D 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

this was before smart phones, they were only good for making calls

Hey, now, I won't let you dis Nibbles like that!