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#1
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8 years on
8 years ago, I can still vividly remember Joel waking me up at about 11:15pm
saying 'A bomb hit New York'. Wearily, I stumbled out to the lounge to watch the coverage, thinking it was some sort of stunt, a joke, a sci-fi movie. We watched in increasing horror as the second plane hit the other world tower, and by the time the next plane had hit the pentagon, we were both thinking 'here comes world war 3'. We stayed up most of the night, watching in horror, disbelief and open grief whilst the tragedy that struck New York, Washington, America, indeed the World unfolded. My thoughts went out to all those in the line of fire, all those who would be affected by this. My heart skipped a beat when I realised my mother was overseas, on holiday, unreachable (in the days ahead I paid a small fortune in phone calls trying to track her down - I found her in France). And then another as I realised a great friend was actually in the air, flying back from Sydney to NY at the time (she was diverted to LA and couldn't get home - nor even call her husband - for 3 more days) . Everyone stumbled into work the next day, sleepless, shocked. People desperately tried to contact their loved ones not only in the USA but around the world. Work allowed the use of the busines phones to do it, they didn't really have a choice - although most of the lines were down and the ones that weren't were so overload, it could take *hours* to get through to a US operator, and even then it didn't mean the call could go through. There was a constant vigil of at least a handful of people in the conference room, watchign the only TV we have here, coming out after a while white and shaken, no longer physically able to watch any more. For the first time, I saw my colleagues, both men & women, openly weep. Friends gathered to console and support each other - everyone, and I mean *everyone* I know, knew someone who knew someone that was directly effected. The internet connections were flakey at best, but messages of support and friendship were posted, as well as a 'please check in' for those who had been disconnected. It took a very long time, even over here, for it to stop being at the top of people's minds. Even a month later, I saw a low-flying jet and immediately had flash-backs, had a moment stricken with fear. I hadn't realised I was so close to the airport. 8 years on, its no longer front page news every day, but the consequences of that senseless act still reverberate around the world, effecting lives every day, every minute. To all those who live with the heartache and grief of that terrible day, as well as the incredible acts of heroism and sacrifice, you have not been forgotten. Our purrs and prayers go out to you.. lest we forget. Yowie |
#2
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8 years on
"Yowie"
8 years ago, I can still vividly remember Joel waking me up at about 11:15pm saying 'A bomb hit New York'. Wearily, I stumbled out to the lounge to watch the coverage, thinking it was some sort of stunt, a joke, a sci-fi movie. We watched in increasing horror as the second plane hit the other world tower, and by the time the next plane had hit the pentagon, we were both thinking 'here comes world war 3'. We stayed up most of the night, watching in horror, disbelief and open grief whilst the tragedy that struck New York, Washington, America, indeed the World unfolded. My thoughts went out to all those in the line of fire, all those who would be affected by this. My heart skipped a beat when I realised my mother was overseas, on holiday, unreachable (in the days ahead I paid a small fortune in phone calls trying to track her down - I found her in France). And then another as I realised a great friend was actually in the air, flying back from Sydney to NY at the time (she was diverted to LA and couldn't get home - nor even call her husband - for 3 more days) . Everyone stumbled into work the next day, sleepless, shocked. People desperately tried to contact their loved ones not only in the USA but around the world. Work allowed the use of the busines phones to do it, they didn't really have a choice - although most of the lines were down and the ones that weren't were so overload, it could take *hours* to get through to a US operator, and even then it didn't mean the call could go through. There was a constant vigil of at least a handful of people in the conference room, watchign the only TV we have here, coming out after a while white and shaken, no longer physically able to watch any more. For the first time, I saw my colleagues, both men & women, openly weep. Friends gathered to console and support each other - everyone, and I mean *everyone* I know, knew someone who knew someone that was directly effected. The internet connections were flakey at best, but messages of support and friendship were posted, as well as a 'please check in' for those who had been disconnected. It took a very long time, even over here, for it to stop being at the top of people's minds. Even a month later, I saw a low-flying jet and immediately had flash-backs, had a moment stricken with fear. I hadn't realised I was so close to the airport. 8 years on, its no longer front page news every day, but the consequences of that senseless act still reverberate around the world, effecting lives every day, every minute. To all those who live with the heartache and grief of that terrible day, as well as the incredible acts of heroism and sacrifice, you have not been forgotten. Our purrs and prayers go out to you.. lest we forget. Yowie Unfortunately, back in 2001, I watched the horror on our 60 " giant TV screen, and I still cannot get those images out of my mind. It was a little after 8 am here. There are always some 9/11 programs on TV every year and I can't watch them. Such horror and madness, and bravery, heroism and love, it boggles the mind. I have a friend on another group who went mad after seeing the planes hit the Towers. My youngest daughter had been on the roof of the North Tower that summer, and she was telling me how you could see 4 different states from there. Windows on The World, a famous eatery, was on the top floor of one of the Towers and I can't even imagine seeing an airplane headed right for you, and having no place to hide. Bless their hearts. And I can't even begin to thank those who risked their own lives to help others, and comfort them. It is so horrid. And bless the hearts of the passengers of Flight 93 who lost their lives taking control of the terrorists who were headed for The White House.. The World has gone mad. Thank you for posting this, Yowie Kyla |
#3
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8 years on
"Kyla =^..^=" wrote in message ... And bless the hearts of the passengers of Flight 93 who lost their lives taking control of the terrorists who were headed for The White House.. The World has gone mad. Thank you for posting this, Yowie It seems no one remembers flight 93. Even tomorrow, Obama will be at the Pentagon, and Biden will be in NYC. Who will be in Shanksville? |
#4
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8 years on
In ,
Cheryl typed: "Kyla =^..^=" wrote in message ... And bless the hearts of the passengers of Flight 93 who lost their lives taking control of the terrorists who were headed for The White House.. The World has gone mad. Thank you for posting this, Yowie It seems no one remembers flight 93. Even tomorrow, Obama will be at the Pentagon, and Biden will be in NYC. Who will be in Shanksville? If it seems I had missed it out, my apologies. I do remember, and send purrs to their family and friends for the incredibly couragous sacrifice that was made that day too. Yowie |
#5
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8 years on
"Yowie" wrote in message
... In , Cheryl typed: "Kyla =^..^=" wrote in message ... And bless the hearts of the passengers of Flight 93 who lost their lives taking control of the terrorists who were headed for The White House.. The World has gone mad. Thank you for posting this, Yowie It seems no one remembers flight 93. Even tomorrow, Obama will be at the Pentagon, and Biden will be in NYC. Who will be in Shanksville? If it seems I had missed it out, my apologies. I do remember, and send purrs to their family and friends for the incredibly couragous sacrifice that was made that day too. Yowie Among other things, I think their courageous actions made commercial flying safer today. Before that terrible day, commercial flights were hijacked every so often. I don't think I've heard of a successful hijacking since then. Those courageous passengers taught us how to behave in the case of an attempted hijacking. That's why the shoe bomber and a crazed passenger who tried to break into the cockpit of another flight were stopped - because the passengers on those flights followed the example of those on Flight 93. Joy |
#6
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8 years on
"Yowie" wrote in message
... 8 years ago, I can still vividly remember Joel waking me up at about 11:15pm saying 'A bomb hit New York'. Wearily, I stumbled out to the lounge to watch the coverage, thinking it was some sort of stunt, a joke, a sci-fi movie. We watched in increasing horror as the second plane hit the other world tower, and by the time the next plane had hit the pentagon, we were both thinking 'here comes world war 3'. We stayed up most of the night, watching in horror, disbelief and open grief whilst the tragedy that struck New York, Washington, America, indeed the World unfolded. My thoughts went out to all those in the line of fire, all those who would be affected by this. My heart skipped a beat when I realised my mother was overseas, on holiday, unreachable (in the days ahead I paid a small fortune in phone calls trying to track her down - I found her in France). And then another as I realised a great friend was actually in the air, flying back from Sydney to NY at the time (she was diverted to LA and couldn't get home - nor even call her husband - for 3 more days) . Everyone stumbled into work the next day, sleepless, shocked. People desperately tried to contact their loved ones not only in the USA but around the world. Work allowed the use of the busines phones to do it, they didn't really have a choice - although most of the lines were down and the ones that weren't were so overload, it could take *hours* to get through to a US operator, and even then it didn't mean the call could go through. There was a constant vigil of at least a handful of people in the conference room, watchign the only TV we have here, coming out after a while white and shaken, no longer physically able to watch any more. For the first time, I saw my colleagues, both men & women, openly weep. Friends gathered to console and support each other - everyone, and I mean *everyone* I know, knew someone who knew someone that was directly effected. The internet connections were flakey at best, but messages of support and friendship were posted, as well as a 'please check in' for those who had been disconnected. It took a very long time, even over here, for it to stop being at the top of people's minds. Even a month later, I saw a low-flying jet and immediately had flash-backs, had a moment stricken with fear. I hadn't realised I was so close to the airport. 8 years on, its no longer front page news every day, but the consequences of that senseless act still reverberate around the world, effecting lives every day, every minute. To all those who live with the heartache and grief of that terrible day, as well as the incredible acts of heroism and sacrifice, you have not been forgotten. Our purrs and prayers go out to you.. lest we forget. Yowie Thank you very much for posting this. I'm sitting here in tears. I hope you don't mind if I tack on some personal thoughts and experiences. The company I worked for lost 295 colleagues on that day, 30 of whom I knew and had worked with personally. Our company had been purchased by Marsh & McClennan, whose offices were on the 99th floor of the north tower. Those 30 people had been transferred to NY (our former I.T. Director, Gary Lasko, was commuting to and from Memphis weekly). They were in the north tower that morning. The first plane flew directly into Gary's office; no trace of him was ever found. As soon as we heard the news the people in I.T. in Memphis swung into action. All of the video screens in the every conference room were quickly linked to satellite so we could see what was going on. People around me were getting text messages on their pagers from colleagues who were trapped on the 99th floor. "Please call my wife" or "Tell everyone I'm okay." Many people were "hearing" what was going on inside the building that way. I remember standing at the back of the conference room, watching the events unfold, shocked, dismayed. People were weeping. I did telephone tech support for the company at the time. I heard a manager behind me say, "Someone should be manning the phones on the help desk." I was so shocked for a minute I couldn't speak. I said, "You actually think people are going to be calling about our software right now?!" I couldn't fathom it. Needless to say, no one moved. No one cared about the phones. Just a minute later a woman next to me said, "Is that building shaking?" and then the first of the towers fell. I'll never forget it. Somewhere in the midst of all the confusion we heard about the plane that hit the Pentagon. And about flight 93 going down in Pennsylvania. We will never forget any of the brave souls on that plane who prevented yet another disaster. Nor any of the thousands who lost their lives so senselessly on that morning. An aside: I have a dear friend (Ian) who used to be the head of Human Resources in our Memphis office. His train was running late that morning. He and about 12 other people had just gotten on the elevator when the first plane hit. The elevator didn't go anywhere. They were stuck for over an hour, not having a clue what was going on outside. Just as suddenly the elevator doors opened on their own. What these people saw stunned them. The lobby was littered with debris and filled with firefighters, who quickly ushered them out of the building. Ian made his way to a train station many blocks away and headed back to his home in Connecticut. He was shell-shocked. He was unable to get through to his daughters to let them know he was okay. As you can imagine, it was an unbelievably long train ride home. He never went back to NYC. He moved to Savannah in the next few weeks. We kept in touch via email and on the phone. We always talked about meeting in Savannah for a "cuppa". Ironically, just as I moved within 60 miles of him to help my mother he moved back to his native England. We never did get together for that "cuppa". Jill |
#7
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8 years on
Cheryl wrote:
It seems no one remembers flight 93. Even tomorrow, Obama will be at the Pentagon, and Biden will be in NYC. Who will be in Shanksville? Well, in fairness, a couple of movies have been made about it. One of them has shown on TV several times. Joyce -- "Ignorance is bliss - alas, only for the ignoramus." -- sign on www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/1/ |
#8
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8 years on
This is one of my favorite quotes:
"If we discovered we only had five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them." -- Christopher Morley And, except for the fact that it was not phone booths, but cell phones, he was right. Joyce |
#9
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8 years on
"Joy" wrote in message
... "Yowie" wrote in message ... In , Cheryl typed: "Kyla =^..^=" wrote in message ... And bless the hearts of the passengers of Flight 93 who lost their lives taking control of the terrorists who were headed for The White House.. The World has gone mad. Thank you for posting this, Yowie It seems no one remembers flight 93. Even tomorrow, Obama will be at the Pentagon, and Biden will be in NYC. Who will be in Shanksville? If it seems I had missed it out, my apologies. I do remember, and send purrs to their family and friends for the incredibly couragous sacrifice that was made that day too. Yowie Among other things, I think their courageous actions made commercial flying safer today. Before that terrible day, commercial flights were hijacked every so often. I don't think I've heard of a successful hijacking since then. Those courageous passengers taught us how to behave in the case of an attempted hijacking. That's why the shoe bomber and a crazed passenger who tried to break into the cockpit of another flight were stopped - because the passengers on those flights followed the example of those on Flight 93. Joy Know what drives me nuts? People who bitch about the extra security precautions in airports that were a result of 9/11. I don't mind having to get to the airport an hour early. I don't mind having to take off my watch and my shoes and my belt and walk through a metal detector. I don't mind having my carry-on bags scanned or limited to a certain size and number. I don't mind that I can't carry liquids onto a plane, or liquid/gel containers like shampoo over a certain size. What I do mind is people had to die for us to reach this place in airport security. Jill |
#10
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8 years on
In article ,
"Cheryl" wrote: It seems no one remembers flight 93. Even tomorrow, Obama will be at the Pentagon, and Biden will be in NYC. Who will be in Shanksville? Colin Powell. Baird -- In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. -Yogi Berra |
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