Where were you?

[Robb]

I was working my part time job at a newsagents at the time, when we heard it on the radio.

We all went next door to the sandwich shop, and watched the news for the next hour.

I didnt grasp the full impact of it untill I got home, and watching the news untill 3am with tears in my eyes.

[Ming]

[Akanari]

It was during school....Language Arts. I remember exactly where my teacher was standing in the middle of the room with her hand poised on the book. The principal had come on the intercom and announced it to the school. I remember her saying at a later date that she didn't want to wait until the end of a period to tell us because it was so important. That was before the second plane hit...we all saw that on our class tvs. Teachers and students were crying, and I remember I was entranced, trying to take in as much as I could. None of the teachers did anything for the rest of the day, we all just sat and watched the news, discussing, wondering, speculating. We didn't really understand what was happening, and many of us didn't even know what the World Trade Center was.

People were dying, there were explosions, and despite our age, we all understood the fact that people were jumping out of the buildings to escape the flames. It was one of the first real experiences I had with suicide. Some of the girls in the class screamed when Tower 1 collapsed.

We went to school the next day and resumed our normal schedule, but it was quieter for the next week or so, and red, white, and blue was everywhere.

I flew my flag today.

[Blackmage]

You know what thing I remmeber is it seeming surreal. I came downstairs after waking up and thought a movie was on the big screen not the actual news as it was showing plains hitting both of the towers.

[Kudasai Hiroki]

I was already in Basic Training. I was at the grenade range and we spent most of the day just sitting around. Then they came up and asked if any of us had family in New York or DC. We still didn't know what had happened. I have two uncles that worked at the pentagon so I went with them and they explained everthing. Even after seeing the news I still didn't believe it was true.

My uncles were in the Pentagon when the plane hit. Luckily they were in the other side and the Pentagon is a big ass building! We had a lot of people drop out of Basic after it became obvious that we would have to go to Afghanistan. Some people just signed up for the college. It never occured to them that they might acctually have to fight.

It's still surreal watching the images replayed on television. It really made me stop and think, when will we be beyond sensless slaughtering of innocent people. I understood the attack on the pentagon. It is a legitimate military target. But the World Trade Center is nothing but ordinary people just trying to make a living. There was no tactical advantage to that. Just sensless violence.

[Legend]

Ah, but there was a tactical advantage. They scared the American populace, made them doubt the government more, spread confusion and animosity. They upped the security at airports, and they did exactly what they set out to do-- caused Terror.

That's why they're Terrorists, sweetie. It's the shock value of destroying two buildings that represented an important part of the US (because the World Trade Center wasn't just ordinary people just trying to make a living. Isn't it also an economic center of some sort, if I remember correctly?) it's the fact that they managed to kill so many people right under the noses of the American Government, and get the publicity they needed, and the fear reaction they wanted.

Yay for Global Issues studies! ^_-

[RivaOni]

Sorry to get a little annoyed on this day, but the WTC wasn't just an important building for the US, it was called the World Trade Centre for a reason, among everything that happened, many American nationals forget that the day didn;t just affect America, it affected Western civilization.

There were people in that building from EVERY western country, there were also people from the middle east, asia, australiasia and the african nations in there.

Again, sorry for bringing this up, this sort of thing really shouldn't be argued about on a day like dtoday, but it is an important fact that is forgotten about from those born in the USA.

[Shino]

Not forgoten Riva.

I remember there was a map out there that actually showed the number of people that died from each country. This was something that definatly affected everyone.

However, even though others were the affected, it was made clear that the US was the target. And they were out to expose the weaknesses in our government.

I don't think anyone will ever say that any part of the world wasn't affected by the attack.

[RivaOni]

Oh, I'm fully aware that the US was the primary target, but where the WTC was located was the financial capital of the world, it wasn't just a terrorist attack to scare, it was meant to cripple western civilization in one big swoop.

I'm not accusing anybody on this site of forgetting that this affected everyone, this is something thats boiled up over the past five years, and I had to make some kind of statement.

[Legend]

That's what I meant, hon. I meant that it wasn't just a building of a bunch of regular joes going about their lives. The terrorists were using it to make a point just as much as they were using the Pentagon. Their goal isn't about taking over the US through military force. It's about accomplishing their goals, whatever they might be (as I've never talked to an Al Qieda to find out what their goals really are) and using fear tactics to do so.

Not just against the US, but against the world. Afterall, there are plenty of other countries that were involved in the incident, and who could easily help advance their goals.

US is the most powerful, but it's not the -only- powerful, nor the only one to get anything done.