What Were You Doing When You Found Out about 9-11 5 Years Ago??

by mama1119 65 Replies latest jw friends

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  lovelylil

  I had been out on an early morning walk when I got back into my car (I was parked at a state park), I heard the news on the radio talking about the twin towers in NY and how a plane hit it. At first I thought - this has to be some kind of joke.

  After a while I realized it was real, I started bawling my eyes out, especially after the towers fell. I lost a friend that day. (I am an ex. NYer, born and raised there). I cried so hard all day and the next I could not even think straight.

  Almost none of the JWs I knew shed one single tear for all those people and their poor families. This was just another thing that nagged at me and made it easier to walk away from that cult. Lilly
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  parakeet

  I was at work in a Pennsylvania hospital. Everyone stopped working when the first report came in and gathered around a radio (no TV in the office). Some of my officemates knew a few hospital employees who had relatives working in the WTC, so word went out to find those employees and support them, if possible. On top of the shock of what happened in NY and Washington, everyone was even more horrified when the plane crashed in western PA -- its flight path passed relatively close to our location. A terrible day.
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  Shooting Star

  Sitting at my desk in my office... Living less than an hour away made us all vulnerable to knowing someone directly affected, and I did. Thankfully, these ones survived. One was IN THE TOWER and ran all the way to Brooklyn... The phones stopped ringing and business was done for the day,,, at 8:46am, We all stayed together in silence with an ear to the news and to console one another. I frantically made phone calls to determine the whereabouts of ones I knew and loved. Schools were dismissed with many teachers prepared to stay overnight with children DIRECTLY affected, with unaccounted for parents.

  The world, as we knew it, was forever changed in a matter of minutes... We will NEVER forget.

  SS
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  crankytoe

  Yeah, the JW's I know are STILL giddy over that. I almost had to slap a couple of them when the tsunami hit.

  Anyways, I was at work when a coworker ran past me telling everyone about it. We all headed to the bigscreen and watched on tv. I remember how the arabs around here cheered,
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  cathyk

  I'm a former NYer, too, born and raised in Woodhaven, Queens. I remember when those towers were built ...

  I was searching on the radio dial for a program I wanted to listen to, and came across something about the president being informed of a serious situation. I knew something bad had happened, so I shooed my kids out of the family room where they were watching "Sesame Street." I saw the towers burning, and realized that the casualty count was going to be really high. I got online to check on family and friends, when one told me that "they're gone." I rushed back downstairs and saw the replays of the collapse. I sank to my knees and cried ...

  As a Catholic, I was so proud of Fr. Mychal Judge, who died while praying over another victim ... And of all the brave men and women who ran toward the danger instead of away from it.

  From then on it was a waiting game to see if my brother and friends, who all worked down in the financial district, were okay. They were, but they all lost people. My brother is friends with a lot of cops and firefighters, and my dad is a retired Port Authority police officer. My husband used to work as a civilian for the U. S. Army. The area of the Pentagon that got hit was one he'd been to very often, since it was the headquarters of the command.

  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them May they rest in peace, Amen.

  Cathy Koenig
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  jaredg

  I was getting ready for my 10:15 class, when I walked downstiars and my roommate was watching TV. He told me that a plane had run into WTC. I thought it was just some crazy accident. I got some cereal and was watching the news with him when the second plane hit. I knew at that point this was no accident. I went to class and this was all everybody could talk about. It wasn't until I got to my co-op that afternoon that the first tower fell.
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  plmkrzy

  having coffee, answering the phone, looking at the news not believing what I was seeing
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  under_believer

  I was sleeping. I was working crazy hours at work, and had been at work until 2AM the night before. A friend from Los Angeles called me on the phone, and woke me up out of bed. It was right after the first plane hit.
  I went in to work in a daze, but I got nothing done--I just kept refreshing cnn.com over and over and over again.
  I went to lunch and while I was there I watched the towers falling on replay over and over and over again.
  I worked with another Witness. On my way out I was really bummed, sad, red-eyed. He asked me what was wrong. I just stared at him for a second and then said, as though speaking to a child, that I was kinda bummed out over what was going on in New York.
  He laughed. He laughed at me, and said "Seriously? WHY?"
  I just walked away, crying. If that was where he was starting from, nothing I said would ever make him see.
  That night at the Kingdom Hall there was an excited atmosphere. A couple of others there were depressed, like me, but everyone else fell into two camps: exultant, because the end was that much nearer, or worried, because they were afraid of religious persecution starting up.
  One more Jenga stick pulled out of the tower of my faith in the Witnesses.
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  AK - Jeff

  My Mom was in the hospital, having the first of several pulmonary attacks that would eventually kill her. I stopped by a local resturant on the way to the hospital, to eat breakfast. One of the workers there told me that the WTC had been hit by a plane. I was shocked, but could not really picture the scene in my head - and thought it was just a small plane that had veered off course. I headed to the hospital, and in the waiting room, with my brother and my sister I saw the devastation, and then we saw the second plane hit - shortly after we watched the towers start to fall.

  At that point - I was still in the cult, as was my brother, and my sister still believed though she had been out and inactive for years by then.

  Later that week, an elder showed me an article in the Watchtower that spoke of planes flying into buildings - and he sort of implied that the WTS had predicted this. I later pointed out to him that the article was speaking of the possible scenarios associated with Y2K, and had nothing to do with this event.

  Jeff
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  hambeak

  I was at work and a customer told us the wtc had been struck by a plane. One of my employees had a portable tv in his car so we watched in disbelief.