My Reaction to 9/11

[Ellen Brown]

I and my family were devout. We'd just gotten back from a Missionary trip to Kenya in May, and there had been several previous trips to Honduras, Mozambique, and Kosovo. I did not go to the last two, but having a loved one there felt a lot like it. The hotel next door to where my partner was staying was bombed.

I had not learned some very tough lessons that aspiring Missionary Pastors learned, some the hard way.

On the morning of 9/11, on the west coast, I was eating my breakfast and listening to the Radio when they announced it!!! I quickly turned on the TV quick enough to see the smoking building and then the second plane hitting a building. It was 5 minutes to work for me and when I got there, the TV was on. The buildings had collapsed. My X and I were in shock.

Living and worshipping in such a devout community, what followed in the next days shocked me. I was upset also, but mindful of the words of Jesus and WWJD? Instead, even the most devout were spouting hatred... I heard an unconfirmed story about Muslims in the Midwest cheering. That was hushed up right away, and I have no idea if it was true. At any rate, none of that changed my reaction in following Jesus Christ. I did not know a thing about Muslims at the time.

Within a few months, America was at war and spouting hatred, sadly including the Christians I knew. That was it for me. I left Christianity, but would not begin to address Islam for about 2 years. The actions of our then President and his staff were to me, way over the top.

We only thought that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan. He was never in Iraq. As we all know, later he was found in Pakistan.

I can't write about this more.

 

[Lyndon]

i remember watching it on TV from before the second plane hit, The first picture of one of the planes was black with no windows, I've never believed the Governments account since.

 

[Revoltingest]

I and my family were devout. We'd just gotten back from a Missionary trip to Kenya in May, and there had been several previous trips to Honduras, Mozambique, and Kosovo. I did not go to the last two, but having a loved one there felt a lot like it. The hotel next door to where my partner was staying was bombed.

I had not learned some very tough lessons that aspiring Missionary Pastors learned, some the hard way.

On the morning of 9/11, on the west coast, I was eating my breakfast and listening to the Radio when they announced it!!! I quickly turned on the TV quick enough to see the smoking building and then the second plane hitting a building. It was 5 minutes to work for me and when I got there, the TV was on. The buildings had collapsed. My X and I were in shock.

Living and worshipping in such a devout community, what followed in the next days shocked me. I was upset also, but mindful of the words of Jesus and WWJD? Instead, even the most devout were spouting hatred... I heard an unconfirmed story about Muslims in the Midwest cheering. That was hushed up right away, and I have no idea if it was true. At any rate, none of that changed my reaction in following Jesus Christ. I did not know a thing about Muslims at the time.

Within a few months, America was at war and spouting hatred, sadly including the Christians I knew. That was it for me. I left Christianity, but would not begin to address Islam for about 2 years. The actions of our then President and his staff were to me, way over the top.

We only thought that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan. He was never in Iraq. As we all know, later he was found in Pakistan.

I can't write about this more.

Don't let Congress off the hook for voting to start & continue the wars.

 

[SomeRandom]

I was too young to truly understand what I was seeing as the 9/11 news broke as I ate my breakfast.
But in hindsight, the ripples of the aftermath was felt even in Australian education.

 

[Stevicus]

I remember on that day, I got up around 6am (which was 9am in NY) and started getting ready for work. I turned on the news a few minutes later and saw the footage of the WTC on fire. I initially thought it was a plane hitting the building by accident, but as I continued listening, I got more detail about what was actually happening. I went to work as usual, just after the first tower collapse, listening to news on the radio, as well as on TV at work. By the time I got to work, I heard that the second tower had fallen. The local AFB was on lockdown.

I noticed a lot of flags flying from people's cars that day and in the weeks that followed. A tremendous war fever had built up. A co-worker put a sign on her car that said "May God forgive you, because we won't." People were angry and wanted blood.

There was some guy around Phoenix who killed a guy wearing a turban because he thought he was Muslim, but it turned out he was Sikh.

 

[Estro Felino]

Very hot afternoon. I watched on TV the second plane hit the tower...it was 3 pm or more...

 

[Sunstone]

I didn't hear the news until around five in the afternoon. Since I don't have a TV, I went to a friend's house to see the images. After a bit we went to a restaurant for supper. While we were waiting for our food, he asked me what I thought.

"Three things", I said, not thinking too far ahead because of my shock. "First, this most likely is the start of a war. Second, I hope it's not a civil war. I hope this was not some domestic group. Last, whatever it is, it's begun with only our second string -- or maybe only our third string -- in office leading the country."

 

[Ellen Brown]

I didn't hear the news until around five in the afternoon. Since I don't have a TV, I went to a friend's house to see the images. After a bit we went to a restaurant for supper. While we were waiting for our food, he asked me what I thought.

"Three things", I said, not thinking too far ahead because of my shock. "First, this most likely is the start of a war. Second, I hope it's not a civil war. I hope this was not some domestic group. Last, whatever it is, it's begun with only our second string -- or maybe only our third string -- in office leading the country."

I was surprised to find that 9/11 killed more than Pearl Harbor.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

I and my family were devout. We'd just gotten back from a Missionary trip to Kenya in May, and there had been several previous trips to Honduras, Mozambique, and Kosovo. I did not go to the last two, but having a loved one there felt a lot like it. The hotel next door to where my partner was staying was bombed.

I had not learned some very tough lessons that aspiring Missionary Pastors learned, some the hard way.

On the morning of 9/11, on the west coast, I was eating my breakfast and listening to the Radio when they announced it!!! I quickly turned on the TV quick enough to see the smoking building and then the second plane hitting a building. It was 5 minutes to work for me and when I got there, the TV was on. The buildings had collapsed. My X and I were in shock.

Living and worshipping in such a devout community, what followed in the next days shocked me. I was upset also, but mindful of the words of Jesus and WWJD? Instead, even the most devout were spouting hatred... I heard an unconfirmed story about Muslims in the Midwest cheering. That was hushed up right away, and I have no idea if it was true. At any rate, none of that changed my reaction in following Jesus Christ. I did not know a thing about Muslims at the time.

Within a few months, America was at war and spouting hatred, sadly including the Christians I knew. That was it for me. I left Christianity, but would not begin to address Islam for about 2 years. The actions of our then President and his staff were to me, way over the top.

We only thought that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan. He was never in Iraq. As we all know, later he was found in Pakistan.

I can't write about this more.

I remember a similar reaction here in the UK. I was in high school at the time, and I remember a friend of mine in the morning repeating what his mother had said: "I think we should just bomb them all."

I remember finding everyone's reaction baffling at the time. Not because I couldn't understand why they were angry, but because I seemed to be the only person actually interested in asking "Why did they do this?"

Of course, I'm not saying they necessarily had justification for it, but it seemed like such a simple, natural reaction that when a human harms another we first try to locate motive. For some reason, this even bypassed that instinct in a lot of people and dropped them straight into bloodthirsty retribution. I still find it odd to this day.