- Pronouns
- He/Him
Memories of 9/11
September 10th 2020
By Olde Delaware
I was 14 years old on the day the world changed forever, at least for me and kids my age. We went from being Generation Y kids or the Clinton era kids or the kids of the 90s to the 9/11 Generation. So many things changed at one time and innocence was lost forever for many. I sit down to write this article every year or every year I've been in Euro but I usually decide against it because I figure who wants to hear this. But tonight, I can't sleep and with the day approaching the thoughts come back as they often do this time of year so bear with me while I share some of my thoughts regarding this day.
Before I go into my thoughts let me try to set the scene for everyone born after 2000. The 90s were a really...odd time. There was a smoking and non smoking section in many restaurants. Some people still used rotary phones, I know my house had a rotary phone til the mid 90s, the internet was brand new to have at home. To be fair, some people had the internet in the 80s but it wasn't a big thing for everyone to have a PC in their house until the 90s. Everyone worried about Y2K but had no idea what to do and as far as airports go, you could walk with your friend right to the gate and see them off without ever going through security.
I remember traveling to Disney World in 1997 as a kid and the only security was the metal detector and a wand. My dad got wanded since he set off the detector, he had rods and screws in his back which made that necessary.
From 1999 until 2003 I lived in a town in Southern Maryland, 30 miles from DC and 10 from Virginia. It was and still is known as a bedroom community. Many who live in the town worked in Washington DC and still do. Its also 15 miles from Andrews Air Force Base (Home of Air Force One) and about the same from another smaller naval base named Patuxant River NAS. For you military buffs out there (probably just me), its where the Navy does their test flights from. At that time, no one had cell phones that had internet. I remember my mom's phone was one of those nokia's you see people talk about these days as being indestructible.
Keeping that in mind, on September 11th 2001 I was a freshman in high school. At 8:46am I was in science class learning about ultraviolet light and spectrums, with no idea on what was happening outside of those four walls. After science was gym class outside, we were playing flag football that day. Now, like I said we lived near some military bases and we also lived on the approach corridor for some of the big airports. The big airports in the region are BWI which is Thurgood Marshall International Airport also known as Baltimore Washington International. Reagan International, which is in DC proper and Dulles Airport, which is in Virginia. The approach corridor is where the planes fly over in preparation for a landing or circling when there's no place to land. It's not noisy, but you do get to see lots of different planes fly over from time to time which is cool.
At 9:50am, some of the JROTC kids who were running laps and two of which happened to be my friends flagged me down and asked a question ill never forget.
"Why is it so quiet"
There were no planes in the air, no planes, no helicopters, not even a lazy cessna or crop duster.
Nothing.
Unbeknownst to us, at 9:42am, for the first time in American history, a ground stop of all planes with the exception of military was ordered by the FAA.
Five minutes later we heard the first whoosh of a jet engine. Then a second. The JROTC instructors pointed to the sky along with myself and my two friends just fast enough to see the tail flash of two F-15 fighters heading North. I was able to later determine these planes came from Langley Air Base in Virginia and were completing a training exercise when they were scrambled to Washington DC that morning.
Many people say they remember where they were and what they were doing the day they heard news that changed them forever. I never believed it. For instance my dad told me exactly what he was doing and where he was when he heard Kennedy was assassinated and how it changed the world forever. He would always tell me right down to the tie clip what he was wearing, what he was doing, etc. He told me he didn't believe it either until his father told him about Pearl Harbor. So it always manages to make me sit and ponder how I remember that we received the news about the day's event at 10:15 and I was sitting on a bench in the locker room putting on clean clothes for the rest of the day.
I remember a kid next to me tell me we were going to fucking war. I remember a girl running out of the gym screaming that her mom worked at the Pentagon. I remember the Paraprofessional telling kids only the top of the North Tower collapsed and it would be ok. I remember the line of parents outside the office there to take their kids home. I remember the bus ride home and seeing the firetrucks from the County Fire/EMS gone to help at the Pentagon. I remember my mom telling me not to get on AOL because they were worried it could be somehow affected.
I remember.
The days that follow that day are harder to remember but I do remember the radio which used to play rock was now playing classic rock with patriotic themes. Gone from the news was discussion of Hainan or No Child Left Behind but about how we needed to root out terrorism and punish those who attacked us with 'infinite justice'. George W. Bush was now the greatest President of the last 100 years, on par with Ronald Reagan despite having done nothing yet to achieve those aims. Soon it became dangerous to go get the mail as Anthrax was mailed to Senators and the media. I remember my mom taking me to the doctor and asking me to fake being sick so we could get Cipro, which was being touted at the time as an Anthrax suppressant. Cipro, if I recall correctly, is also good for those with swimmers ear which I get often and is why I don't go swimming much.
That span of time in 2001 felt like the entire country was forced to grow up all at once. If that makes sense. Warfare was always confined to a far off land or place. Pearl Harbor was a growing up moment for many Americans because we were attacked and as tragic as it was, I had heard the argument (not popular I might add) that while it led to the US joining World War Two, it wasn't like New York was attacked. War felt like it was always contained to a distant battlefield. Even in the 90s as the embassies in Africa were attacked and the USS Cole bombed, it wasn't like they were attacking here. That is happening over there. I don't need to worry. We don't need to change our routines to meet the new century, this has always worked before, we'll be fine.
Famous last words.
After 9/11 everything got scarier and I don't know if that was because politicians made it so by themselves or if we had a hand in it because of our own naivety. We blindly followed along as the Patriot Act was passed. We gave George W. Bush a 90% approval rating as we sent troops to Afghanistan. We turned a blind eye to discrimination, harassment and sometimes deaths of Muslims or those who believe in the Islamic faith in a misguided belief it was "revenge". Nearly 20 years later, that is still the case. We turned going to the airport and attempting to fly out of the country a game of "Guess Who" on a no fly list that no one but the privileged few have access to; and also gave an under educated generation of Americans a chance to grope other fellow Americans in a game to see who can find the terrorist first. As an aside, the TSA has never found or successfully stopped anyone in their entire history.
I know many of you reading this have often seen me wax poetic about the past or discussing how things were 'back in the day'. I'm 33 years old and I've seen some of the most random and inane bullshit that has ever been seen by the human race. 33 isn't particularly old but it feels like it these days. Its like how you feel meeting a new person in Euro who starts in 2020 and there you are talking about how awesome 2019 was. That's me right there. I just...I just appreciate how things felt when it felt like a simpler time. When I had no responsibilities, when I didn't have to take care of my parents or deal with death or do this and that. That is how I will always remember the Pre-9/11 years, as a time where innocence was a little easier to see and find in both the young and the young at heart.
If you've stuck with me through this article, I appreciate you and I hope that this little peek into my head resonates with you in some positive way.
September 10th 2020
By Olde Delaware
I was 14 years old on the day the world changed forever, at least for me and kids my age. We went from being Generation Y kids or the Clinton era kids or the kids of the 90s to the 9/11 Generation. So many things changed at one time and innocence was lost forever for many. I sit down to write this article every year or every year I've been in Euro but I usually decide against it because I figure who wants to hear this. But tonight, I can't sleep and with the day approaching the thoughts come back as they often do this time of year so bear with me while I share some of my thoughts regarding this day.
Before I go into my thoughts let me try to set the scene for everyone born after 2000. The 90s were a really...odd time. There was a smoking and non smoking section in many restaurants. Some people still used rotary phones, I know my house had a rotary phone til the mid 90s, the internet was brand new to have at home. To be fair, some people had the internet in the 80s but it wasn't a big thing for everyone to have a PC in their house until the 90s. Everyone worried about Y2K but had no idea what to do and as far as airports go, you could walk with your friend right to the gate and see them off without ever going through security.
I remember traveling to Disney World in 1997 as a kid and the only security was the metal detector and a wand. My dad got wanded since he set off the detector, he had rods and screws in his back which made that necessary.
From 1999 until 2003 I lived in a town in Southern Maryland, 30 miles from DC and 10 from Virginia. It was and still is known as a bedroom community. Many who live in the town worked in Washington DC and still do. Its also 15 miles from Andrews Air Force Base (Home of Air Force One) and about the same from another smaller naval base named Patuxant River NAS. For you military buffs out there (probably just me), its where the Navy does their test flights from. At that time, no one had cell phones that had internet. I remember my mom's phone was one of those nokia's you see people talk about these days as being indestructible.
Keeping that in mind, on September 11th 2001 I was a freshman in high school. At 8:46am I was in science class learning about ultraviolet light and spectrums, with no idea on what was happening outside of those four walls. After science was gym class outside, we were playing flag football that day. Now, like I said we lived near some military bases and we also lived on the approach corridor for some of the big airports. The big airports in the region are BWI which is Thurgood Marshall International Airport also known as Baltimore Washington International. Reagan International, which is in DC proper and Dulles Airport, which is in Virginia. The approach corridor is where the planes fly over in preparation for a landing or circling when there's no place to land. It's not noisy, but you do get to see lots of different planes fly over from time to time which is cool.
At 9:50am, some of the JROTC kids who were running laps and two of which happened to be my friends flagged me down and asked a question ill never forget.
"Why is it so quiet"
There were no planes in the air, no planes, no helicopters, not even a lazy cessna or crop duster.
Nothing.
Unbeknownst to us, at 9:42am, for the first time in American history, a ground stop of all planes with the exception of military was ordered by the FAA.
Five minutes later we heard the first whoosh of a jet engine. Then a second. The JROTC instructors pointed to the sky along with myself and my two friends just fast enough to see the tail flash of two F-15 fighters heading North. I was able to later determine these planes came from Langley Air Base in Virginia and were completing a training exercise when they were scrambled to Washington DC that morning.
Many people say they remember where they were and what they were doing the day they heard news that changed them forever. I never believed it. For instance my dad told me exactly what he was doing and where he was when he heard Kennedy was assassinated and how it changed the world forever. He would always tell me right down to the tie clip what he was wearing, what he was doing, etc. He told me he didn't believe it either until his father told him about Pearl Harbor. So it always manages to make me sit and ponder how I remember that we received the news about the day's event at 10:15 and I was sitting on a bench in the locker room putting on clean clothes for the rest of the day.
I remember a kid next to me tell me we were going to fucking war. I remember a girl running out of the gym screaming that her mom worked at the Pentagon. I remember the Paraprofessional telling kids only the top of the North Tower collapsed and it would be ok. I remember the line of parents outside the office there to take their kids home. I remember the bus ride home and seeing the firetrucks from the County Fire/EMS gone to help at the Pentagon. I remember my mom telling me not to get on AOL because they were worried it could be somehow affected.
I remember.
The days that follow that day are harder to remember but I do remember the radio which used to play rock was now playing classic rock with patriotic themes. Gone from the news was discussion of Hainan or No Child Left Behind but about how we needed to root out terrorism and punish those who attacked us with 'infinite justice'. George W. Bush was now the greatest President of the last 100 years, on par with Ronald Reagan despite having done nothing yet to achieve those aims. Soon it became dangerous to go get the mail as Anthrax was mailed to Senators and the media. I remember my mom taking me to the doctor and asking me to fake being sick so we could get Cipro, which was being touted at the time as an Anthrax suppressant. Cipro, if I recall correctly, is also good for those with swimmers ear which I get often and is why I don't go swimming much.
That span of time in 2001 felt like the entire country was forced to grow up all at once. If that makes sense. Warfare was always confined to a far off land or place. Pearl Harbor was a growing up moment for many Americans because we were attacked and as tragic as it was, I had heard the argument (not popular I might add) that while it led to the US joining World War Two, it wasn't like New York was attacked. War felt like it was always contained to a distant battlefield. Even in the 90s as the embassies in Africa were attacked and the USS Cole bombed, it wasn't like they were attacking here. That is happening over there. I don't need to worry. We don't need to change our routines to meet the new century, this has always worked before, we'll be fine.
Famous last words.
After 9/11 everything got scarier and I don't know if that was because politicians made it so by themselves or if we had a hand in it because of our own naivety. We blindly followed along as the Patriot Act was passed. We gave George W. Bush a 90% approval rating as we sent troops to Afghanistan. We turned a blind eye to discrimination, harassment and sometimes deaths of Muslims or those who believe in the Islamic faith in a misguided belief it was "revenge". Nearly 20 years later, that is still the case. We turned going to the airport and attempting to fly out of the country a game of "Guess Who" on a no fly list that no one but the privileged few have access to; and also gave an under educated generation of Americans a chance to grope other fellow Americans in a game to see who can find the terrorist first. As an aside, the TSA has never found or successfully stopped anyone in their entire history.
I know many of you reading this have often seen me wax poetic about the past or discussing how things were 'back in the day'. I'm 33 years old and I've seen some of the most random and inane bullshit that has ever been seen by the human race. 33 isn't particularly old but it feels like it these days. Its like how you feel meeting a new person in Euro who starts in 2020 and there you are talking about how awesome 2019 was. That's me right there. I just...I just appreciate how things felt when it felt like a simpler time. When I had no responsibilities, when I didn't have to take care of my parents or deal with death or do this and that. That is how I will always remember the Pre-9/11 years, as a time where innocence was a little easier to see and find in both the young and the young at heart.
If you've stuck with me through this article, I appreciate you and I hope that this little peek into my head resonates with you in some positive way.
