I’m sure there are a billion threads/ discussions about this brought up every year, but I didn’t see one yet this year.
If I missed it, because I honestly didn’t try searching thoroughly, Mods please use your magical powers and merge away
So, 9/11/01. Where were you? How old were you? What do you remember?
How did it affect you then? And does it/ has it affected you in your life today?
It’s clear that the members of GS are from different parts of the world, so I’d love to see how people in different areas were affected differently, if at all.
I was 11/12 years old, in school when it happened. I remember our teachers telling us about it and we discussed it in class. I wasn’t in the US so it did not affect us in the same way it had Americans. But it was horrible and very sad!
^ I don’t have much bheja to start with so worry not.
KKF, your toilet joke was ill advised in this particular thread. There are people on this forum who experienced the event first hand. Even in general, it was unnecessarily disrespectful.
And if I of all people am saying this then you should understand that the insensitivity level must have been high.
I had a morning class that day. Everything was normal. Except that about 20 minutes into class, some people were coming in late, and they told everyone what had happened. At this point it wasn’t clear how huge this was. I can still remember one of the guys that sat in the 3rd row saying “I hope it’s not another Timothy McVeigh type”. Some speculated it was a small cessna that crashed into the building. But we were half way through the class when College Admin came and informed that all classes were cancelled for rest of the day, and everyone is to go home. College being in close proximity to downtown was deemed security risk because all metropolitans were on high alert because no one knew if other incidents were to follow suit and what other structures would be targeted.
Came home, and found mom and brothers glued to the t.v. in total shock. Dad came home early too. Needless to say, it was the quietest t.v. time I’ve experience in my life where none of us spoke because it was so surreal. You always saw stuff like that in movies.
Personally, I did not face any ills from anyone. Everyone was just shocked at what had happened, and people were still trying to process all the information.
I was 18 and it was my first semester of college, Faizy (ex guppy) was also my classmate, came running to our class “THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE JUST GOT HIT” and every one ran to the cafe. It was a sad day indeed, I still remember the images of people jumping off of the building, how helpless would those ppl have been that they had no other alternative but to jump off of such a high building. All i can say is LAANAT ho un master minds pey jinhon ney aisa jaahilanaa aur jangliyaana kaam kiya. I know there are much worse things happening around the world but this was shown and discussed so much around the world on media that everyone in someway could relate to it.
ok, i was driving when i heard the news on the radio that “the TWIN towers in New York are no more”…i thought somebody bombed the building then i realized that it was much more than that…America was under attack…
…i feared the worst kind of reprisal/retaliation, possibly a war. i thought Muslims will be targeted all over the western world but thank God, barring a few isolated incidence, no major incident took place…it was a sigh of relief.
i came home and then we talked about it for a few days and were glued to the TV.
i was22 years old at the time. i was in Newfoundland, Canada and i had just started my PhD program.
I was in middle school and had just started wearing hijab the week before. I lived in a fairly diverse city so I didn’t have any issues. People were over all very supportive and stood up for my if anyone gave me trouble about my hijab.
I was sitting in my first period class when a teacher from across the hall came running in crying and screaming “We’re being attacked!” We all thought it was the start of WWIII or another Pearl Harbor.
Everyone was rushed to the first floor and the school was locked. We sat in the dark until the school buses or out parents came to pick us up. I went home to hear that Muslims were suspected to be behind the attacks. We had family friends and close relatives who worked in the buildings. We sat glued to the TV for the entire evening/ night watching the crashes/ buildings falling/ people jumping out/ etc… over and over again. It looked like something you’d see in a movie. Not real life.
The next day at school was one of the worst days of my life. People ripped off my hijab, class mates that I thought were my friends called me horrendous names and accused me of being affiliated with Al Quaeda. I had people spit at me, throw things at me, threaten me, you name it!
My fam moved with in a month and a half to a new school district but, it never really got better until I got to college.
I was sitting in a Starbucks just outside of LAX waiting to catch a flight out of town. TV showed that some object possibly a twin engine plane had crashed into the first tower. My first reaction was maybe it was some amateur pilot who lost control of his plane but then I thought why was he flying so low over restricted airspace.
It wasnt long before the connection was made to Al CIAda (read Al Qaeda). Saw the 2nd tower being hit live on CNN. Everyone at the starbucks was glued to the screen. I was the only brown person in there. I looked around to see if anyone was starting at me. FAA had grounded all the planes and LAX was shut down. That meant that I had to drive back home. Living in a place where the LA Riots had taken place not so long ago, I had strange thoughts coming into my head on the ride home.
Reached home and stayed glued to the TV. Didnt go out of the house all day. The incident was topic of discussion at work as work as well. The only accusatory comment that I ever received on my face was from a colleague who said to the effect “it was your people who did this”. There was some sarcasm in his tone. I shrugged it off.
Other than that I have not had anyone treat me any different or display any kind of discriminatory/bigoted behavior.
Who cares? I bet some, or most of us do. I wouldn’t want to speak for others, but I can tell you for sure where I was. I was sitting at home, hoping against hope that in the wave of ultra-patriotism the American Administration does not foolish go on a killing spree. So you see, I feel sad at the loss of any life regardless of what color, creed, or background that person may belong to. Now come and tell me you’re also the judge of people’s affairs and label them not innocent.
Learn to be tolerant of others, if you want them to tolerate you. Hate begets hate.
I know that the majority of Pakistanis were delighted and ecstatic when it happened. Some of my friends had their faces beaming, they were exchanging congrats to each other.
I think this Janjua dude represents majority of Pakistanis. Sad.
Please avoid inflaming others, or the thread will take a regrettable direction.
On the contrary, I know of Pakistanis who were devastated to hear of the events, and that was before anyone was named. The release of additional information of course led to more regret because of the coming troubles.
