OT: 20th anniversary of 9/11

I was in 8th grade Spanish Class when it happened. Our teacher asked us if we knew what the World Trade Center was. I didn't, a few kids said they did. She then said it had been attacked (or that plane had crashed, I don't remember)

I was confused. What did she mean attacked (if that's what she said)? How did a plane crash into it? How could it have been intentional?

Later that day my history teacher told us we were living a historic moment a la Pearl harbor. Boy, was she right.

I was in high school. I can't recall which class I would have been in when it happened because they wouldn't tell us anything or let us watch the news coverage. I'm not sure if anyone in the school had parents that worked at the world trade center itself, but a lot of the students' parents worked in the city, so it was sort of understandable even though when the word got out that they were keeping something from us in the late morning a lot of students were pretty upset. I didn't really understand the the gravity at first and I remember making a some joke when a friend said she was scared that would seem pretty insensitive in retrospect. Some of the teachers later in the day put the news on and they made some announcement but by then everybody already knew what happened. We still had football practice that day which I guess was the last ditched attempt to make the say seem normal, and I still don't think I really the magnitude of the event for at least another day.

I'm amazed that there are college students now that weren't born yet on that day. I know that makes me a cliche old man, but it's still an odd thought

I was in CA finding out about it at about 6 AM. I think just before the 2nd plane hit.

Told my story here:

IMDB2.freeforums.net/post/2077903/thread

Was awoken by my mom on her way to work 'Better wake up, the world's gone crazy'

As so often with these jostling events, my memory is skewed. I can't honestly recall if I watched the 2nd plane hit. Malcolm Gladwell discussed this phenomenon on a pod once - our memories seem to deactivate in traumatic moments. I think he said his friend was picking him up for work, yet she told him no she was already at work or something - both were legit certain.

If I start writing about the morning, I may never stop here. Hindsight though, I think it was 2004 at a party we caught ourselves thinking holy fcuk, it's been 3 years already!?
2011 10th anniversary seemed to be the final cathartic look back, for me that felt like the day & the trauma could finally rest peacefully.

I saw this week a tv piece about the children, now adults, of the W. Bush classroom ground zero. Nothing too extraordinary there, just another puzzle piece from then children's eyes now developed over 20yrs. They were in a bubble there, so they were actually some of the last to experience the imagery.

I think the next big date isn't until the 50th, 2051... & how life works, several/much of humanity who witnessed 9/11 will not be alive.

9/11 will always be larger than Pearl Harbor, because its effects have been global.

I heard another pod this week about the 90's, how it was a sweet spot between the Cold War & War on Terror. That the 90's essentially ended that day. However, the seeds for the day had been sowed throughout the 90's, the west had merely been on post-Cold War honeymoon with our eyes of another big era.