TITMT - Where Were You? - digg this
Janet at the art of getting by asks the question "Where were you on September 11th, 2001 and how did it change your life?"
I certainly remember where I was. I was at work. At the time I had just found a message board that I was rather fond of. The job was quiet that day and I was on the forum posting away. Someone caught the news that something had happened at the Towers. I had one of those little black and white tv/radio combos in my cube. I cut it on and watched the news via the rabbit ears. Between that and postings to this message board we all kept one another abreast as to what was going on.
Rumors flew thick and fast. As quickly as one false report came up, someone would debunk it. Some of the people on the boards lived in NYC and when we didn't hear from them we assumed the worst. Thankfully no one we knew was hurt. That little online community really bonded on that day. I still maintain several friendships from that message board.
It's funny that rather than bonding with my coworkers or commiserating with family (though some of each was done), my primary outlet/focus during the whole tragedy was that website. I definitely remember the images, some of which for me remain in black and white. I remember going to the conference room at work from time to time to see everything on the big screen. But mostly I remember hitting F5 a LOT.
The tragedy of that day showed me that friendship and humanity can be expressed in meaningful ways utilizing this here technology. That's refreshing given the amount of garbage that's out here too. So that's one of the little and very positive ways it changed my life. Sure it changed so many other things as well, things that make our lives more painful and complicated, but that's how it hit me personally.
Total Number of Comments: 2
I remember coming upstairs on my way to school and turning on the radio and hearing about a plane hitting the WTC. I turned that off and turned on the Today show just in time to see the second jet hit. As a crazy news buff, I was really annoyed at having to go to school because the class I'd miss was attendance based (not many of those in college). I was drawn to wherever would tell me what was unfolding, knowing full well that it was a terrorist attack. It was an interesting day, but I don't know that it really changed my life that much.
Welcome Beau and thanks for your thoughts!!