Do you know what tomorrow is? Sadly, it will be an important anniversary to remember.

yeah, sarapnsc—i was actually off that day. since i am in law enforcement, if i were at work i’d be right in the thick of it, but i just watched it all day from TV as i worked around the house. since then, we’ve been very vigilant with security even after 7 years.where were you? the images of it will forever be etched in my mind…

I was stationed on Okinawa, Japan on Camp Hansen with the Marines. I was woken up from my slumber and told to get my shit together. It was definitely a life changing experience.

How has America changed? For the worse. Everyone has become extremely anti-military, among other things. I’m gonna gracefully bow out now, because the consensus on this site seems to be that idea/ideal – or at least it seems to be very extremist left here.

I was still in high school…Algebra II. We spent the rest of the day watching news and discussing possible reasons for the attack, and what we would do in response.

That is chump change to how many innocent we have murdered in Iraq. I learned a lot from 9/11. Most Americans are revenge seeking ignorant assholes.

@johnpowell….I will admit that most people are ignorant…but it is going to be a very, very long time before anyone should be saying what happened on 9/11 as chump change. Any war will have casualties, it’s just how it goes man. (not to defend the war in iraq). But it will always be that way. What happened that day was a tragedy.

Oh, I think it was a tragedy too. Our response to it was cowardly and complete bullshit. Our actions have done far more damage then the 19 people (mostly from Saudi Arabia) ever did. Look at Madrid. Look at London.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was right.

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

America has changed immensely. In the days immediately after the attacks, I felt Americans pulling together like never before. It galvanized us as a nation. As time passed however, I feel we have become a nation ruled by fear, willing to do whatever our leaders say will “make us safe”, even if that means invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, ignoring the Geneva convention and our own due process laws, and stripping away our civil liberties one at a time. If we don’t change our mindset soon, the America I have always known and loved may be swept away completely in the aftermath of that tragic day 7 years ago.

Five minutes before the first plane hit the first tower, I was wheeled into surgery, sedated.

By the time I came out from sedation, the second tower had already collapsed.

So 9/11 was never quite real for me. I mean, I understand that it happened; heck, I was actually in the World Trade Center several times, and have a very strong memory of standing at the base of one, looking up, and getting a really weird feeling of vertigo.

But whatever the change was to the national character that 9/11 caused, well, I never got that. I never decided that torture was really okay as long as it was done to other people. I never agreed that we didn’t need habeas corpus or the right to privacy. I never “got” why it was now necessary to give up the freedoms our Founding Father fought for, in exchange for security that turned out to be a chimera.

I’m the man without a 9/11. It left me feeling lonely and confused for many years.

One more thing: just to be clear, I am not anti-military. I have friends and family members who are or were in the military, all of whom served in Iraq. One, a career officer, left the Air Force as a result of her experiences there. And she was as gung-ho about the military as anyone I’ve ever known.

I’ve never understood why “supporting” the military was supposed to mean constantly shoving them back into disastrous war zones and regime change schemes without adequate supplies or planning. Why somehow it was “patriotic” to treat our men and women in uniform like the toy soldiers of some spoiled rich kid, determined to throw them into battle again and again until they were all used up – because, after all, he could always buy some more.

No, I never really “got” 9/11. But between you and me, I hope that even if I hadn’t been in surgery when it happened, I’d still feel the same way.

@PeterM: Well said about supporting the military. I do as well.

@tWrex, I’d ask that you and your ilk continue to share your opinions. (Echo chambers are not good for democracy.) I have a cousin who is a Marine, and while I disagree with his assertion that what we are doing is worth it, I’m open to being convinced by the facts. I also do not make a point to disagree directly with him, because I don’t think it’s worthwhile to be unsupportive of his job and his sense of duty. And, I want him to come home safe.

Right or left, I think we as people all want a lot of the same things, but I also think our desires are being manipulated by profiteers (not that this is new). Had I not picked up a book that on it’s cover had nothing to do with 9/11, I wouldn’t have given things much of a second thought (other than maybe the war for oil idea based on the shifting sands of WMDs). Instead, my eyes have been opened to a much more frightening scenario—that our government is likely what has been hijacked (for some time now), that in the name of fighting terrorism America might see it’s own brand of gulag and concentration camp, and that the constitution will be shredded in favor of some kind of dictatorship. I think “we the people” are threatened by a global elite that want to just come out and enslave us because they still believe in developing a master race and want the power and glory of literally ruling the world (and reducing and controlling it’s population) with a one-world government. I’m scared of being killed for dissenting or as a consequence of a population reduction quota.

(It’s fine if you disagree, but maybe look it up first and decide for yourself.)

Since 9/11, I’ve also come think that one story of humanity is that we give ourselves over to those who presume to wield the power of the Sun. We have access to abundance through the Sun’s energy, (food production, for example) but instead we are made to [believe that we must] pay an intermediary. If it’s true that the Sun is getting warmer as part of it’s natural cycle and that is affecting temperatures not only on Earth but on other planets, then the carbon tax will be the next chapter in that story. (The more positive flip side being that we can access it directly if we choose.)

9/11 reflection by Cindy Sheehan who lost her son in Iraq and is now running against Pelosi.

I was visiting friends in Las Vegas (no, not that one; the one in Nevada) on the fateful day, and when the first tower was hit (at around 8:48 AM EDT, as I recall), it was not yet 6 AM in Las Vegas, so when I woke up and turned on the TV, I was able to see the second tower get hit, “live.”

At first, I felt that I was watching some kind of movie event, but when I double-checked my channel selection, I saw that I was watching CNN, and realized, to my everlasting sadness and dismay, that some of my fellow human beings were about to die, right before my eyes.

This day will always be a day of sadness and remembrance for me, as December 7th is/was, for older Americans.

How has America changed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001? How have you changed?

We, as a nation, have become more paranoid, and the freedoms all of us once enjoyed, are not the same ones we now have.

Day by day, week by week, the freedoms that existed for us just 20 years ago, are slowly eroding.

But you, as Earthlings, won’t have to worry much longer.

From what I have been reading and researching from various sources, our current way of life will come to an end on December 21, 2012, and it will make the events of 9–11-01 resemble that of a church picnic.

@keybo Thank you for your words. I’ve been on all types of forums, be it IRC, or a real forum, or somewhere like this (Q&A), and I’ve found that the more I spoke my opinions the more I got attacked. So I stopped going to any types of forums unless it dealt ONLY with technology or technical aspects. This way I didn’t have that type of stuff going on.

On here, I’m still trying to find a middle ground to go to because I am a loud and proud Conservative, which is not the same as Republican. I voted for Ron Paul. I notice that the online communities as a whole are extremely Liberal. And it sucks, because I’m here to help people with their questions and help further knowledge, but not at the cost of me becoming pissed off and it ruining even a moment of my day. I’ve almost left this community because of some things that have been said. I stuck it through and it’s cool, because whatever, I’m still here.

I’ve found the more I make a point the more often it became a battle of the wits/witless (not here, but in the past) and it became reduced to name calling. I’ve been called a baby killer, war monger, etc. Had these people been in front of me, I probably would have smashed their skull in. Not the best way to resolve an issue, but don’t question what I’ve done in my lifetime or accuse me of things when you don’t even know me.

All-in-all, I appreciate your sentiments about not being silent, but I’ve found the more I voice myself the more extremist views I get thrown back at me and, to be blunt, I don’t have the time to deal with stupid shit like that. I’m here to participate and further a dialogue, but not at that expense.

@JackAdams Never saw that before, but that is some scary shit if it’s real! I’m gonna look at it a bit better though.

Very seriously, the events being predicted for 12–21-2012, have me greatly concerned.

Very seriously, why? It’s all based on the Mayan calendar, right? How on earth would they know? Even supposing it’s all true, what the hell could we do about it? No point in spending the next 4 years worrying ourselves silly.

I wouldn’t be “worrying myself silly;” I would be building a spaceship!

Good luck with that, Jack :)

Certainly there’s a lot of mixed feelings about 9/11; but everybody agrees it was a horrible event that will last forever in history.
Its a weird coincidence, Because we Chileans had our 9/11 thirty five years ago, when Pinochet took over the country by force, dismembering the government, bombing the building and beginning an ironfist dictatorship that ended the life of many people, both sides. and still those wounds are open.
Sure there were several advances, economically and progresses,... but my point is, everything that happens leaves a mark in history that will not be seen in a short term.
So, feelings and consecuences about american 9/11 are still uncertain to us all as well… only time will tell. in the loooooong term, of course.

@manuel_alarcon Wonderful insights and comparisons!

Jack…LOOK!

WOW! Neat! The numbers keep getting smaller and smaller!

Thanks! (That webpage is now a shortcut on my screen.)

You’re Welcome!