So, how has your life changed because of/since 911?

[OldLarry]

Sarcasm welcome, but seriously, it completely changed the course of my life in many ways:

I got laid off as a result of it, having spent the better part of 3 years going back and forth from the the UK/EU at least 2x/month. I haven't been back since- work environment in my little niche just hasnt; called for th excuse. I've had 2 jobs and two kids since, bought a house in VT, tying to sell it actually, will probably move tot he burbs w/in 6 months.

In many ways it seems like yesterday ( I watched the 1st tower fall from my office at midtown and literally everone I know lost someone, a friend of a friend if not someone directly). Still have conversations w/ people when we're really really drunk about effed up shit they saw- two of my brothers were downtown at the time. Both say they have blocked out much of what they witnessed for months before it came back to them at ramdom times.

In other ways it seems like a million years ago-

[Karl Stall]

I was sort of cynical and angry at some level before, and now I am even more so, except maybe a little bit more afraid as well on some level, and maybe even a bit more resigned.

I hold my girls tightly every day and tell them how much I love them and thank them for their impact on my life.

By the way, I appreciate the great friendships here as well - sort of apropos in the post-9/11 world. fucked up day for us all ...

[cj001f]

It hasn't - except for a bunch of shitbag politicians right and left who've used it as an excuse to do what they wanted to.

(I suppose I too was laidoff 'because' of 9/11 - that endgame was really inevitable, 9/11 just brought it a few months forward)

edit: and I'm completely flabbergasted by the people who's "lives were completely changed" and the closest they got was a TV screen. The changes were coming - 9/11 is merely a convenient reference point/excuse

[Cono Este]

It was definetly a turning point for many, myself included. I left my job shortly after and have been bouncing around ever since. Like much in the world, things have just not settled in ever since. I think the timing of the event coincided with other lifechanging events for many, such as the tech crash etc..

My rockstar days of ninties seem like 20 yrs ago. 2 months before 911 I turned down a once and a lifetime job opprortunity accross the street from the wtc to go travel and live a little.

I hope in the next 5 yrs the world finds some peace.

[Cornholio]

It didn't change my life any more than anyone else, but I lost a lot of innocence and learned about hate.

[DerJaeger]

9-11 hasn't changed me at all. I completely sympathise with those who were directly affected - those who lost loved ones, who saw things no person should ever have to see, who lost jobs, and so on. They have heavy burdens to bear.

But me? Nope. Didn't change me in the slightest.

Now if only America would get over its hysterical paranoia and get back to being a country that prides itself for being a free society. I mean seriously -- what the hell is wrong with those people in office?!

[sunnygirluvspow]

The history channel has had 9/11 documentaries all day. Like a bad doobey, I had the tv on while doing my homework, so I watched a few of them. I'm sure there was much more to the days events than a cable channel can portray, but they were educational. There are some sick and twisted people out there folks. Positive vibes goes out to the people that were effected directly+++++++++++++++++++

[kidwoo]

It fostered a new bumper sticker culture making it much easier to decide who I hate in the world.............all while just driving to work!!

[sunnygirluvspow]

I wasn't effected directly, but know lots of people who were. The history channel has had 9/11 documentaries all day. Like a bad doobey, I had the tv on while doing my homework, so I watched a few of them. I'm sure there was much more to the days events than a cable channel can portray, but they were educational. There are some sick and twisted people out there folks. Positive vibes goes out to the people that were effected directly+++++++++++++++++++

[byates1]

tommorow i'm heading into the adirondacks to hear the silence.

the trees are changing, and the air is crisp and clean.

i too hope the world finds and can appreciate the simple peace i will have tommorow.

sometimes i feel as if i don't know the world i'm living in.

best wishes for those who lost so much, hopefully the world will begin to heal instead of tearing itself apart.

[ill-advised strategy]

the budgets in my line of work are now fucked. Day to day squabbling about money, overall discontent, looming changes in staffing levels and benefits...etc etc.

I guess I don't blame 9/11 as much as the half-retarded response it provoked.

[cj001f]

tommorow i'm heading into the adirondacks to hear the silence.

the trees are changing, and the air is crisp and clean.

tomorrow I will be insanely jealous of you.

[powstash]

hard to say how and if it has affected me. Like all I was stunned that Sept morning when returning from my morning run to find out. More than that day the thing I remember most were the following 2-3 days after 9/11 when you didn't see any jet plane contrails in the sky or any buzzing over head on their way to SLC. Just silence.

I wonder if people who lived out west (like here in Utah or in the Oregon Territory) back when the Civil War happened contemplate dhow that event, perhaps in a small way similarly impactful to a nation, changed thier lives. Sure, the analogy is poor but I can't really say how it's changed my life much other than how it's globally and nationally changed the status quo which in turn, mostly indirectly, changes my life.

[upallnight]

lost my closest friend, who was only 'guilty' of showing up early for work that day. think about him daily. still. i remember how i wish i could have convinced him to extend his trip (away from nyc) an extra day...but i couldn't. nyc was the center of the universe. i remember the fantic phone calls, and having to help provide some identifying information to nyc officials. i remember trying to write a letter to his parents telling them what an amazing person he was...and how it took over a year to do so...and even longer to actually mail.

made me realize howa few turns of fate different and, had i not left new yorks, i would have been in that same place.

love every minute of your life...and live it to the fullest. you never know when it might get taken from you -- even if it's no terrorism, it could simply be crossing the street.

we do not have real security -- only the illusion of security, in my opinion.

[Pow4Brains]

I now spend way too much time in airline lines and too much on gas.

[steve]

scared the hell out of me - had a view of the towers from where i lived at the time (in queens) and I watched them fall. my wife worked at a building next-door to 7 WTC (she still works there, actually) and I couldn't get a hold of her for hours. scary stuff. But that was just the first day.

In the five years since? Like many people, I have gone through the layoff cycles too - but that seems superficial to me.

I'm annoyed by the fear-mongering and everyday annoyances in the name of security; eg. I can't bring a bottle of water onto a plane anymore. Every time I see armed military guards in Penn Station, I'm reminded of this. People forget that even with the terrorists, NYC is about 10 times safer than it was in the 70s. But the cities priorities have changed, and people seem fine with that. "I don't mind taking off my shoes because it makes me feel safe." Maybe that's why NY has lost a lot of its appeal with me. I don't know - That's rather complicated.

Yet if I were to go on that line of thinking, the result is that I now long for a simpler life.. not because of the attacks, but because of the reactions to the attacks.


Can't believe it's been five years. I remember it like it was yesterday.

[4matic]

For someone, like myself, that was born in the fifties.. The Vietnam War is the most significant event in my life. I would suppose for anyone born after 1985 or so 9/11 might be the biggest impact on their lives so far..

[rotorhead]

The events of 9/11 either right or wrong led me to 2 tours in Iraq.
Learned about sand fleas, camel spiders,and assorted snakes. Learned that Iraq is actually a very scenic and beautiful place in its own way. Learned how I would react in a full blown fight for my life.
Definetly gained an appreciation for life, family, mountains and snow, etc. In a way I'm looking forward to the twenty year anniversery so we can see how this all plays out historicly speaking.

[mnflyfish]

My wife and I were talking about this today after church. When we were growing up, we were both convinced that we were going to die at the hands of the USSR. Countless movies, political BS, we were certain it was just a matter or time before someone pushed the button. Now our kids will never know pre-9/11. I suppose it's a little like the "troubles" in N. Ireland. Most of my wife's family is in the Belfast area and the kids just shrug it off as a fact of life. I hope that's the way my girls will view the world. My wife and I have something new to worry about.

How have I changed, I really eye up every passenger on every plane I get on. Other than that I try my best to not think about what could happen and just live in the moment. Of course that's a little easier for me living off the target map of anyone looking to make a statement.

Good Luck,
Jay

[AbsolutStoli]

im kind of thankful, in a way, that i overslept that morning and didnt go into the city like i planned to take photos. the events of that morning definitely made me more angry but also more concious about whats around me and trying to pay more attention to all the great things around me. trying to notice things with the knowledge that they wont be there forever.

the anger is more towards the politicians and the media. also towards people who trivialize or profiteer from the events of that day. i, personally, dont approve of the blockbuster movies made about those events. flight 93 and the nicholas cage flick...no. i think thats wrong. the only movies that should be made are documentaries or something like what spielberg made with schindlers list.

9/11 was a significant event in my life, but having been born in the ussr i still remember that whole us vs ussr conflict and living with that in the back of our heads each day. not really fear, but just knowing there was something. i still remember seeing that movie "the day after"...that was scary. i also lived less than 100 miles from chernobyl, so im not new to catostrophic events.

since then ive gotten a job and i guess grew up a little. i still love to fly and i still love nyc and definitely am not afraid of it. ny isnt going anywhere! and a new yorker is a new yorker for life.

[Mybad!]

My life hasn't changed much but I know a lot of service men's and women's have thanks to jackass politicians. Osama's seems not to have changed to much though unfortunately.

[MacDaddy]

The events of 9/11 either right or wrong led me to 2 tours in Iraq.
Learned about sand fleas, camel spiders,and assorted snakes. Learned that Iraq is actually a very scenic and beautiful place in its own way. Learned how I would react in a full blown fight for my life.
Definetly gained an appreciation for life, family, mountains and snow, etc. In a way I'm looking forward to the twenty year anniversery so we can see how this all plays out historicly speaking.

post of the year!


how it affected me??? "I told you so"! I said but Not unlike Mnflyfish I always thought the fuking USSR, PRC, or some mad Iranian would take the prize.
I thought it would be a biological bomb at republican convention, but I was wrong as usual...

[erica_z]

on september 11th, 2001, I was 19, in college in clarksville, TN, and had just woken up and was getting ready for my American History class when my mom called me to tell me that a plane had struck the trade center. We spent the next several hours worrying about all of our family and friends back in Jersey who commute and work in Manhattan. later, I was on my phone talking to mom as many students crowded into the university center to watch the events unfold on CNN. Mercifully, no one from my family that live in NYC or the surrounding area was hurt that day.

It still hurts me to think of that skyline without those buildings there...I don't know why, since I am a Jersey brat, and can't claim "the city" as mine by birthright yadda yadda. Now, I am glad I got to see them and look down from their towering heights when I was a kid, since so many people never got the chance to stand there. (and marvel, as I did, at the sight of planes flying below us in the harbor...)

3 years later, I went to the city for my last spring break in college (since I knew I would be moving out west and would not pass by that way for a long time) and saw the memorials in and around Manhattan, and went to the site, and tried to make my peace with what happened. It was eerie, to see everything I had grown up with so changed...but also comforting to know that New York was moving forward and going on, and that some things never change.

Maybe someday I will get to go back and visit my family (and rib them for having to ski Eastern ice all the time) and walk around amongst their mountains of steel, and concrete, and glass again

[Random Task]

I was in a class outside next to a lake on a beautiful, sunny, fall day in MN when the first plane hit. I went to the computer lab to check email within minutes of the attack, and was annoyed that my hotmail account couldn't be accessed. Walking down the hall from the lab there were people standing, mouths open, staring up at CNN. I wasn't in NYC, my compassion is deep for all of you who endured first hand. I cannot imagine.

The attack changed my perspective a little. It made me see that nothing is permanent in this world. Not buildings, forests, dinosaurs, or humans. As the top of the intellectual food chain on this planet, we have learned to destroy everything, including ourselves; and as a global society we seem hell bent on destroying that which sustains us. Whether that means a father in Jerusalem, a young girl in Gaza, trust in those that we choose to represent us, or faith that good outweighs bad in the end.

[Jumper Bones]

Changed my life quite a bit, I've certainly travelled a whole ton more to places I'd have never gone otherwise: Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey, Djibouti...and a whole ton of other countries. Also it's meant that I'm able to make a living as a full-time Reservist, it's had a huge impact on how my unit (and others like it) does business.

I haven't had near the experience on the ground Rotorhead has, but 3 or 4 nights ago I was at FOB Speicher in Iraq, busting my ass to get some of his compatriots and 2 of their helos back home after they'd spent 14 months in Iraq. I never would have set foot there if 9/11 hadn't happened.