Does IT SEEM SURREAL to YOU?

What Mommyof2 said. I was there, yes it was horrible, but I'm sick of the rehash, of the politics, of the fearmongering, etc. Oklahoma City was horrible and it didn't get this kind of play... we don't bash the extremist Americans over and over and over. People are good, people are evil, of every race/color/creed. Until we stop pretending it's all just "them" or some different "other", it's never going to get better.

I was in Manhattan on 9/11. I still think it's very surreal. Here is what I postd the other day in case you're curious as to how my day went that horrible day!!

I have to say that the sheer magnitude of the entire day still leaves me in awe. That it affected people all over the USA and the World goes to show what a powerful nation we are. We have survived.

I was living in Manhattan on 9/11/2001. I lived up in the 80s and can still recall the smell that wafted into my apartment that night. It was a fiery ash smell. We had to keep the windows shut so the air didn't come in - but you couldn’t escape it.

I was home when it happened. My then boyfriend (now husband) called to say a plane hit the World Trade. It was an amazing site to see that fire and know just how in trouble those people were. After all, I walked past those buildings for years (I had always worked in the Financial District - mainly at the World Financial Center which is the tall buildings next to the World Trade with the green tops). Coming out of he subway every day I would look up and se the World Trade. It was an amazing site to see as you come out of the subway and they are right above you.

The scariest part of the day was once the buildings fell, there was smoke and soot everywhere. My roommate and BFF was down there. I wondered how she, with her bad asthma, would make it home. He father had been calling me to ask if she was home yet and he had little hope. He was calmly desperate. It wasn't until 1:30 that I heard a key in the lock. We hugged and she just shook. She was with a man who drove her home. Someone from work put her in his car and said take her as far up as you're going. It took hours to go a few miles so he had come in to our apartment to use they bathroom and call his wife. They both looked shell shocked. She called her dad and just cried and cried.

All night and for several days we would hear the jet fighters flying around Manhattan. It was scary to hear them. Everyone just walked around in a daze (or really angry) not really knowing what to do or think. Would they find people buried alive (no, not really)? The firehouse on my block, the one I walked by everyday lost 9 men. 9 MEN. It was horrible to walk by there. They had photos and a shrine and black and purple bunting. Their faces were blank.

I have to say that Rudy Giuliani is the MAN!! He did a great job comforting New Yorkers.

I think that a lot of people are still walking around very affected by 9/11.

God bless America!

I'm at the point where I wish this tragedy that happened over 10 years ago would stop being broadcast on the news on every main channel, that FB and Twitter would stop the same repetitive "Never Forget", "What were you doing when", etc.

Anyone who was over the age of 8 on that day WILL NEVER FORGET. DO we rehash the Oklahoma Bombing where the children were specifically targeted by another American who wanted to get back at this Nation? Do we only rehash 9/11 because we want to perpetuate that only Muslims can be terrorists?

I'm just so over it. My Father retired the US Army as a Colonel, he was a FireFighter before he joined the military. ALL of my family lives in central and northern NJ and some work in NYC. I thankfully didn't lose anyone close, but even if I did - I would NOT want this commercialized and 'celebrated' like Christmas!

No, that day was a living nightmare to me. The company my husband worked for had an office on the 102 floor of the North Tower. Those people were trapped, waiting to be rescued. Then the towers fell and we knew it was over for them. Although I didn't know any of those people personally I was still deeply effected by their deaths.

I knew everything would change. And it has.

We have part of a beam from one of the towers in our city right now, about to be placed as a monument in the middle of our downtown, in a park. When I saw that today, took my daughter's picture in front of it, remembered how my cousin would have died had she been on that flight she had worked for 8 years, but through a fluke in scheduling, she stayed home that day...it keeps me grounded, actually.

No, Libby - it's not surreal to me...that day it was - I thought they were filming a movie..as I stated in Rachel D's post - then I realized it was REAL...

I saw the smoke from the Pentagon from my back deck...the sirens were unreal - all over the place - they were ready for action - the police? I don't think I saw one sitting still that day...or for several days later...

I remember how absolutely QUIET it was that day....we live 8 miles east of Dulles Airport and after 930 - the skies were quiet...no helicopters, no airplanes, nothing - birds stayed in the trees it seemed...

I thanked God that Bob wasn't working at the Pentagon that day...he had just left the job there several months prior - we knew people who died there and were still working there...we waited for calls...

I was 24, just bought my very own brand spanking new car (only 99 miles on it), I was living the high life. No husband, no kids...I had never wanted to get married, never wanted to have kids. I found myself thinking about these things. Exactly one year later I met Kris and my world change again!

I have tried all week to avoid watching the coverage. I am a "sensitive" I can feel others emtions. I will randomly cry for no reason, because someone around me is.

This is hard for me. I let my daughter watch the Nick special on demand since we missed it. She didn't understand why I was crying, "what makes people bad?"...."dad flies can this happen to him?"...

She is a sensitive too. I sent them all to the car show today. I am watching the Chiefs play. I will on occassion turn the channel over but I can't sit here and watch it.

My uncle flew home 9-10...he was scheduled to work in one of the Towers, my nephew called him that Sunday afternoon and said "dad I really think you need to come home tomorrow!". So he worked all night Sunday to fly home Monday. That makes it far too real for me.

It's still complete reality to me. I have no desire to watch any of the coverage that's been on, because I just can't stand to watch it. I can honor & remember those who were affected by such a tragedy in my own way.

I hope our country can let this memorializing go and move on. I heard and saw widows still crying over their loss after all this time. I'm a widow, too seven years. I've moved on without the ache in my heart. Yes when one of our grandchildren does something wonderful I think I can't wait to get home and tell him but then realize he already knows from where he is.
Millions of men and women are still engaged in the wars that grew out of 9/11 every time one of them is severely injured or dies in battle that's a fresh tragedy. All these orphaned children whose parents died 9/11 and the ones whose father's and mother's did not return from the battlefield these are tragedys in the making everyday.
What's surreal to me is that everytime I have to get on an airplane I'm confronted with fascist TSA workers. The growing fascism in our land over "protecting" us is destroying our democracy. That's what bothers me today not the anniversary of the attacks.
Thanks for asking this question. It made me look a little deeper.

Living near the DC area today and when the attacks happened made it very real to me quickly. I drove by the pentagon daily (my normal route), so I saw it, and that made it real. I was still glued to the news channel when I was home(I think we all were)- it took me a good 2 weeks to stop watching.

Today it is still very real, because it is a part of my daily living. For instance, today as we drove on the highway we saw EVERY big truck pulled over on the highway with multiple police officers with dogs surrounding them. DOZENS of trucks. Everything has been heightened since 10 years ago, and I have many friends that work in the Pentagon. It is all very real to me, because it is unavoidable- and it is scary. The county I live in, Prince William County had the most amount of resident deaths at the pentagon on 9-11. Just about everyone I know knows someone that was killed/injured personally.

These new possible threats are not shocking to us, but a reminder that we are still very much at war with terrorists.

I can see that someone who doesn't live close to where the attacks were could look at it as surreal. If I didn't live in this area, I'm not quite sure how "close to home" it would hit me (pun not intended).

My son had to ask me about where I was, how I felt, etc on 9/11 as part of his Social Studies homework. I was shocked when I started crying as I told him about that day. The emotions came back so quickly and so powerfully, it really amazed me. I, too, was nowhere near NY when it happened, but my SIL was at NYU at the time and had to evacuate from her dorm and my other SIL lived and worked in Manhattan. My husband and I went to school outside of Philadelphia and many, many of our friends and classmates ended up working in the financial district and in the Twin Towers. Our university has a stained glass in the church in memory of the alumni that died that day - there were many. It really hits close to home. I've stood at the top of one of the towers. I've got a picture of myself with Manhattan spread out behind me. It's both surreal that something like that could have happened and yet, very, very real. I'll never forget that day, I can relive it minute by minute, emotion by emotion. I don't need to turn on the tv today, I can remember it well enough.

We were 18 too when it happened. We lived less then 15 miles from the Shanksville crash sight. My husband (boyfriend at the time) drove with his brother to the crash sight. It is much more real too him then how it was played out on t.v. We talked about it the other day on how he is able to tell his children he saw history happening. I on the other hand had decided to skip class and slept thru till after 11 am and only waking to my mom calling freaking out that the plane had crashed so close to home. I didn't watch much of the news that day.

This morning I sat here with my 3 children and watched the memorial service and tried to explain to them what had happened. We googled some youtube videos of the day and it was very emotional. This was the first anniversary that I have cried and it felt real. I am not sure if it was b/c I did not watch much of the news 10 years ago or if it is b/c I feel so fortunate to have my 3 children with me.

Hugs and Prayers to all

I too feel the same way...like it was a bad movie, even though I know it isn't. I think what happened, whether you are there or not, is just hard to even imagine something this devastating can happen, ever!

To me, just watching yesterday still felt like it did 10 years ago. But I am hopeful for the rebirth and moving forward for our country. I know I will never forget this tragedy.

I was watching the Today show coverage when it happened, I remember it well. It definitely felt surreal then, so I can understand that it would seem that way still. The confusion, the disbelief, the graphic images far away but up close on TV. It doesn't feel surreal to me in real life anymore, knowing people who died that day, and after all we've lived through in the last 10 years... so I'll probably be avoiding the media coverage today that sensationalizes it.