@bittersunday@xanga - I'm sorry you're going thru a rough time. I really hope things will get better for you.

So much does go on internationally as well doesn't it? All the other events you mentioned are so tragic as well but b/c 9/11 hit home it's the one that hurts the most for us as Americans. My heart goes out to all the folks affected by any of these events.

@eugenia@xanga - Thank you for your well-wishes.  You are very kind.

I can understand the whole "hitting home" part, but I am an American (though admittedly an atypical one...I grew up overseas) and I feel as strongly for those things happening overseas as I do 9 / 11.  Moreso, because they are happening this very moment, while 9 / 11 was 7 years ago.

We are all humans.  We all share this planet.  I am not Sudanese or Tibetan or from the Congo but what is happening in those places affect me simply because I am a human.

I was in my high school biology class watching the morning news.  My father worked at the WTC, and it sent me into such a panic.  I went to high school out of state and the transit system shut down.  I was almost forced to walk across the Delaware bridge to get back to NJ.  It is a day I'll never forget.

i lived in china during 9/11. we were as far as you could get on earth from NYC but i remember waking up that morning, 12 hours after it had happened, and my mom was in front of the tv crying. my dad was in the states on business and he was grounded for 3 weeks. he was in san fran and was terrified for his life that something was going to happen there too. 

I remember where I was I was at the tme of the attacks. I was a freshman in high school and when the event happened I didn't find out about it till hours later this is because I was going to seminary at the time and the school I was at had a bock scheduale and as my first class after seminary was study hall I didn't find out about the events until it was around lunch time.

When I first heard about the attacks I didn't even know what the twin towers were and I grew up in the US my whole life, once I learned it was in NY I didn't believe it and I thought someone was joking until I went to my last 2 classes and the teachers either let us talk about it or watch it on the tv.

I was surprised school was not canceled, and surprised at the time that it didn't bring any feelings of emotions of being sacred. I just remember that after hearing about it their were rumors being spread that our state would be attacked next as we carry a certain amount of atomic bombs.

But I do think that what happened was tragic but I also agree with a lot of the things that bittersunday is saying and I grew up here in the US. So because of this does it make me selfish that yeah it was tragic but it is also time to move on instead of continually pulling at that scab and running salt in it over and over agian?

I remember the year after, going to a special tribute performance of Brahms' Deutsche Requiem in Chicago.

"Behold, all flesh is as the grass, and all the goodliness of man is as the flower of grass."

Also worth listening to today is the memorial piece composed by John Adams and premiered by the New York Philharmonic, On the Transmigration of Souls.  It's a setting for voices and orchestra with text taken from the words of survivors and victims.  "I see water... and buildings."  Quite arguably the best (and certainly the most moving) piece of the century so far.

@Jer46_19@xanga - I never said people should forget.  Mourn, but look forward.  Perhaps you did not direct your entire comment at me, but in case you did I will leave this comment.

9 / 11 affected things, true, but so have countless other events.

i was 20. living with a roommate. oddly enough, it was my payday and a day off as well. i slept in a bit longer than usual and woke up seeing the clock chiming at 9:11am.. honest.

at first my thought struck me funny. "time to call help to get me out of bed." i got up to get ready to run errands. at that time i didn't own a car nor could i drive. [never drove and didnt have driver license]

my roommate and i rode buses.. that day i invited her to join me to run errands, pick up the check from work and pay bills and go shopping.

on the way to work, we noticed a lot of flags were down halfway. we looked at each other wondering why. "did the president die? who's the big person to have such  honor here in town? mayor?"

we enter work and one of the employee asked me if i heard. i had no clue. it was nearly lunch time.

i cannot remember exactly HOW we found out. we didn't have cable, either nor do we get newspaper or have internet at that time.

i guess we just found out through news from people then ran to check out the newspaper. cannot remember my reactions, either. i didn't know anyone from NYC. but I was sure to know how badly that would have effected the US.

I was fairly young on September 11, 2001, but I remember it like it was not very long ago.

I was in 7th grade Texas History (in Texas, where I've lived my whole life). My teacher had gone to the office to get something she had forgotten before coming to class. She came back into the room screaming "TURN ON THE TV! TURN ON THE TV! NOW! THE WORLD TRADE CENTER HAS BEEN HIT!!" The majority of us 12, 13 year olds looked highly confused. I was not excluded. The TV was turned on and we all watched in shock as the buildings were collapsing. I talked to a friend of mine sitting near me and asked her if she knew where the WTC was//what it was (I was obviously very uniformed). She said she didn't really know, but thought it might be in New York. Someone else confirmed for us that indeed the towers were there and then told us that they are the tallest buildings there. I recalled my Aunt (who lived in NY) had told me the past Christmas that she worked in the tallest building in NY. I suddenly got insanely frightened and did not know what to do. My mom came to pick us (my sister and me) from school early that day. She told us our Aunt was safe. She had not gone into work that day.

The words "My father works in that building" gave me chills.

I was at home. Busy doing housework in fact. Husband called from work telling me to turn on the tv.
Just sat down in horror.

News came in that Flight 93's destination possibly was Fort Knox. Living in Kentucky that really affect me.
Finding out 343 firemen died, hit home with us. Husband was a firefighter and member of the rescue squad.

Principle did announce for all TVs to be turned off. School was dismissed early here.
Son was in second grade, daughter in kindergarden.
He came home in tears.
Weeks later he still was drawing pictures of the towers in flames, people jumping, or a crashed plane.  
Remember it took at least a month before he got to where would not burst into tears crying and begging for his Dad not to go to the station or on any runs.

To Americans 9-11 was personal.  It was our country, our countrymen, our property and ultimately our security and lives that were affected that day.  Is it any more tragic than other events around the world?  Not necessarily.  But because it happened to us it affects us more.

If your child, parent, spouse, friend or relative dies is it worse than when someone else's dies?  No.   But your grief is great and the death of your loved one impacts your life forever.  To compare your grief with someone else's does not lessen your loss.  Nor is it a healthy way to grieve. 

Will you remember the anniversary of your neighbor's loss like you will remember the anniversary of your own?  No.  Further remembering your loss in no way suggests that someone elses loss is less or not important.  It is just part of your life now.

9-11 was a great American tragedy.  All of America suffered.  Not all to the same degree though.  Many people cannot escape what happened 7 years ago.  Those of us further away whose lives today are affected only by the memory and the ramifications of that day show compassion and love to the thousands of people whose lives were completely changed and still suffer because of it.  We honor the hundreds of lives that were willingly given to save other people by remembering that day.

As a country our loss unites us with other countries that suffer tragedies.  It does not negate theirs.