I was on my way to work in Atlanta when the second plane hit. When I got to work we went to the break room and watched the news. I remember seeing President Bush being informed of the second plane hitting. The President then continued on with his event in the kids' classroom. My friends and I did not understand why the president was not being whisked away to a safe location. And so began my 19 year suffering over a story with so many holes in it, but so few people being willing to question. And now you youngsters do not have access to all the evidence and testimony that we had in the early years. It has largely been removed from the internet or hidden very well. I will never forget.

I was in Rockville, MD. I was working and heard on the radio about the plane hitting the tower. I knew what it was right away.. I remembered the bombing of 1995. I walked outside and looked up and thought how beautiful it was outside. The sky was beautiful. Then I cried.

My story actually starts before 9-11. The last semester I was in University, there were two Saudi guys who were very adamant to leave before the semester ended. In fact they were willing to sacrifice a passing grade and and graduation just so they could return home. Both men kept to themselves most of the time, but I remember how agitated they were. Most of us chalked it up to some problem at home, but it gave me an eerie feeling. Anyway, the semester ended and I spent the whole summer looking for a job. Then September came and I remember the night before I felt kind of sick and had a restless sleep. Like most young people, I slept in and remember my mother waking me up and telling me to turn on the television. She worked nights and often took a nap after getting my father out for work early in the morning. She had called some bank or something to take care of a bill and was lambasted by someone who knew what was happening. "Don't you know what is happening?" she said. My mom didn't know. She usually didn't turn on the television until noon to watch the news. All I remember is the eerie quiet of my neighborhood. It seemed like a normal day with normal sounds outdoors. Having grown up during the cold war, my first thought from the urgency in my mother's voice was "UH OH, what if we got nuked or something." Still didn't know what happened until I turned on the television. As soon as I turned on the television, I saw the twin towers. The news was saying that an airplane had crashed into one of them. There was smoke and dust, and all I can remember is being entranced but also relieved that it wasn't a nuke. Then I saw the second plane hit, and that's when my heart sunk. I knew this was something bigger. My mind is still a blur from all the news reports we watched that day, and wondering if people we knew had been lost or hurt. Even though I was hundreds of miles away, it still seemed close. Other than that, I also remember chatting with people on Newsgroups about the events. What really hit hard was some guy who a lot of people didn't like had lost his mom in the towers. Anyway, he was so distraught that he was telling everyone he was going to commit suicide. People didn't believe him, and some people were goading him to do it. They didn't believe him. To make a long story short, a few us did believe and called the cops to do a welfare check. The police found him drenched in gasoline with a lighter. He was going to emulate himself. They later told us that if we hadn't have kept him chatting online, he'd be dead right now. To this day, the man is still alive, and I'm grateful for that.

I remember September 9th thru the 12th very, very well. I remember being at a hole in the wall pizza joint watching monday night football. And then I remember the owners son coming in to tell me a plane hit the WTC. I was listening to the Grateful Dead's "Skeletons from the Closet" album. By 5pm that day there was already memes done up, including the infamous Hulk Hogan ones as well as a take off of South parks unclefucker song.