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I didn't see a lot of the TV and new media on 9/11 and I'm sort of glad. Seeing some of the pictures now makes me so upset, I couldn't imagine processing them at 14.
I was 13. My parents always tried us to keep aware of things that were happening politically, talk radio was almost always on in our house, etc. When 9/11 happened we weren't sheltered at all. We listened to and watched all the coverage. Both my sister and I (she's 2 years younger than I am) were already really aware and mature though.
I was 14 - a freshman in high school. We had to leave super early in the mornings because of traffic, so we were already on the road to school before we heard about anything happening. I was scanning radio stations looking for music (not listening to the words being said), when my mom said "WAIT! Go back to that station - they said something about a plane crash and buildings going down!" - it was right when the second plane hit. When I got to school, they put us all on lockdown and we had a mandatory assembly/chapel time where everyone got together to talk/learn about it all and pray all day. I can't imagine being sheltered from any of it - everyone knew what was going on and took it all very seriously.
@mmsva: wow, what an interesting topic. I was 14 and in high school when it happened. As the daughter of a active duty personnel, I was put in "lock down" in a gym in the school. I found it stupid and pointless; as if the walls of the gym would shield us "military" kids from a plane or god forbid a bomb. I could not get back home until the next day. The Air Force base (a missile high threat base) was on complete lock down. I slept on a cold floor and waited six hours on a bus at the base gate to get back to my house. We had no choice but to talk about the situation as a family. It was no secret my dad would be deployed, it was really just when.
I was too young to feel that much anger, I just remember so much confusion. I knew that people do stupid things and hurt others, but why did my dad have to suffer? Luckily, I am one of the fortunate ones that got their loved one back from the desert. I couldn't have been sheltered even if I had wanted to be.
I remember watching it in high school on a TV and then at home with my mom later.
As bad as this sounds, I wasn't that effected by the tragedy (apart from it obviously being very sad). My friends and FI, however, got into college majors to help fight terrorism and have devoted their lives to it. I've had so many friends join the military for it. It's remarkable thinking about how one day changed everything.
I think Bin Laden's death was a much bigger milestone than the 10 year anniversary, and a lot happier.
I was 16 and in HS,. They brought a TV into the class room during second period and we watched the coverage. As a 16 year old I had no idea what a big deal this was.
I was 27 when 9/11 happened. It made me so sad to see all that happening and quite frightened.
I was 12, about a month shy of my 13th birthday and I was not sheltered. I think it was much more personal for my family than a many Americans. We were New Yorkers. You could not turn on the TV of radio without seeing and hearing about it. My uncle worked at the Trade Center, so we all watched the coverage hoping for good news. Like Mrs.ChubbyBunny, my dad was also military. We knew he was going to the city and we knew that he was likely going to war. The school tried to sanitize it the best they could, but my family did not shelter my sister and I.
I was 17, a senior in HS. We watched the coverage all day at school and my parents discussed it with me non-stop for weeks. But my parents would tell me anything if I asked, so that's not a surprise.
I was 14 and a freshman in high school. I think some (although not all) of our teachers tried to shelter us from the coverage during the day. That angered me because I wanted to be aware of what was happening (and I felt like a had the right to know).
My parents didn't shelter me (or my younger siblings) at all. I spent all that evening/night and much of the next handful of evenings watching the coverage. My parents were willing to do their best to answer any and every question that we had.
I didn't find it overwhelming to know what was going on. Honestly, it made me feel like my parents respected me and knew that I was mature enough to handle it. I feel like I was able to fully understand how big of a deal it was (both at the time and now).
I was 14 and was alone in my bedroom getting ready when I first saw the news broadcast of the first plane being on fire. I saw the second plane hit and went to go wake up my parents and let them know what was going on.
I wound up going to school for a couple of hours but my mom pulled me out and took me home. We are from NYC and have a ton of family up there and wanted to be able to get into contact with everyone and be together as a family. I watched every second of coverage I could glue myself to for those first few days. Not sheltered from it at all. Everone in my family was too concerned with what was going on and I wanted to absorb every morsel of information as it was released.
I was 11 (so 6th grade) and my Comm Arts/Science teacher turned on the news once the school gave the go-ahead at 10, just in time for the second. They realized that since we were within 4 hours of NYC, 2 of DC and ~4 of Somerset,and 15 minutes from TMI (they thought it might be another target) that we should know and be prepared. I think they handled it really well. I don't think the full extent of everything really hit the students but we all could at least tell that the teachers were upset.
My brother was 8 at the time and home sick but watched the news with my mom. My parents talked it over (what they knew at least) that evening.
I has just turned 13 a few days prior. I remember waking up to my foster parents all upset, and seeing reruns of the towers being hit. I was definitely not sheltered, but I was much to immature to really understand exactly what occured, and while I knew something very bad happened, I didn't have too much empathy.
As years progressed, I kept ignorant about it because of course, everything that was going on in my teenage life seemed much more important, and I had my own struggles to deal with.
On becomming an adult, I finally started to understand the severity, and the lives lost, but I never watched an entire documentary on it, because I was too scared to feel.
Last night, I watched a 2 hour documentary, and I can't get the images out of my mind now. I feel so bad for everyone. I can't help but think about the mothers, and fathers, and wives, and husbands. What were their last thoughts? Did they get to call home? What went through their minds as they " jumped" ( I use this word, but I know they didn't just jump, it was out of force) out of the windows, gasping for air, and having 10 seconds of freedom left? How are thier spouses and children and parents coping now?
I have shed alot of tears today, but am glad I finally understand. Because those people deserve to be thought about, and cared about. And I am happy I can at least grant them that much.
September 11th will always be in my thoughts now. I hope another tragedy like that never has to occur again. What an ugly bunch of people to inflict that kind of depair on their fellow brothers and sisters.
I was 13. My parents woke me up early to watch the news. We then spent the day at school watching and discussing the news. My parents didn't hide anything from me.
ETA: We also live really close to Edwards AFB and were worried about the possibility of something happening to our loved ones there, as many people in our area work/live there.
I was a freshman in college, so no, I was not sheltered from it. Actually, my parents had to call me several times before I answered (I was in the shower) to tell me about it. And they paged me, a lot, trying to get ahold of me (not a morning person, so tv and radio were not on). They weren't sure if I'd need to go to class or not so I called the college (a local community college) and the girl who answered the phone did not have a clue of anything going on and said of course the school is open. So, I went to class. It was a somber day and my teachers just pretty much turned on the news.
One thing that sticks out in my mind the most, as it does to a lot of people I've read about, was the silence that day. The college was right in the flight path and close to the airport and so low flighing planes was normal. Without any planes flying, it was so increadibly quiet.
My heart breaks for everyone who was affected by this.
I was 13. At school, we watched the news all day, but I think most of the teachers had the sound muted. Everything I heard about "terrorists" or "war" was what I overheard teachers whispering. They didn't explain what was happening or talk about people dying. I think that was probably a good thing, because I don't remember being scared...I'm not sure I even comprehended how many deaths there were that day. However, I kind of wish that at the time I better understood the severity of the situation. It was such a critical moment in history, and I definitely did not realize that.
Once I was at home I was not sheltered at all. My parents talked to me about terrorism and told me who Osama bin Laden was. The TV stayed on CNN for days.
I was 13, a month away from turning 14. I was actually the first person in my household to hear about it and told my parents to watch the news. And I was not sheltered from watching any of it, and we openly talked about it at my school.
I was in middle school. They wouldn't let us watch any tv, just announced over the intercom that there had been a bombing but to proceed with classes as usual. It wasn't until I got home that I got to watch the news that everyone else it seemed had been watching all day! I did see the fire in one of the buildings on Good Morning America before I left for school but that's all I thought it was at the time...a fire...
I was 12 and I wasn't sheltered at all. They showed us coverage in school of what was going on. I saw the second plane hit and while other parents were pulling their kids out, our chose to leave us in school. My parents made sure we understood everything that was going on and didn't keep anything from us. They felt it was important we understood as best as we could what was happening to our country. And I am so happy they did.
I was 15 and found out in class. I walked in to my Spanish class and the TV was on, which was odd. I went to class with a couple of "class clowns" who would say just about anything to get a response, so when they started saying about what happened we all thought it was a really bad joke they were making up. But then we all saw the second tower fall on TV and I realized it wasn't a bad joke. My mother picked me up early from school that day, but didn't shelter me from the TV coverage of it all. In fact, thinking back on it, being with her while we tried processing it really helped me. I felt really overwhelmed by all of the coverage and the reality of it when when I was able to realize what had happened. But by talking about it with my family and and friends and having control of the amount of "coverage" I was exposed to helped me a lot.
On the flip side my fiance found out in school as well and never went home early. He told me that he and his friends had joked about the kids who got taken home early. But they were also in a podunk town and never felt any fear of the threat coming to them and their town.
I was 13 on 9-11-2001. I was sitting in home room, already at school when the planes hit. the Teachers were all so affected that we didn't do anything at school that day except watch all the news coverage, and I was transfixed. many of my class mates just thought it was cool we weren't doing class work.
When we got home from school and my mom wanted to talk about it with us both my brother and I knew more than she did because she hadn't had the luxury of sitting and watching coverage all day while she4 had been at work. She was really upset that the schools didnt shield us from it at all and let it be a family conversaton.
I wish they hadn't sheltered me. Several years afterwards (I think in 2006 or 2007) I decided I wanted to figure out exactly what happened. I looked at old stories and news footage, but it wasn't the same as watching it unfold. Now I have a weird idea of what all happened. lol
ETA: I meant I was sheltered after the fact. On 9/11 we had the news on, and I watched the buildings fall at school. A few days later, though, we pretty much stopped watching news about it, and it's from that point that I felt somewhat sheltered.
I was 17, a senior in high school. We watched in on TV in school all day, so nope wasn't sheltered from it one bit.
I was 12 in 7th grade and we watched the news in every class that day and openly talked about what was going on. My mom was also very open about it. But living in oregon everyone was worried about the world trade center in portland too. So I guess everyone thought we would have to be prepared and know what was going on just in case...
I was a sophmore in high school, 16 yrs old. I remember not knowing what the world trade center was. This guy walked into my drama class and said "Hey, some retard just ran into the world trade center" and laughed. I thought it was an accident from how he said it. The the teacher ran across the hall (he was a huge green party supporter lol) and said We are being attacked by terrorists!! The whole class ran across the hall to watch the second plane hit. It was very surreal. I was actually terrified because we lived in an area surrounded by chemical plants.
My parents got me out of school early and we watched the news all day.
The last thing I remember is sitting next to a guy who kept saying "we are going to war!!" and smiling and being happy about it. I still to this day do not know how he was so excited to be in war. Last I heard he was a marine but havent heard anything about him since.
I was 10, and in the 6th grade. I heard that all the teachers in school that day refused to turn on the TVs and were quiet about it. However, I was at the hospital with my sister who was supposed to have surgery that day and therefore saw it all unfold on TV.
I was 16 and a junior in high school. I was in TV production class when the first plane hit the North tower, and we watched the events unfold live. Every other class I went to that day had the coverage on TV. We were definitely not sheltered from it.
I was 13, so an 8th grader in middle school. Ironically, I was in history class. Our teacher was pulled into the hallway by the teacher next door, and when he came back in he turned on the TV. At that point only the first tower had been hit. We watched until the second tower was hit, and I remember just being confused and not understanding why or how this could happen - I guess I was young enough that I didn't immediately recognize we were under attack. After a little while the principal came over the speaker and told the teachers to turn off the TV. In our other classes that day, some teachers talked about it while some tried to ignore it.
When I got home all my parents wanted to do was watch the news. I feel selfish admitting this, but at the time I remember being very annoyed, and telling them that it made me sad to watch and there was nothing I could do for those people and I did not want to watch it, that it was just depressing. But I think it had a bigger affect on my high school life - the constant presence of recruiters for the military, knowing people going off to war, heightened security, etc.
I was 15, a sophomore in high school. I had just gotten excused from my first period class to use the restroom. As I was walking out the door, my Principal was opening the door to the adjacent classroom and yelled at the teacher "Turn on the news - a plane just hit the World Trade Center!" A single glance at my wide-eyed expression and a head nod from me confirmed he had one less classroom to visit.
I immediately spun around and ran back into the classroom. "Mr Jones, turn on the news!" I was never one to be (too!) loud in class, so I definitely got his attention. We sat and watched as the second plane hit, and then the buildings fall.
It was during my second period class (we were on block schedule, so only four classes a day) that we saw the plane hit the Pentagon, and my teacher let me use her office to call my mother at work; my Godfather worked at the Pentagon. (Thankfully he was okay.)
All day, we just watched the news; no instructions, no lesson plans, no pop-quizzes. When I got home, my parents had the news on, too. So, to answer your question, no. I was not sheltered from it at all.
I was 15 on 9/11 and my mom didn't shelter me at all. I think most high school aged kids are old enough to be in the know. Even if their parents did shelter them from what happened, they would certainly learn all about it in school. I remember discussing it in history class for weeks after it happened.
I was 14 and in high school. I heard about it at school, then got sent home to prepare for a possible evacuation since I lived near a nuclear power plant. My family could not get home to me, so I had no choice but to stay home alone and I watched the news.
I don't know if my parents would have allowed me to watch it otherwise, though. They were very careful/conservative with what we watched. I can't remember if my younger siblings were allowed to watch the coverage, but they would have been 12 and 10.
I was 13, and my parents didn't keep it from me. They were always very honest with me about every subject in life and they asked if I had any questions, or left the door open that if I ever had a question about the events that happened that I should feel comfortable to ask them. I was pretty mature at 13 , I had already gone through the death of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins prior to tha,t so I feel like I had the emotional capacity to understand. I think every parent knows whats in the best interest for their child and knows what they can handle.
I was 12, I was in Algebra when the first tower was hit. My next class was history and he turned the tv on, we watched live as the 2nd tower was hit.
I was 16. We didn't have cable, so the news was never on at our house. I guess I was sheltered from it, but not on purpose.
I was 10, and in 5th grade. Our teachers told us right away and explained it a bit, but none of us really understood. They refused to turn on the TVs, they didn't want us to see it. When I went home I watched the news coverage with my parents and understood a little better. I really wish the teachers hadn't sheltered us at school- because of that, I don't remember that day all that well. I remember my teacher telling us and a few snippets from our principle talking to us, and my memory flashed forward to that night watching the news. I have no memory of the days after it- I didn't completely realize what had happened.
ETA: There's one vote for being 5 or younger... that would make them 15 now? Odd.
I was 16 and a junior in high school. We were in homeroom, and the Student Council President walked in, white as a sheet, and turned on the TV without a word. We watched the second plane hit. None of my teachers that day even tried to teach anything, we all just watched TV all day.
I definitely wasn't sheltered from it at all. Even if my school had tried, my father was a journalist at the time, and he felt i t was very important that I was aware of what was going on in the world.
I was 20 and just starting my 3rd year of university...it was earth shattering for me. My friends and I spent 3 days in front of the TV. We walked around like zombies, moving from one persons house to another when we got sick of where we'd been. We drank, alot, every day and every night for that whole week.
Not sure if any of the older teenagers and 20-30 somethings had the same experience, but i feel an unbreakable bond with the 15 or so people I shared those few days with. I wasn't with my family, cause I was away at school, and so these peole became my family. Invariably when we get together now, we talk about that day. Not to say that it consumes us or anything, but it was undoubtably one of the "moments" you remember forever, and the people I was with are forever part of my memories.
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I was 31 on Sept 11, 2001 and I remember how much it rocked my world. But I sat and watched *everything* for days on end. I had known about Osama bin Laden since my previous job dealt with terrorism and such. But I never thought it would affect me personally.
In reading some of the stories on this post- http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/what-are-your-911-memories, it is quite amazing how many of you were teenagers or even little kids. I was wondering if adults tried to shelter you from the coverage. Not that they didn’t tell you, but they kept TV and news to a minimum
If they didn’t, was it overwhelming and do you wish they did? If they did shelter you, how do you feel about that? Are you glad they did or do you feel like you missed something? I know one thing that watching all the coverage did for me, was make me feel like I was a part of a national/global experience.