My cousin normally flew flight 51 (as a stewardess). She had back trouble that week and could not get into work.
 
You never know when having health troubles can be best for your overall health state.
 

Fate, luck or karma--thank heavens for a little back pain.

I was living in Burbank at the time (at work), and my wife had received a call from Sri Lanka asking if we were all right (they weren't sure which state this had taken place in).....as like everyone else, we were in utter disbelief that such a horrific thing could happen.

    I was set to start a new job on the 12th so I was off, At home sleeping. Being that I am from NY and have family who worked in the trade center, My wife called me from her work and said "you need to turn on the TV"  I said "what channel?" & she said "it doesn't matter it's on all of them."  There was a coldness to her tone that sent shiver down my spine... I turned on the TV and saw the 1st tower in flames listened to the talking heads discuss if this was an accident or not,  Then the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower it there was no mistaking, we were under attack.
I watched in horror & cried as men and women opted to jump to their death as that was the better option.   Then, they began to fall.  A horrific day I myself will never forget.

I was teaching a morning chemistry recitation.  When the class ended I walked out of the building where one of my students who had not attended class started yelling at me that all hell was breaking loose in NY.  When I got to my office, one of the other faculty was running around yelling that we were under attack … it was mid-morning so I am not quite sure of the timing of everything but I think that was when the second plane hit.  From there, I went over to the student center on Busch campus (Rutgers) and watched the whole thing unfold on the big screen TV they had there.
 
As a child I grew-up in a suburb not far from the meadowlands that overlooks the NY skyline and I even have memories of the WTC before it was finished.

It's funny (not funny haha) how those images and sounds still stir up so much anger in me. I heard the audio of the woman on flight 93 leaving a message on her answering machine at home saying goodbye to her husband.

It's weird but I even kinda forgot it was Sept 11 until about an hour ago when I walked outside of my apartment and immediately saw the blue beams of light in the sky. 
 
They're definitely making less and less of a deal of it every year here in New York. I remember 10 years ago, the anniversary was quite an event in terms of the amount of TV and news coverage it got. Now, they report the ceremony and that's about it. 
 
I'll never forget the day because I was back in England and had decided to go for a swim in the afternoon (5hrs ahead of NYC time). The pool was completely empty and I couldn't believe my luck. I had the whole place to myself and had the most relaxing swim ever. Little did I know that everyone was glued to their TV screens and it was all happening when I was in there. Still makes me feel weird to think that while I was floating on my back in bliss, others were involved in this most epic struggle for their lives. 
 
I didn't even know what happened until I got home. I turned on the TV just in time to see a replay of the first tower falling. My immediate reaction was "Holy crap, they demolished the World Trade Center? What the hell did they do that for, it was a perfectly good building!" Then of course they replayed the planes hitting and it all hit me so hard I wanted to kick the TV in. 
 
After hours of sat in front of the screen absolutely horrified, I went over to a friend's house. A few friends were there. They were your 'right on' types, and one of them said "I'm just glad someone's shown those capitalist b*stards that they're not invincible." Pretty horrible thing to say, huh? I think at that point I realized I didn't quite fit in. 

I was back in Quebec, working security. Got an early call on my day off to show up to work ASAP. Didn't know what had happened until after I got there. I remember that end of the world feeling.
 
My younger brother who'd just moved in showed up and was hired to work security on the spot.
 
Even though I'm still only a guest here, it all resonates very deeply into me. I have no tolerance for all those people making insensitive remarks about the event, talking rubbish about America and putting on their little show trying to look clever w/ their theories and all... You know - "Amercians are so this" and "Americans are so that"...
 
I've said it before - I really love this country. I've alienated many old "friends" back home because I'll not let them speak rubbish about the US, and I'm constantly standing up to them. But 9-11 is something I don't even want to discuss w/ them, something I don't want to offer them an opportunity to talk about. That's off limit, you don't mess with that.
 
As far as I'm concerned, this country is home. And we're working on making that a reality. :)

Dupe. How'd I do that??

Rain
I was back in Quebec, working security. Got an early call on my day off to show up to work ASAP. Didn't know what had happened until after I got there. I remember that end of the world feeling.
 
My younger brother who'd just moved in showed up and was hired to work security on the spot.
 
Even though I'm still only a guest here, it all resonates very deeply into me. I have no tolerance for all those people making insensitive remarks about the event, talking rubbish about America and putting on their little show trying to look clever w/ their theories and all... You know - "Amercians are so this" and "Americans are so that"...
 
I've said it before - I really love this country. I've alienated many old "friends" back home because I'll not let them speak rubbish about the US, and I'm constantly standing up to them. But 9-11 is something I don't even want to discuss w/ them, something I don't want to offer them an opportunity to talk about. That's off limit, you don't mess with that.
 
As far as I'm concerned, this country is home. And we're working on making that a reality. :)

Hey man I have the same crap from friends back home, usually on Facebook. It's snide comments about America whenever they can. Americans are stupid, America is backward, American cops are psychopaths, blah blah blah. I've almost given up trying to reason with them. Mainly I ask them what in the hell they think they know about America, having never even been here let alone lived here? Most of what they know about this country comes from smug articles written by right-on columnists, or cracks by stand-up comedians, or a very filtered and biased picture of the country as presented by the news media they watch. Mainly from the TV. But I guess it makes them feel like they're on some higher plane of consciousness or something. I have friends back in Newcastle who take swipes at "lazy" Americans and their "trash" culture...meanwhile they live in a city in which a substantial proportion of the population lives on welfare, many of whom are proud of having never worked a day in their lives, and spend most of their time either drinking or smoking or watching utter crap on the TV or causing trouble on the streets. 
 
Of course I'm not talking about all my fellow Brits back home here, there are plenty (like my father) who really appreciate the US for what it is and what it's given the world. But among the people I know of the same age group as me (around 40), it's really hard to persuade them to see America fairly and objectively.