Where were you moments

[youtalkfunny]

I was dealing in a 1-5 stud game one night. Every player at the table was at least 3-times as old as me.

They were having this same discussion. It prominently featured JFK and Pearl Harbor.

[Duke]

9/11 - I was sleeping, and was woken up by a call from my then girlfriend asking if I was OK. After some discussion I figured out what she meant, and I put the TV on in time to see tower #2 get hit. I then explained that Las Vegas was rather far from New York.

'86 Challenger - I was in Elementary School, and it was recess. We were all corralled into the media center to watch the videos again and again, as some of the teachers wept. I couldn't stop wondering if that would be the end of the space program. Even at 9 years old I suppose I valued broadening our horizons more than a few lives. I had read Asimov by then, and knew the Zeroeth law of robotics.

Feynman's Death in '88 - I was eating spaghetti and they said it on the news as an afterthought. I was in shock. I never wanted to go to Cal Tech after that. It was a few days before the anniversary of my grandfather's death.

The Night it REALLY Snowed in Vegas - I woke my niece up at 2 in the morning and took her out to build a snowman and have a snowball fight. She may never see that much snow in the back yard again, or any at all for that matter. Most of the kids around here likely slept through it, and only caught the melting remnants in the morning.

~D

[tyfromm]

9/11 - I had a video tape due that day, so I was watching it until 11 am(EDT). Then got in my car to return it to the library (radio not on). Finally at 11:30 I walk inside to see everyone listening to the radio.

My first thoughts about it? It reminded me of Augustus and his reaction to the loss of 2 Roman Legions north of the Danube. For years after that he would ask people "Were are my Legions?". To me, 9/11 was a historical event from the first moment it happened, and it didn't affect me much because shocking tragedies happens every so many years.

In a real sense, 9/11 struck me as a "so what?" moment. Hey 10,000 Americans die everyday. One day with a 13,000 person death toll instead of the normal 10,000 is not that significant.

Everyone I've told this to seems to think I must be a borderline anti-social psychopath, but I think my mindset probably helps my poker play.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Everyone I've told this to seems to think I must be a borderline anti-social psychopath, but I think my mindset probably helps my poker play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think you're that out of line with your thoughts on the matter, but it was sorta a big day in US history. We don't get attacks of that symbolic magnitude very often. Watching the WTC fall was kinda like finding out that your dad really can't beat up everyone else, but for grown-ups.

The biggest result of that event, though, is that Bush has decided to run the following war as a Vietnam #2. By that I mean that the current goals are ill-defined, the presence is unwelcome and tense, and though the bodycount is lower than that of Vietnam, a bodycount of anything greater than 0 is unacceptable for the current "operation." "Terror" is the new "communism." At least in my opinion.

So yeah - as far as the body count of 9/11, well, yeah it's not much of a smudge in the big picture. But as a defining period in our nation's history it's a big deal.

Off-topic (though tangentially related) commentary:

When are we going to stop playing gunslinger to the world, and instead just hang back and mind our own business? It'll earn us a few fewer friends, but I think the enemies that we've earned through our policies are insanely dangerous (dangerous and insane, not intended as a modifier on dangerous) enough to cancel out any sunny day friends we have earned.

~D

[tyfromm]

[ QUOTE ]
as far as the body count of 9/11, well, yeah it's not much of a smudge in the big picture.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well the body count of the Afgan and Iraq wars don't amount to much either (compared to the 10,000 a day death rate in the US)

[BeerMoney]

I know this isn't as serious as the earlier ones mentioned, but what about when USA Mark McGwire broke the HR record?

[SlyAK]

[ QUOTE ]
When are we going to stop playing gunslinger to the world, and instead just hang back and mind our own business? It'll earn us a few fewer friends, but I think the enemies that we've earned through our policies are insanely dangerous (dangerous and insane, not intended as a modifier on dangerous) enough to cancel out any sunny day friends we have earned.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree w/u Duke. This is the idea behind the 'Monroe Doctrine' if I remember correctly from my history classes. A mind our own business policy. I am all for strong DEFENSE, like missile defense etc. Some of our offensive moves seem a bit extreme however.

Sly

[Wyrm2]

On 9/11 I was in my first week of teaching high school and we heard the news over the loudspeakers. I don't remember a whole lot except for trying to get through to home because my father is a consultant who occasionally worked in WTC. (Thankfully not that day).

For the first shuttle explosion I was taking my 10th grade English midterm in Ms. Barrett's class (funny how much I remember or think I do about that test).

From these two memories, I suspect I spend too much time in school [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[adios]

1. Kennedy Assassanation

I was in junior high and some loud mouth girl was screaming that the president had been killed in the halls while classes were changing. I couldn't believe it and told a friend of mine that the screwy girl was spouting off again. Then it was announced over the loudspeaker and we were sent home for the day. My dad was waiting for us when we got home as he left work early himself since he was worried about a possible nuclear war (he didn't tell us that at the time). He was worried that the Soviets had engineered the assassanation. No joke, times were like that back then.


2. 9/11 - I was watching CNBC and they showed the first Trade tower right after is was hit. I saw the second plane hit the other tower live. Sad day, made me outrageously angry about it. I basically still am.

[CORed]

9/11: I was listening to my radio on the way to work when I heard that the second tower had been hit. I was at home when I heard that the first tower had been hit, and thought, "What a terrible accident. How could that have happened?" When I heard about the second impact, I realized that it was not an accident. Of course, it just got worse from there: The Pentagon was hit, the towers collapsed, etc.