Do you remember what you were doing on 9/11/2001?

[patrick1]

I knew, from then, that the world just changed forever.

No, it didn't.

Xahar, you are a smart dude but with your youth you really have a poor frame of reference sometimes.  The world changed quite a bit after 9/11- especially around here.  Some things are really not profound or important but there are subtle changes and differences.  

[patrick1]

I was out of college and semi looking for a job at the time.  Basically putzing around, I had been up all night reading and turned on the TV to see the first tower smoking.  I was immediately horrified and worried about the people who I knew that worked there and downtown.  Cell phone service was god awful that day and I was trying to call but unable to get through to my friends.  I later found out my uncle was in WTC1 working in the basement- he got hurt but lived.  Another uncle is a firefighter so that was also in my mind.  He was luckily off duty at the time and responded later after the towers fell.  Ultimately I knew a few people from the neighborhood who died- acquaintances.  One thing I remember is smoking a cig and having a beer with my neighbors while fighter jets were flying overhead.  It was bizarre and really scary. It changed things- I volunteered but wasn't called for the recovery. A guy I knew was down there picking up body parts for a month- It changed him badly and he later hung himself.

Now I work downtown and went over to the memorial service yesterday.  New York has bounced back but it really was a gut punch and the memory lingers.