Question Of the Week time

[Guest]

Ok, this week the question goes a bit different.In my best essay question style:Explain how the events of Sept 11, and those since, has changed you. What do you do differently? What do you feel differently? How has it made you evolve?-Brian

[Guest]

I'm sure that it's changed me in more ways than I'll ever be aware of, but one change I've made is I make attempts at being more in tune with world events. Before, yeah, I'd hear NPR news every morning and evening, to and from work, but I don't know how much I really absorbed. After that horrible day, I mentioned to my girlfriend that I wanted to make more effort to absorb the news. What happens in the world truly does affect what happens to little ol' me in Nebraska. It's important to know of the clashes between India and Pakistan. I always felt flustered watching the evening news, when they'd discuss the hot topics, and I felt like "where do I even begin to understand these conflicts, when so much happens on a daily basis". I just felt overwhelmed, and as a result, I guess I didn't really Listen.Anyway, that's just one major result for me personally.Who's next?-brian

[Guest]

I will never forget the morning when I was woken up by my father telling me that the U.S. is under attack. I jumped out and I caught the second tower collapse live. I was horrified. I just sat there all day horrified and I watched CNN all day. I became very hateful of the extremists and I just wished that the U.S. would nuke them. I am not American, I live in Canada in an area whose population is mostly Muslims. I swear, I have never seen this city so quiet and empty. The Muslim people were afraid to leave their house. Before the sidewalks were filled with people walking, sitting on benches, riding bicycles but for a few days after 9/11 there were no muslim people anywhere, I occasioaly saw some walking fast in pairs or groups. Then I saw the picture on the forums of the eagle crying and the towers with smoke behind it. I printed that picture and wrote God Bless America on it and stuck it on the window at the entrance of the appartment building whrere I live. I cannot describe how 9/11 has changed me but every time I head the name 'bin laden' or 'al qaeda' I become angry and disgusted. I see that a lot of anti-bin laden web sites have popped up where you can shoot, punch bin-laden..i guess it's a way to releve some anger. The thing that really shocked me was to see those huge buildings collapse. To me those it was impossible to bring those towers down. I could not imagine then coming down. It changed my whole outlook on skyscrapers..they are not indestructible. I keep wondering what they will think of next...and that's what scares me, because I have seen what one 'animal' can do.Take careMike

[RandallR 444]

For me, that day gave a fresh perspective to the world as a family and the consequences that all of us face when a portion of it becomes (and remains) dysfunctional. I had been working in Europe and was in a plane bound for home (1 hour past the coast of France out over the Atlantic). Ironically, our aircraft was held up coming into Rome that morning and our flight was 3 hours late departing. We weren't too happy with the situation at the time...how ironic! If it hadn't been for that 3-hour delay, we would have been approaching the long island coast at about the time of the attack! As it was, we were routed to Schipol and we spent the remainder of the week in Amsterdam.I posted at the time of our return the extraordinary manner in which we were treated by our European friends - the Dutch and others that were in and around Schipol were wonderful. My wife and I have close friends in The Netherlands, so it was ironic that we ended up there - still, everyone we met was very kind and did everything they could to help.The world is a different place now - some of that's good - some of it is very, very sad. If we can take anything good out of this, it's that we are more often setting aside our differences and trying to help each other. I feel far more mortal today and treasure each new day as a gift. The air is a little sweeter, my wife even more precious, our common endeavors more meaningful and the new inhumanities a little more tragic.

[Guest]

I know what you mean Brian. I have always watched World News Tonight on ABC. I guess we can say that hear cant we? :) Just kidding Randall.But lately I have changed over to Fox News. OT I know. I watched too on the morning of 9/11/01 with disbelief. My fiance called me from work and asked me what the hell is going on, and to turn the TV on. So I did the first tower had already been attacked. Odd choice of words some may think " Attacked " It was a act of War and nothing else. At first I was trying to figure out what was really going on. They were showing the Presidents plane down in Florida as they were getting ready to load up. That was the first time that I saw the secret service with their weapons drawn, other than when President Reagan was shot.I called my daughter in KY and told her what was going on. It really upset her bad, and she wanted me to just be there with her. Well I couldnt hardly leave at the time and flying wasnt a choice. Its a 18 hour drive from Philadelphia and I wasnt about to hop in the truck and head south. So I tried to calm her down and told her things would be Ok. We have always been close but since 9/11 we are even closer. There are alot of immigrants here in Philadelphia and you can sense their un-easiness. This event has changed the entire world as we know it for everyone, no matter what creed or color. Here in the place where America's Independance was brought forth, the first few weeks were different. Flags were flying everywhere that you looked. Now though the patriotism has subsided and that's really sad. Its back to the same old rude and arrogant attitudes that Philadelphians are well known for. I would like to say some really cruel and harsh things about the low lifes that are responsible for 9/11/01. But I wouldnt want to see this turn into one big finger pointing match. If I was a few years younger, I would join back up with the 101st Airborne and go kick some butt. I will say this much. To all of those peaople who live here in the U.S. and you dont like it here. The start packing and go back where you came from. I'm proud to be an American, at least I know I'm free. God Bless the USA !!!! TonyWhy Oh .... Why cant I ????FlyII! ver. 2.30Directx 8.1nVidia drivers 28.32ECS K7S5A SOCKETA /DDR/ AUDIO/ATX MB, DDR 128MB PC-2100 266MHZ MEMORY ,AMD ATHLON T-BIRD 1.2GHZ 256K FSB266 PGA , NVIDIA GEFORCE2 MX-400 64MB 4X-AGP

[Guest Allan Jones]

This one made me think. I suppose that was the purpose!First reaction -- overwhelming anger. I have learned over the years that anger is poisonous to me. If I convert it to something else that

[Guest nycflyer]

Well, this one hits home.First, I was supposed to take my Private Pilot Checkride that day. I hadn't turned on the TV yet, just got up took a shower, and started to pack my flight gear. I was getting ready to head out the door to head to Teterboro. My neighbor came banging on my door telling me what just happened 10 minutes ago. As fate has it, had I gotten out of bed a half hour earlier when I meant to, I would've been right about at the Trade Center at the time of the first attack. My driving route from Brooklyn to TEB takes me up the West Side highway which is right next to the site. I ran up to the roof and saw the sky enveloped in smoke. I'm only 4 miles from lower Manhattan and the wind was sending the debris and smoke right toward my apartment. Papers from the Towers were falling in my parking lot, as was ash and other debris. It reminded me of Mt St Helens. The sky was very dark and the smell was horrific. I immediately went to pick up my 3 year old stepson at preschool. The traffic trying to leave the area was stunning, It was like a scene out of Independence Day. There was about a 1/2" of ash covering my car by the end of the day.I have visited the site several times, and I have a clear view of it everyday on my way to the studio. It still takes my breath away. Seeing the site and especially the surrounding buildings with gaping holes and entire buildings with all the glass blown out really brings a tear.Today, with alerts about the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty, I purposely took the bridge to and from work in defiance of the threats.A day doesn't go by without thinking about the terrible loss.-----------------------Scott CannizzaroPPASEL-KTEBAMD xp2000+ - GF4 Ti4400G4/400 - Radeon32