Comments on: September 11, 2001 Remembered http://www.jsharrison.com/korea/2006/09/14/september-11-2001-remembered/ Ruminations on Life, Korea, the Universe and Everything. Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:44:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: tmc1233 http://www.jsharrison.com/korea/2006/09/14/september-11-2001-remembered/#comment-4249 tmc1233 Sat, 16 Sep 2006 01:21:56 +0000 http://www.jsharrison.com/korea/2006/09/14/september-11-2001-remembered/#comment-4249 My 30th birthday.... The first reports from AFn were of a small plane hitting one of the towers, and I didn't think much about it. Friends of mine took me out for a late dinner. We got a call from someone else telling us that the second tower had been hit. A while later that person called and said that a tower had collapsed. We had a hard time believing that. We got to the then local foreigner hang-out which had a big screen TV. From there we watched in awe as CNN (with Korean voicing over) showed the images. The Korean broadcasters would get slammed in the English papers a few days after, for not only taking CNN's feed for all of the local stations and putting it into Korean, but ALSO voicing over CNN, which deprived non-fluent Korean speaking foreigners outside of AFN broadcast areas from having access to the news and left us just speculating on what was being said. I also remember the outpouring of sympathy from leaders around the world, even the North Koreans, Cubans, Iranians, and other countries that have had historically bad relations with the US. There was one exception though. Instead of offering help or even condolences, Kim Dae-jung instead lectured the US about how it was foolish to retaliate, while even leaders like Mohammar Gaddafhi said that if ever there were reason for retaliation, this was it. It was then that I lost any shred of respect I may have had for Kim Dae-jung. My 30th birthday…. The first reports from AFn were of a small plane hitting one of the towers, and I didn’t think much about it. Friends of mine took me out for a late dinner. We got a call from someone else telling us that the second tower had been hit. A while later that person called and said that a tower had collapsed. We had a hard time believing that. We got to the then local foreigner hang-out which had a big screen TV. From there we watched in awe as CNN (with Korean voicing over) showed the images. The Korean broadcasters would get slammed in the English papers a few days after, for not only taking CNN’s feed for all of the local stations and putting it into Korean, but ALSO voicing over CNN, which deprived non-fluent Korean speaking foreigners outside of AFN broadcast areas from having access to the news and left us just speculating on what was being said.

I also remember the outpouring of sympathy from leaders around the world, even the North Koreans, Cubans, Iranians, and other countries that have had historically bad relations with the US. There was one exception though.

Instead of offering help or even condolences, Kim Dae-jung instead lectured the US about how it was foolish to retaliate, while even leaders like Mohammar Gaddafhi said that if ever there were reason for retaliation, this was it. It was then that I lost any shred of respect I may have had for Kim Dae-jung.

]]> By: dg611 http://www.jsharrison.com/korea/2006/09/14/september-11-2001-remembered/#comment-4234 dg611 Thu, 14 Sep 2006 06:05:26 +0000 http://www.jsharrison.com/korea/2006/09/14/september-11-2001-remembered/#comment-4234 I was laying in bed in that place between sleep and awake when my wife came in and said, "The pentagon is on fire." "Huh" I replied and rolled over. She returned to the living room. From the other room I could barely make out, "washington...new york...airplanes...World trade center....Don!!! Come here!!!" Her voice was more desparate so I staggared into the other room in time to see the CNN coverage of the events. Tower 1 was on fire and a few seconds later, I saw the second plane hit tower two and I let out a scream like I had been stabbed. CNN was showing the footage from a few minutes before. I was now totally awake and in a state of shock. I immediately thought of my cousins living in Manhattan. Were they there?! As CNN returned to the live coverage, I sat transfixed by the events. Shortly after the second tower was struck, I thought I saw it start to buckle and I said to my wife..."Oh God...I think it's gonna go down." And as it did, I felt sick, like I was going to throw up. CNN switched between the events. I saw the pentagon and heard about the other planes and the state of panic that was ongoing. My wife asked me, "What's going on, I don't understand?" "Looks like we are under attack...all those people...it's rush hour there!" Then, the second tower fell and like I cried aloud. It just poured out of me. All those people! On the planes, in the buildings, on the ground, the firefighters, policemen, who could do this? My wife tried to comfort me but it was useless. I didn't sleep that night, not at all. I tried to contact my cousins to no avail. Total devestation and a feeling of helplessness all at once was overwhelming. I still weep when I think about it. Even though I was on the other side of the earth, the effect is still there. I used to think the challenger disaster was the defining disaster in my generation (similar to your's jeff) because i remember what i was doing at the time like it was yesterday. But that pales in comparison to 9/11. I don't think I can ever forget the images, events and feelings of that day. Rest in peace to all who perished. I was laying in bed in that place between sleep and awake when my wife came in and said, “The pentagon is on fire.”
“Huh” I replied and rolled over. She returned to the living room. From the other room I could barely make out,
“washington…new york…airplanes…World trade center….Don!!! Come here!!!” Her voice was more desparate so I staggared into the other room in time to see the CNN coverage of the events. Tower 1 was on fire and a few seconds later, I saw the second plane hit tower two and I let out a scream like I had been stabbed. CNN was showing the footage from a few minutes before. I was now totally awake and in a state of shock. I immediately thought of my cousins living in Manhattan. Were they there?! As CNN returned to the live coverage, I sat transfixed by the events. Shortly after the second tower was struck, I thought I saw it start to buckle and I said to my wife…”Oh God…I think it’s gonna go down.” And as it did, I felt sick, like I was going to throw up. CNN switched between the events. I saw the pentagon and heard about the other planes and the state of panic that was ongoing. My wife asked me,
“What’s going on, I don’t understand?”
“Looks like we are under attack…all those people…it’s rush hour there!” Then, the second tower fell and like I cried aloud. It just poured out of me. All those people! On the planes, in the buildings, on the ground, the firefighters, policemen, who could do this? My wife tried to comfort me but it was useless. I didn’t sleep that night, not at all. I tried to contact my cousins to no avail. Total devestation and a feeling of helplessness all at once was overwhelming. I still weep when I think about it. Even though I was on the other side of the earth, the effect is still there.
I used to think the challenger disaster was the defining disaster in my generation (similar to your’s jeff) because i remember what i was doing at the time like it was yesterday. But that pales in comparison to 9/11. I don’t think I can ever forget the images, events and feelings of that day.

Rest in peace to all who perished.

]]>