gobbledonk Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 OK, not quite, but its only a couple of weeks away. I decided to start this thread after seeing a doco last night on the drama leading up to the Twin Towers initial construction in the 60s. I didnt realise that there was so much opposition to the project, from the people who owned the Empire State Building to the shop owners on the 16-acre site earmarked for the Port Authority's monster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center The sheer scale of those buildings still astounds me - an acre of floor space on each floor of each 110-floor tower, built on an island where square metres equate to cubic dollars. Even though Lower Manhattan wasnt considered 'prime real estate', they knew that they wouldnt get another opportunity to build something on that scale and they went for it. Fast forward to 2001. From what I've read, the area around the WTC was pretty downmarket and I suspect that the towers themselves would have been showing their vintage. Its hard to believe its 10 years since Australians woke to find that surreal footage being played over and over again on every TV channel, and I believe the intial design was blamed for the subsequent collapse of both towers, making the initial optimism in the doco even more poignant. I cant think of another 10-year period which has seen the world order shaken the way 2001-2011 has, and that goes way beyond terrorism. I expect that most of the focus will be on the attacks and the aftermath, and its only fitting that we remember the victims, but its been a wild ride on so many other fronts. Personally, I'm hoping for a little less 'excitement' over the next ten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 What I wanted was for us to rebuild the towers. Higher than last time. Do it all with private money. Have a national collection. The base for the statue of liberty was all built with donated money. It was a national pride thing back then. I say the same with the towers as a big fat Amermican F*cky You. Basically, saying, what ever you knock down, we'll build it back but build it back even bigger. That's what I wanted. That's the American spirit at its best. Not the wishy washy crying over spilt milk kinda people we're turning into. Memorial?! F*ck that. New towers are a memorial. Okay, someone help me off my soap box. My hands are occupied with my American flag in one and a gun in the other. I saw it as I was getting ready to leave my home for work. On the way to work, I heard the other tower got hit and I realized at that time it was no accident. It was an attack against us and I knew life for us would never be the same. I immediately felt badly for nephews who I thought would grow up in a world so different than me. A world of danger. A teacher said to me once that her grandmother felt the same about her generation with the Soviet threat. She said many Americans thought a showdown, a nuclear one was probably going to happen at some point. Anyway, one of my big beefs is we squandered so much in those 10 years. The two most regrettable thing for me is the goodwill of the world. We made an even worse reputation from before the event if that was ever possible and second, the eroding of our rights. Big brother no longer hid in the shadows but dismissed our civil liberties in full view of us. Homeland Security. Patriot's Act. We all went along like lemmings. Like sheep. Any critical voice was/is labled unpatriotic. America died in more ways than one since then. Politically, economically, culturally. Sorry, I'm a cynical bastard these days. One last note, almost everyone I know had some sort of 6 degrees of separation with someone from that day. The brother of my asst. coach died in the towers. I broke his 400 m. record coincidentally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 "I know had some sort of 6 degrees of separation with someone from that day." A close friend of mine changed her flight on a whim, she would have been on one of the planes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayjann Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 "I know had some sort of 6 degrees of separation with someone from that day." A close friend of mine changed her flight on a whim, she would have been on one of the planes.... was in a bar and the owner obviously got a tip and switched the tv over to cnn. watched one plane hit a tower and then a few minutes later thought i was watching a replay. a little while later i realised i had actually watched a replay of the 1st plane and then actually witnessed the 2nd plane hitting the tower live. patong was electric that night with people visibly shocked and talking endlessly about what had happened. a bit nervous the next day as i flew out of bkk back to the uk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamokhamok Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 I too remember that day. I was sitting up in my bed in the hotel in Bangkok and was watching the BBC English News and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had to ring home and tell them about what was happening and to turn the TV on and watch it all unfold before your eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 First I knew was when all sorts of Thai friends and colleagues started calling me to express their sympathy. I had to go on line to see what was happening. Even strangers stopped me to say they were sorry. The US had an unbelievable amount of good will, which GWB proceeded to destroy as soon as he could. But he sure he showed that Sadam Hussein not to attack the USA! Maybe in another 10 years, the troops can come home. Good thing we elected Obama instead of John McCain. He would have kept the GIs over there. p.s. I flew home to the States about 5 days later. Several courageous colleagues cancelled their flights - to the UK. I told them it was much too soon for anything else to happen. Had the plane almost to myself though, practically empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 Its interestig how tragedy can bond you to fellow Americans. I recall for the first time I can recall in LA the day of and the day after no one made a fuss in LA traffic. Everyone waited patiently for everyone else to turn, etc. Also, I had a scheduled flight to LOS October 2011. I recall waiting for the flight and very few people who looked 'American'. I racistly mean either black or white as I'm sure there were Asian Americans on the flight, anyway, there were about 3 other guys, and we looked at each other and had a knowing look like that said 'Anything goes down, I have your back and you'll have mine'. Hard to describe but we just gave each other that look and a small nod of the head. Never felt so close to a fellow American 'stranger' before. While in Pattaya with a buddy of mine, Brits, mainly older ones, would't let us buy a drink. Very touching. When we spoke and it was obvious we were American we got a sympathetic smile from most Europeans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayjann Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 i had a late afternoon flight from phuket to bangkok and then a late night from bangkok to london on the 12th sept. during the morning i read the papers and watched the tv and saw the news of airlines grounding their fleets until further notice. 4 times i enquired at a travel agents if thai airline companies were continueing to fly that day,hoping that i might be stranded in thailand for a few more days. but alas all flights were carrying on and i was told there was no problem me getting back to the uk.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted August 27, 2011 Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 First I knew was when all sorts of Thai friends and colleagues started calling me to express their sympathy. I had to go on line to see what was happening. Even strangers stopped me to say they were sorry. The US had an unbelievable amount of good will, which GWB proceeded to destroy as soon as he could. But he sure he showed that Sadam Hussein not to attack the USA! Maybe in another 10 years, the troops can come home. Good thing we elected Obama instead of John McCain. He would have kept the GIs over there. p.s. I flew home to the States about 5 days later. Several courageous colleagues cancelled their flights - to the UK. I told them it was much too soon for anything else to happen. Had the plane almost to myself though, practically empty. 5555555555555555555555555555 Obama said the USA would be involved in Libya for "days not weeks"...now 4 1/2 months later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 27, 2011 Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 5555555555555555555555555555 Obama said the USA would be involved in Libya for "days not weeks"...now 4 1/2 months later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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