ANSWERS: 59
  • I watched it on telly, and the first time I just sat in stunned silence. Then I went home and saw it all night, eventually bursting into tears. I doubt I could of handled watching it come down in front of me. When I watch it, I still get choked up. But to be honest I am not sure how I would of reacted if I was there, Ive yet to be in a situation that extreme
  • i saw it live on the news, i think most of us did .... if you mean actually being there, i think i could have but it would have been even more horrific
  • I remember the first time I saw that, walking into the YMCA daycare center where my mum was working at the time. When I first saw it, I just sort of stared, not really able to get any coherent thoughts to go through. But later that evening, when I started to really think about it, about how all the people in there. That was just too much to handle. So no. I honestly don't think I could handle watching any major disaster like that, not with it having some serious emotional impact anyway. Just thinking of all the people, all those lives... It really hits me hard.
  • I watched it on TV. It is a very sad thing and still gives me goose bumps to thing of all those poor people.
  • it depends on your viewpoint, if you had a really clear view down a road like some of the videoing people did, then you would be stunned into such shock that you would be unable to look away from such a momentous, world-scarring event.
  • Just for clarification, I saw it in person. Smelt and tasted the smoke and fire. I can't get over it.
  • I WAS AT A GROCERY STORE. A worker yelled something about the 2nd tower being hit,(I had no Idea, ) I ran to the back room warehouse and watched horrified and confused as well as dazed and my heart poured out with saddness for those there. called my nephew who I new was asleep and THE ONLY THING I COULD SAY (without bursting into tears) WAS "turn on the t v" yea I watched , and was horrified, shocked, frightened, stunned ..as was the rest of the viewers. I wont wish to watch something as such, but, I don't want hide from the event either.
  • I could barely watch on TV...I couldn't have handled it. I was getting ready to go to school and my mom and I watched it all on TV. When I got to school, my biology teacher turned on the TV and we watched it in every one of my classes all day long. It was so sad...
  • Saw it on tv when it was happening...horrifying.
  • I saw it on the tv as it happened. I still can't watch it replayed. I start crying. I used to go up there all the time.
  • knowing what i know today,yes,i would've handeled it much differently.with all the videos on the internet today,it's difficult to figure out the truth.
  • I was in school when it happened and we watched it all day long. Unbelievable.
  • I don't think I could have handled it at all. One of the worst, most painful feelings in the world is helplessness. I know I would have been scarred by the overwhelming helplessness I would have felt.
  • I didn't see then but I was informed and we went to my school's balcony to watch it. It wasn't that clear but when I went home, I could see them still colapsing and the smoke and the people at the bottom. It was horrible and I tried to hold back my emotions but was unsuccessful. I cried and will never forget.
  • I can imagine it would have been horrible to see it in person... as I watched at school in my history class on T.V. We turned it on after the first tower was hit and then watched in absolute horror as the second tower was hit.... it was...just indescribably horrible. It makes me cry just to think about it.
  • I had no choice but to watch it live as it happened... I live in a town in NJ that is directly across the river from downtown Manhatten. We were walking home after bringing our kids to school and saw large amounts of billowing smoke coming from the towers; Tower 1 had just been hit; We thought it was 'just' on fire and we stood to watch, saying how we feared for the people up on those top floors! ~ then, someone drove by saying that they thought someone flew a plane into the Tower .. we then thought it was a tragic accident ... THEN we SAW the SECOND PLANE hit the second tower, and knew it was terroristic!! OMG!!, everyone ran home crying and sceaming hysterically. We were glued to our TV sets all day long ... running to different neighbors homes to make sure all their loved ones were safe (many of our neighbors, family and friends work/worked in the financial district). For days afterward, we could smell the smoke coming across the River and hear all the sounds of the recovery equipment into the night. Those are sounds and smells I'll never forget. I am a Nurse and volunteered for Ground Zero "Call" during that period ...1/2 praying that I would be called to go and help, and 1/2 praying that they wouldn't call so I didn't have to witness all those horrific sights. My one neighbor had two Aunts on the plane that went down in PA; Several people from my town were killed that day ... and a good friend of mine from years gone by also passed that terrible day :'( Rest in Peace, Matthew Picerno ~ Godspeed Man <3 So, we have had to handle it ... I pray that no one ever has to learn to handle anything like that ever again.
  • I was 5 1/2 months pregnant with my son. I sat in front of the T.V. for hours in shock. I couldn't believe that it was happening. I just sat there with my mouth open, shaking my head in disbelief. My husband and I watch a documentary about it every year to remind ourselves not to forget the families of the people who died, and the people of New York, and the people in the other planes, and the people in the Pentagon. It was horrible. What else can I say.
  • I watched in horror as the first news reports of an airliner flying into the Tower. And I became more hysterical as I watched in disbelife as the second plane hit. And I was a mess by the time the first Tower fell. I could not of handled it if I would have actaully have been there and watched as the events unfolded. As it was I spent two days in total shock that it had happened. It didn't help that my parents worked for a defense company that supplies to both the Isralie and Palastinian armies. I want to share my deepest condolences to any one who lost a loved one that day wheather it was in Manhatten, the Pentagone or that field in Pennsylvania. My God be with you all.
  • i'm no patriot (in fact, i'm actually closer to the opposite. and saying this is probably going to get me a low rating, but i don't care! my thoughts are my own and no one can change that just by giving me a low rating on my answer! take that you patriots!), so it doesn't bother me as much.
  • I also saw it on TV while at work. I've been scarred for life. Anything that has to do with 9-11 makes me cringe. Documentries, movies. They're all really hard. I'm really pissed that these terrorists came into our country and killed our citizens.
  • Saw it on TV with my students and saw the destruction one month later in person. I will never get over experiencing that.
  • My niece was there at an attached hotel. I won't go into her story though, (to gory). She is now tucked away in about the tiniest town in Montana, trying to become sane.
  • I would have been physically sick.
  • I saw it on the TV as it was happening and it was sureal, at first I thought it was a film. The people in New York, that actually saw it and the aftermath must have had an incredibly traumatic time
  • As a fellow NYer I did watch it happening. I couldn't handle it then and can't handle it now.
  • Yeah I woulda been scared outta my mind! :-(
  • No, I don't think I could have. It's terrible...
  • I did. I was just a few blocks away. Was actually crossing Manhattan on the M23 bus when the second tower fell. The thing I remember most was the smell of burning that lasted for days after -- that and all the missing persons notes that people pinned up at various locations around town.
  • no i couldnt i still cant watch it on tv when they talk about it i still cover my eyes and my mouth hang open and i shake my head. my heart still feel like its about to jump out my chest
  • Likely, yes. I was stunned for a moment seeing it on TV, but quickly readjusted. I have witnessed smaller tragedies personally and taken them in stride. Going to pieces won't undo the damage. Sometimes I feel bad about being so jaded. More often, I feel that people who lack that sort of resilience are unfit to stay in the gene pool. Bad things happen. Sometimes VERY bad things happen. That is Reality. That is Life. Deal with it or die.
  • I saw it on TV, and it was extremely impressing. After the first plane crashed, it came immediately on the news. The TV set was on and I noticed it. I did not believe my eyes. I informed my family. The second plane crashed. The two towers burned and we were all wondering what would happen. We were just glued to the TV. And the the first tower broke down. And then the second. It was absolutely horrific. And they started to tell about that Pentagon story and about the fourth plane. I think even on TV, it was something that I still deeply remember. I have been dreaming about it. I was feeling with the people there. We were all feeling with them. I was in France, just on the other side of the ocean.
  • I can't imagine how horrific that day was for those who were right there. It was bad enough on t.v. I went to NY a few years later and saw ground zero. It is a sight I will never forget.
  • I handled it quite well. I'm not American and I'm not a patriot, and there is an element of egocentrism to the hype. 3,000 people died on that day, close to a million have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since, likely more than half by American forces. I think that's a little hypocritical.
  • I saw it on TV and could barely stand it. As it turned out, I knew a few who died there. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like to be there. I really do feel badly for you on this. Post Traumatic Stress can really mess you up. You should consider counselling.
  • I became an EMT 4 years after watching it all happen on TV in 9th grade social studies class. I am applying to join a NJ rescue company that runs mutual assist in NYC. The agency specializes in confined space rescue and was on scene on 9/11. Even though the odds are very small, the image of the falling towers still haunts me every time I think about the possibility of working for them.
  • I only saw on TV and it bothers me to this day. I know seeing it in person would have been even worse but I can't imagine it. It makes me both sad and angry every time I think about it.
  • I remember turning on the TV shortly before the second tower was hit and just gasping at the sight. I was in shock. When the other tower was hit my eyes just welled up. The people jumping from the towers broke my heart. To think of what was going through their minds as they decided to jump...it hurt my heart to think of it. For me, that was the worst. It may sound nutty, but all I could think was, "Is this the end?". My husband and I were trying to decide whether to go get our kids from school and bring them home. I was convinced it could be the beginning of the end and I needed to be with them. What a horrifying feeling. Did anyone else feel this way, too?
  • watching it on TV was bad enough I can only imagine what it would have been like watching it live. i've been to Ground Zero and it still hasn't sunk in properly yet.
  • My grandmother was right there watching it as it happened. My relatives were on the 42nd floor but somehow were able to get out alive.
  • i've seen it a few times
  • Of course! To be unable to handle that means that you are unable to handle reality. The inability to handle reality is AT BEST a severe mental illness. If you can't handle/accept that life includes tragedy and violence, then maybe you should've either checked into an in-patient psychiatric ward or just killed yourself years ago. It is acceptable to be saddened or outraged, but if you are totally shocked/scarred by it, then maybe Darwinism should take you out. Toughen up or get sucked into the filter and cleaned from the gene pool.
  • i could handle it, but i couldn't beleive it!!! It was so unreal as in i just couldn't get my head around it!! the minute i saw the first plane hit i just knew that was no mistake, i know i'm not american but i did cry over that fateful day, still makes the hairs on my arms stand on end what ever i watch concerning the towers.
  • I was there. Heard the first plane go in, and saw the second one go in from 400 feet away. Got a burn on the back of my neck as we all ran. I can tell you that most of us had wobbly legs. I could not breath as the cloud came toward me and I am still scared of what I breathed in. I spit on my shirt and breathed through it till I felt my way back two blocks. On my work floor a cousin and fiance died. I, and most others never felt good working down there. I want to protect myself in order to protect my family. And I don't want to see what I saw that day again. It will never leave me.
  • I can't get over seeing it on TV 3000 miles away, every part of it without being right there and I'm still scared and upset about it. I had a couple of friends who were there and they are still in shock about it. It's a horror that just won't go away.
  • I saw it on TV from 3000 miles away, and it is still a haunting image to me. I don't know what I would have done if I had been there...
  • I saw the very first TV news reports when it was all still so unclear. I will never forget...
  • I did , on TV all day , from the begaining
  • I've seen worst in video games. I'm so desensitized.
  • I didn't see it in person but I lost five of my closest friends in the World Trade Center. Could I stand to watch it in person? I would probably be so stunned I would watch it, and it wouldn't settle in what I saw for many days. I still cry about it and the terrible stuff that happened at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1994.
  • I watched it on TV from Australia...once. I have never been able to watch it again. It upset me too much.
  • Okay I feel young...... but I was in my sixth grade classroom and we watched the news all day. I never knew that a class of hormonely crazed adolesents could ever be so quiet and mournful. most of us had no idea what was going on but we knew that it was not good and that we were watching people die before our eyes. that day in one word was quiet and not the simplistic form of the word.
  • I would think it would be a huge scar. I am thankful that I wasn't there.
  • What are you afraid of? Your own government? They would never do anything to foster fear in all people to control the masses...would they?
  • Yes. You need PROZAC. Start with 40mg dose. My 2 cents.
  • I saw it live on TV, and frankly watching those two ugly office buildings fall was rather cool if not suprising. Of course - I was saddened by the tragic loss of life - but these things happen in our world - and you shoudn't make too big a deal out of them. Just like Georgie Bush - while the towers fell he was reading "MY PET GOAT" to a first grade class in Florida... He wasn't worried either....
  • That is a scarry situation for sure. But there are several getting killed everyday around the world for one reason or the other. The towers are a bad dream for americans for ever..
  • I often say that I am shockproof, and I pride myself in being shockproof. I have long since concluded that there is no limit to the evil of which humans are capable. If you mean actually being there and watching it in person, though, I don't know. Yeah, there would have been at least a twinge of shock and more than a twinge of fear, but by the same token it would only have confirmed my cynicism all the more.
  • its one of those times in life when i just sat in front of the tv in stunned silence not believing what i was seeing god bless all of them who died and thoughts with thier familys
  • I was mortified seeing it on TV.

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy