Is it stange that I enjoyed this?

[Starlight925]

I know someone who was in one of the towers while it was hit.  I know someone else who watched from his office, as people jumped out.  Both of these people are so distraught that to this day, they find it almost impossible to talk about, let alone feel “important” about, or “enjoy” it. 
   Witnessing a tragedy does not make one important.  

[Batya33]

Read books by Holocaust survivors. See if in any of those books they even mention this sort of feeling of importance. And they were there! For sure a survivor of a tragedy like this might find it important to give speeches and educate others and help other survivors and feel it’s an important contribution. I agree.
You’re just feeling important simply for being alive at that time. I promise you it’s no biggie.  Our son likes to hear about what we witnessed and lived through and how old we were etc but I’ve never felt any sense of personal importance in the retelling and would feel uncomfortable if my son thought I did. 

[Seraphim]

It reminds me one of my little daycare kiddos last week asked me if I was alive during WW2. He js utterly obsessed with the topic. I said no , I was born a generation after it ended. ( 21 years after )My dad was born 2 days after the war ended.  I told the little guy that my in-laws were alive during the war and remember being bombed and not enough food etc. I said my FIL was affected mentally until he died.  He became a little somber . I said you can be interested but it isn’t something to glorify. But 6 year olds don’t completely understand the difference between being interested and glorifying. 
 

So, these tragedies are somber markers in life . 

[Seraphim]

16 hours ago, boltnrun said:

9/11 took place on American soil and the Challenger disaster took place on an American space shuttle.  The Olympics are an international sports competition, so that would qualify as international relevance (IMO.)

Midnight, I am presuming you are American but I could be incorrect.  

Yes, 9/11 was very much an American tradgedy, but others were affected as well. It changed air travel for everyone around the globe. My brother was friend with many of Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed that day. Plus thousands upon thousands were helped and provided for by Canadians when their planes were stranded in Canada. Many of these people now have life long friendships. Read about Happy Valley Goose Bay and how they helped Americans. After 9/11 Canadians required passports to cross into the US that was never a thing before . There was passage between the two countries with a driver’s license or birth certificate. All that changed . 

[Seraphim]

About Gander and Happy Valley Goose Bay. 

[midnightdeirdre]

4 hours ago, Starlight925 said:

I know someone who was in one of the towers while it was hit.  I know someone else who watched from his office, as people jumped out.  Both of these people are so distraught that to this day, they find it almost impossible to talk about, let alone feel “important” about, or “enjoy” it. 
   Witnessing a tragedy does not make one important.  

I'm sorry to hear. I am glad they survived.  ❤️

Sometimes I have dreams of seeing people jumping from the towers.   😞

[midnightdeirdre]

18 hours ago, Batya33 said:

Please thank your father for his service. I can’t imagine. I just can’t. Sorrow was not just families. It was friends. Coworkers. I don’t think you can imagine. 

❤️ Aw thank you. I actually got a gold-charm that said "Firefighters Daughter" on it for my birthday that year. (My sister had one too.) 

[MissCanuck]

22 hours ago, midnightdeirdre said:

I just loved the fact that I knew that I was going to be able to tell people that I was around when it happened.

Has it actually ever happened that you've had the opportunity to do so? 

22 hours ago, midnightdeirdre said:

Naturally I took a photo of the TV set that day

Do you still have this photo, that you've saved all this time?

This was before most phones had cameras so I assume you mean that you used a real camera to snap this picture. Is that correct? 

[midnightdeirdre]

20 hours ago, Starlight925 said:

Yes, there is something wrong to say that you enjoyed these horrific events.  
Quite frankly, it’s disturbing to read. 
Sorry, but you asked.  

 

18 hours ago, Batya33 said:

Please thank your father for his service. I can’t imagine. I just can’t. Sorrow was not just families. It was friends. Coworkers. I don’t think you can imagine. 

Know what? I get my feeling of importance of seeing stuff like that from my dad. 😁 Growing up, he talked about (well ok, maybe he did brag) about seeing stuff live, in real time, as it happened. (He saw Hitchcock's Psycho back in 1960 and said "people were screaming in the theatres!" and said he remembers when JFK was shot. My grandmother remembered that also and talked about it.)

Being a fireman he's seen some gruesome stuff (to put it mildly). 😵‍💫 Before he learned how to use the internet, he asked me to look up footage/images of people who landed from the Towers that fateful day. (I admit I'm curious myself and would've looked it up anyway.) lol that's another trait I get from him (the curiosity to look at tragic/gruesome stuff.)

[midnightdeirdre]

7 minutes ago, MissCanuck said:

Has it actually ever happened that you've had the opportunity to do so? 

Do you still have this photo, that you've saved all this time?

This was before most phones had cameras so I assume you mean that you used a real camera to snap this picture. Is that correct? 

Actually yes, I spoke to some teenagers about three years ago about it.

Yes I used a Kodak disposable camera and still have the photo.   🙂

[MissCanuck]

Just now, midnightdeirdre said:

I spoke to some teenagers about three years ago about it.

And how did that make you feel? 

Because I can nearly guarantee they didn't perceive you  as important to special because you happen to remember the events that day, like millions upon millions of us also do. 

[Seraphim]

I remember being utterly horrified that day. I was in my 30’s . I think I was almost 35. My son was almost 4 years old then . He was utterly horrified as well and called it the “ big crash “ for years . Now at 26 those long ago memories are fading for him. 

[midnightdeirdre]

2 minutes ago, midnightdeirdre said:

Know what? I get my feeling of importance of seeing stuff like that from my dad. 😁

lol that's another trait I get from him (the curiosity to look at tragic/gruesome stuff.)

Haha, a bit off topic...but we always had dogs growing up, and I love kissing dogs on their lips 🐶 being licked my dogs, and enjoying the dog-smell. (Guess who I get that from? 😄)

One time we had a plumber in the basement, I was in the TV room, and my parents were in the kitchen. I kept hearing my dad kissing our dog, over and over 😙 until my mom said, "PAUL!" motioning for him to stop because the plumber was about to enter the kitchen. Sister and I also get our artistic talents from him. 🎨

[midnightdeirdre]

6 minutes ago, MissCanuck said:

And how did that make you feel? 

Because I can nearly guarantee they didn't perceive you  as important to special because you happen to remember the events that day, like millions upon millions of us also do. 

I admit, I felt important. And they seemed interested. 👍

[midnightdeirdre]

5 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

I remember being utterly horrified that day. I was in my 30’s . I think I was almost 35. My son was almost 4 years old then . He was utterly horrified as well and called it the “ big crash “ for years . Now at 26 those long ago memories are fading for him. 

It was my second day of my junior year of high school. Some people were misinformed and thought the WTC was bombed. Long story short, we were dismissed early and every single TV channel was in New York.

[midnightdeirdre]

8 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

I was in my 30’s . I think I was almost 35. 

I was 16. I turned 17 three weeks later; my parents gave me the gold Firefighter's Charm. I wore it to school and one of my teacher's said amazingly, "Your dad's a firefighter?!" (lol, she hesitated before she said "dad." Mom could've been one, after all. 😉)

[MissCanuck]

12 minutes ago, midnightdeirdre said:

I admit, I felt important. And they seemed interested. 👍

Had they asked you tell them about it? 

 

[midnightdeirdre]

3 minutes ago, MissCanuck said:

Had they asked you tell them about it? 

 

Oddly, I don't remember. 

[Seraphim]

15 minutes ago, midnightdeirdre said:

It was my second day of my junior year of high school. Some people were misinformed and thought the WTC was bombed. Long story short, we were dismissed early and every single TV channel was in New York.

It occupied Canadian news channels for days. We are very inundated with American news because we get all the major American news outlets. So consequently Canadians know a lot of what is going on in the US. 

[MissCanuck]

13 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

It occupied Canadian news channels for days. We are very inundated with American news because we get all the major American news outlets. So consequently Canadians know a lot of what is going on in the US.

I was about to write the same thing. 

I was in university then (at a major Canadian university) and it was all over the news, the student community centre TVs, everywhere. All of us who are old enough to remember the events of that day - and there are hundreds of millions of us - probably remember it fairly vividly. 

[Seraphim]

2 minutes ago, MissCanuck said:

I was about to write the same thing. 

I was in university then (at a major Canadian university) and it was all over the news, the community centre TVs, everywhere. All of us who are old enough to remember the events of that day - and there hundreds of millions of us - probably remember it fairly vividly. 

Absolutely. Millions of people worldwide. 
Also as Canadians we tend to know more of what is happening in the US than they ever know about us . 

[Seraphim]

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7050878
this happened when I was in University probably unheard of to most Americans. 

[midnightdeirdre]

14 minutes ago, MissCanuck said:

I was about to write the same thing. 

I was in university then (at a major Canadian university) and it was all over the news, the student community centre TVs, everywhere. All of us who are old enough to remember the events of that day - and there are hundreds of millions of us - probably remember it fairly vividly. 

 

10 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

Absolutely. Millions of people worldwide. 
Also as Canadians we tend to know more of what is happening in the US than they ever know about us . 

lol guys obviously THE WHOLE WORLD was tuned in to that when it happened.

[midnightdeirdre]

15 minutes ago, MissCanuck said:

All of us who are old enough to remember the events of that day - and there are hundreds of millions of us - probably remember it fairly vividly. 

See...this is what I mean. I can't help but enjoy the fact that I'm able to say that I am one of those hundreds of millions who can say they remember such a life-changing event clearly.

[midnightdeirdre]

Just now, midnightdeirdre said:

See...this is what I mean. I can't help but enjoy the fact that I'm able to say that I am one of those hundreds of millions who can say they remember such a life-changing event clearly.

And I can't help but wonder if that's a bad thing/strange thing. 😏