Squishor

"Defining moment of our generation"?? Good grief, what a ninny.

When the OJ verdict was announced, I was working in a photo lab, cutting negatives. We talked about it casually for a minute, went, "hmm" when it was announced, and continued working.

Glava

9/11 - World History class in high school. The teacher next door came in and said that a plane crashed into the WTC. I thought it was a small private plane - no big deal. I had her English class next, and that's when I saw the extent. I was somewhat awed, but the biggest thought on my mind at the time was whether we'd get school off. We didn't.

Columbia - Woke up, turned on CNN, and there it was. My uncle died a week later, so that took up more of my memory than the shuttle explosion did.

diddagirl

Princess Diana- I got home from hanging out with some friends, and my mom was really upset. She told me what happened and we watched the news. I cried.....mainly because my mom was so upset...and because I felt so sad for her kids.

911- My sister came into my room and woke me up at about 7 am ..... She said there was some plane crashes in New York and some other cities, and it was all over the news. I got up and was then glued to the tv for the next 12 hours or so straight. I skipped class that day, because I couldnt bring myself to walk away from the images on TV. I cried until i felt like I had no more tears left.

__________________
"Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived long in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done."
-Matthew Arnold

samcol

9/11 - saw the first tower smoking on tv in the dorm near mine. I asked my friend what movie this was, and he replied "this isn't a movie." Went to breakfast and saw the 2nd plane crash. Later that day at baseball practice I saw my baseball coach get choked up. It really does take a real man to cry.

OJ - I can't figure out why I remember this because I forget much more important things like columbine, waco, gulf war etc. I was getting ready for a baseball game at the local park and we were talking about the bronco chase.

Great thread btw.

BadNick

I guess you and I are older than most around here That's the first thing I thought of even before scrolling down to your post.

I was in freshman high school algebra class and I remember the old guy teacher Mr. O'Conner (~ 70yo) cried and most of us were quite upset. When the news was announced, even before JFK died, the principal came on the intercom and announced the shooting and they let us all go home.

joeyaz

OJ Chase- My mom was working at the hospital at the time and I was trying to watch TGIF when they cut in with the chase

Ok city - I was in jr. high and we had just got our first computer. I was showing it off to one of my friends and we missed the bus, on the way to school the radio announced it.

9/11 - I was working in a hotel at the time as a dishwasher I had just clocked in when someone ran into the kitchen to tell us to come see whats on tv. People came from their rooms to watch with us..

Beginning of first gulf war - I was pretty young and was in some program at school were we basically played all day, my mom came to pick me up and said we had gone to war I didn't really understand at the time.

Columbine - I was a freshman in high school and they had a lockdown the rest of the day till we were able to go home.

Martian

September 11 is my birthday and I was taking the day off on the morning of the attacks. I woke up and came downstairs and my mum said in sort of a distracted way 'happy birthday, come see this.' I watched the second plane hit and both towers collapse.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet (maybe I'm the only former grunge rocker around), I was in the car with my family when the radio DJ announced that Kurt Cobain had been found dead. That had a much larger impact on me than anything OJ ever did.

Rlyss

Gulf War - I was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and heard about the invasion of Kuwait, and my parents being very worried. Soon afterwards we heard about the US coming in and all of a sudden US troops were everywhere. We were evacuated to Jeddah, a city towards the west and stayed there for a while. We had all the gas masks and stored food, windows taped and boarded up, and a school was hit by a missile nearby but we weren't in too much danger.

September 11 - I was in Australia, asleep just before dawn and my mum came in to tell me the World Trade Centre had been destroyed in New York, I didn't know what she was talking about. I came downstairs a bit later to see the news on TV and went to school that day. I've never cried at a world event until then

Gulf War 2 - Again in Melbourne, I was in a philosophy lecture at uni and had sent a dozen text messages to my brother asking what was going on. Finally one of his replies told me that the war had officially started. I told the person next to me and word got around the whole lecture theatre, and someone stood up and announced it to everyone.

Columbia disaster - I was at a beach house outside Melbourne with some friends and since the weather had turned bad we were watching TV and a newsflash came on about the disaster. Nobody else seemed to care but I was sad about it for a long time.

Columbine massacre - In high school in Melbourne. I'm not sure where I was at the exact time, but I remember the rumors at school that similar things were going to happen. One student was also sent home that day as the staff thought he was going to do the same thing, and there were heaps of rumors about him coming to school with weapons. The principal went to his house that day to ask if he knew anything about Columbine. Of course the kid was just a bit of a misfit at school, he had nothing to do with what was going on.

Princess Diana - I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and caught the news flashes unfolding. I was too young to realize the significance of it all but I thought it was sad anyway.

December 2004 tsunami - I'd just started volunteering for Oxfam in Melbourne in the call centre for donations. I remember hearing about the tsunami and thinking 'This will be huge'. From then on it was non-stop donations for weeks on end. Since then I've sort of thought it as a sign that the day before the tsunamis I'd signed up for the position.

And one for the Aussies:

Port Arthur Massacre - I was in primary (elementary) school in Melbourne and the school was locked down. Nobody knew what was going on except that a man with a gun was around, killing people. We weren't allowed to leave the school unless a parent came and picked us up, and I was worried sick that I'd be stuck at school forever because I had no way of contacting my parents. I thought I'd have to live at the school from now on. For those who don't know about the Port Arthur massacre, <a href="http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial/bryant/">read it about it here</a>.

pattycakes

911 ( which brought on so much false patriotism.... dont get me started)

10th grade. In photography class, in the dark room. listening to the radio we wernt supposed to have.

in a darkroom there are only red lights, i rember coming out of the dark room and saying a plane just crashed in to the wtc. then us watching it for about 3 min then going back in the dark room and hearing about the pentagon


funny thing is that i hate having that memory because the media/ government made 911 so much different than what it really is / was

now that i think of it i didnt watch tv for about amonth because 911 was all they would talk about. mmmmmmm


MASS MEDIA MIND CONTROL

__________________

boom29

OJ Verdict - Middle school, in our Social Studies room, with just about everyone else from my class.

Columbine - In HS, heard about it on the radio on the way home after football practice.

9/11 - In the dining commons, 2nd year, heard people talking about some plane crashing into the WTC. Went back to my room, turned on the TV.

keyshawn

mine....

the blackout - Home alone, I was actually on the computer, randomly surfing the net, then my comp just shut off....Then it came back on, in a surge of power for a second, then stayed off. Then, went over my buddy's house a few blocks over on my skateboard, proceded to play chess/risk/monopoly under the stars all night.
Right after it happened, I remember when some ignorant people of low socio-economic background [aka: white trash] were going around the neighborhood and proclaiming that terrorists did this and the entire nation's power was out ! Grr.....

columbia- Just a few days before, I noted to my math teacher [who works @ NASA part time] if he knew that it was the 16th anniversary of the challenger crash. He forgot. I remember, being surprised @ the time, that not many people remembered the significance of Jan. 28th [besides the fact that it was the date I was conceived ] A few days later, my father was watching television, and saw the incident on cnn.

sept. 11 - When it was actually happening, I was actually in class, and wasn't notified about it until 1030 AM [EST zone], when the school's president came on the p.a. and said what was happening. That day, was like a dream, didn't seem it was real, and confused as hell. Later, I saved the quiz that I took right after I heard that announcement. My handwriting was atrocious and my hand was trembling then, along with every bone in my body..

__________________
currently reading:

currently playing :

filtherton

9/11 - I was working. I remember being pissed off that people would spend their time shopping for groceries whilst events unfolded that would no doubt fundamentally alter certain aspects of the american experience. Shit, before the scope of the attack was clear i thought it might be the start of WW3.

Columbine - I don't know where i was, but i remember thinking to myself, "Yeah, i'm lucky that the idea of gunning down my classmates never crossed my mind, they're probably lucky too."

Seeker

I only thought about this yesterday.. I was reflecting on whether I had seen any other events that brought me to tears.. and this was the other that came up..

I don't remember what I was doing the day it happened.. it only really hit home for me when they printed on the front page (I think) of the newspaper the pictures/faces of all the people that died in it.. I felt the enormity of it at that moment...

__________________
To those who wander but who are not lost...

~ Knowledge is not something you acquire, it is something you open yourself to.

Drider_it

911- was sound asleep when i woke up with a sense of dread.. was like all of a sudden every sound around me fell silent. with a rush. then my wife comes in and says someone attacked NY.

challenger- 7th grade in the library at school. I was the only one that knew for certian that it blew up. i started crying and our prinicpal look at me and said whats wrong son. I say the boosters exploded or something. everyone turned to the one kid that never said anything and was an outcast and for once i was the center of thier world answering questions as the events unfolded about how the space shuttles work. (background my uncles father helped design the seats for the early space shuttles) i new alot about them even back then.

and i quote *its gone sir, they died. well never get to mars now*

__________________
It means only one thing, and everything: Cut. Once committed to fight, Cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut. The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resoultely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depth of his spirit. It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death. It is the law a war wizard lives by, or he dies.