And I can confirm what others have said: It is much worse in person than on television. The scale is so different. Right now the closest a pedestrian can get is to walk on the east side of Broadway past the wreckage. This is a mere one block away. As I walked past Fulton street, I looked one block west to see one of those 9 story buildings adjacent to the towers, 4 or 5 WTC. It is a charred hulk. The moment I saw it my eyes filled with tears, before my inner voice told what I was seeing. Has that ever happened to you? You cry first and ask questions later. As I continuued to walk south I see that the side of that charred hulk has collapsed. I also see the twisted skeletal remains of the towers, and the mountain of rubble. It is like something out of an end-of-the-world-movie. It is an unbelievable sight. It was like being at a funeral.
Where were u when it happened?
Well, I think that there is another thread about “Where were you…” but since I didn’t post there (in some ways I avoided the board) here goes–I was sleeping late that day as my first class was at 2:30pm. I here my mom exclaim (I have moved back in with my parents whilst I go back to school) that a plane has hit the WTC (she was listening to the radio while drinking her morning tea). I just roll over in bed: I figure that a piper cub piloted by a novice has just slammed into a tower–scratch one pilot. But then she says that another plane has hit! (she had since moved from radio to TV) I’m groggy and it all seeems unreal but I make it to the TV to see a replay of the second plane hitting. I would remain glued to the TV for a long, long time. I went outside late in the afternoon and could see the giant cloud of smoke in the distance (I live on Manhattan 3 miles from the WTC) and that was a chilling sight. My brother-in-law saw the first plane hit as he was walking to work. My mom says that she heard the first plane flying low overhead and wondered at the time what was going on. All my friends and family are safe. But it seems like just about everybody knows someone or is a friend-of-a-friend of someone who either perished or narrowly escaped or was a first-hand witness. Seeing ground zero in person is unbelievable. It is like being at a funeral.