# The saddest thing you'll see today. Or maybe any day, for that matter. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291 "2008-02-26T21:49:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/1 "2008-02-26T21:49:51Z")
[A guy is on the phone with 911 when 2 WTC goes down.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLW0jKKRXMo) It’s been up for a few years, but I just came across it and, well, in some ways I’m sorry I did. These videos can still evoke unspeakable anger and inestimable sadness simultaneously. I’m still trying to decide which it is for me. Maybe both. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/2 "2008-02-26T22:33:08Z")
I think the poor operator knew it was hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/3 "2008-02-26T22:36:44Z")
Wow, I’m sorry I watched it too. That was horrible. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/4 "2008-02-26T22:47:35Z")
Good God, how horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/5 "2008-02-26T22:51:44Z")
Damn ☹ I’d never seen this before, either. Those poor people, what a horrible way to go. In a way 911 has been so “overplayed” (for lack of a better word), and certainly abused (by politics) that we maybe have become, I don’t know, a little detached from it? It’s very humbling to see what it was really all about. Which is exactly what this clip does. Again: damn. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/6 "2008-02-26T22:55:00Z")
From his wikipedia page: > [@](#): > > The 911 recording of his last words was played at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. [Kevin Cosgrove](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cosgrove) ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/7 "2008-02-27T01:33:59Z")
The Wikipedia link alleging that this recording was played at Moussaoui’s trial doesn’t go anywhere. I hope it was. This recording, and these pictures, should be replayed more – people have forgotten what they said they’d never forget. You can multiply Cosgrove’s story over 2,000 times. Anger is too small a word for what I feel. And I am generally a gentle and non-confrontational person. I cannot say what should be done to those who planned these attacks. It would be too obscene. Those murdering bastards. ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/8 "2008-02-27T02:17:49Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] The Wikipedia link alleging that this recording was played at Moussaoui’s trial doesn’t go anywhere. I hope it was. This recording, and these pictures, should be replayed more – people have forgotten what they said they’d never forget. You can multiply Cosgrove’s story over 2,000 times. Anger is too small a word for what I feel. And I am generally a gentle and non-confrontational person. I cannot say what should be done to those who planned these attacks. It would be too obscene. Those murdering bastards. [/QUOTE] Why exactly would it be beneficial to make people upset and angry by being shown these things all the time? The type of people who did this unspeakable act aren’t watching and don’t care, and everyone else didn’t do anything to deserve having their day ruined, nor did they “forget” anything except what you NEED to forget about tragedies in order to get on with your life and not sit around crying all day. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/9 "2008-02-27T02:24:57Z")
[QUOTE=meenie7] Why exactly would it be beneficial to make people upset and angry by being shown these things all the time? The type of people who did this unspeakable act aren’t watching and don’t care, and everyone else didn’t do anything to deserve having their day ruined, nor did they “forget” anything except what you NEED to forget about tragedies in order to get on with your life and not sit around crying all day. [/QUOTE] Who says I’m sitting around crying all day? Who says I’m not getting on with my life, as you put it? I guess in 1942 you’d have given the same advice to those who were obsessing about Pearl Harbor, tell them to just forget about it and get on with life? What else shall we forget about? ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/10 "2008-02-27T02:57:25Z")
Jesus. I’ve been having heart palpitations on and off for the past 5 days, and that video didn’t help. Right after the end, my legs went numb. That poor, poor man. (Just so’s ya knows – don’t worry about the heart palps. I’ve been checked out and either nothing is wrong or I’m in for a big surprise, because they tell me it’s anxiety.) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/11 "2008-02-27T02:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] The Wikipedia link alleging that this recording was played at Moussaoui’s trial doesn’t go anywhere. I hope it was. [/QUOTE] It was. > [@](#): > > They were the desperate moments, just before the south tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. on Sept. 11, and Kevin Cosgrove of West Islip was trapped on the 105th floor in the northwest corner of the building, grimly determined but losing hope…His terrified words climaxed the second day of wrenching victim impact testimony in the punishment phase of Moussaoui’s trial, as prosecutors employed tearful stories of grief and loss from 14 victims’ relatives, one horribly burned survivor and the recorded words of Cosgrove and a woman trapped in raging fires inside the south tower in an effort to persuade jurors to execute the al-Qaida operative. [9/11 victims’ last words played at trial](http://redeye.chicagotribune.com/ny-usmous0411,0,1492843.story?coll=red-frontheadlines) ---
**Author:** ![Thorium\_Indium\_Potassium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@Thorium\_Indium\_Potassium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thorium_Indium_Potassium)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/12 "2008-02-27T03:06:17Z")
Oh God. There are no words for the terror that men and women suffered that day. His final words will be in head forever. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/13 "2008-02-27T03:15:49Z")
If ever a crime merited the death penalty, this one is it. There were a couple of babies on one of the planes, too. Babies. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/14 "2008-02-27T03:24:52Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] If ever a crime merited the death penalty, this one is it. There were a couple of babies on one of the planes, too. Babies. [/QUOTE] At least the poor babies didn’t know what was happening. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/15 "2008-02-27T03:26:07Z")
But their mothers did. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/16 "2008-02-27T04:15:30Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] Who says I’m sitting around crying all day? Who says I’m not getting on with my life, as you put it? I guess in 1942 you’d have given the same advice to those who were obsessing about Pearl Harbor, tell them to just forget about it and get on with life? What else shall we forget about? [/QUOTE] Well, how about the Darfur Conflict? What about the 25,000 people who die _each day_ from starvation? There’s a lot of suffering going on in this world, and narrowly focusing on one incident and nursing outrage can shut out the bigger picture and prevent us from making rational decisions. Let’s not forget about the 80,000+ Iraqi deaths (a very conservative estimate) that happened as a direct and indirect result of invading Iraq. A war that was largely sold to the public using outrage over 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/17 "2008-02-27T09:11:22Z")
I don’t think you can weigh deaths in one arena against deaths in another. Suffice to say that all of the situations are tragic, and yet more evidence that humanity has a long way to go before we can consider ourselves moral beings. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/18 "2008-02-27T09:37:24Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] Who says I’m sitting around crying all day? Who says I’m not getting on with my life, as you put it? I guess in 1942 you’d have given the same advice to those who were obsessing about Pearl Harbor, tell them to just forget about it and get on with life? What else shall we forget about? [/QUOTE] **Did** people obsess about Pearl Harbor in 1942, though? Or were they caught up in what was happening from day to day? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/19 "2008-02-27T09:46:57Z")
Other than fellow members of the human race I had no close relatives in the WTC. I will never forgive those murderous bastards for what they did that day ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291/20 "2008-02-27T14:05:51Z")
Last September 11th, I decided to see if I could find some video from 9/11 to revisit the experience that seemed oh, so long ago my freshman year of college. I was a clueless kid living in Michigan but my roommate was from New York and so were scores of people in my dorm, so the morning was really a bunch of unbelievable chaos that eventually settled into comfortable numbness toward the end of the day. Anyways, the events of that day and their aftermath have been so intellectualized to death that I really thought it would be a good idea to get in touch with the emotional core of the experience. I expected to have a good long cry and then go about my day. I found this video (which I’m not watching again, sorry.) I didn’t cry at all. I was _immediately_ sick to my stomach. I wish I’d never watched it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-thing-youll-see-today-or-maybe-any-day-for-that-matter/439291.md?page=2)