posted on October 8, 2001 04:22:04 PM
It may sound silly, but I am. I live in Washington State. And the area I live in has 6 miliatary bases all within 2 hours driving distance from my home. Puget Sound Naval Base is a mere 10 minutes from me and Bangor Sub base is 20 minutes. Fort Lewis army base an hour away. The other are around 32 hours away, but that still too close for comfort. I'm kinda stuck in the middle. What if THEY decide to retaliate and attack owr military bases? Our area would be prime pickin's since a few strategically placed bombs could wipe out a HUGE part of our countrie's military.
And it does scare me.
How about all of you out there? Where do you live, and are you scared?
luv
Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. Theres Microsoft/Bill Gates, and the world series too (though if I can get my hands on a couple tickets ~ I sure won't be afriad to go!!!). The list just keeps growing!
[ edited by luvmy2bears on Oct 9, 2001 10:44 AM ]
posted on October 8, 2001 04:49:20 PM
I live under the flight path of a major UK airport. Have visions of a hijacked 757 being shot down over my house! Please do not get too worried, but your concerns are understood.
posted on October 8, 2001 05:01:00 PM
I live in Seattle. I work in Seattle's own World Trade Center (not a tower).
I am concerned. But I'm no more afraid for my safety than I am when I have to drive on the freeway - and that ties me up in knots.
I'm certainly not afraid to fly. If I had the money right now, I'd book a flight somewhere - anywhere (well, maybe not the Middle East). But we just returned from our vacation, so, we're broke. Flew out of JFK on September 8.
Modern life has always been fraught with danger. It's just that this is more unexpected and sinister than what we have always faced.
posted on October 8, 2001 05:03:12 PM
No, I'm not scared. If I do get scared I'll change some of my actions. I'll buy gas masks, I'll avoid going to casinos, and football games, I'll pull up the welcome mat from my front door and I'll dig a bomb shelter. I'll watch the news continuously and wring my hands and say "woe is me, woe is me."
I'll also switch to this flag when I give in to fear.
Home Of The Afraid
posted on October 8, 2001 05:11:44 PM
Paying more attention perhaps, but not scared. The more we retreat from normal life, the more the scumbag "wins".
posted on October 8, 2001 05:50:26 PM
I live in Seattle too. Boeing to one side. The airport to the south , Bremerton across the water.Have to go past the steel mills,the port and through downtown to get anywhere. Am I scared? Nope. If my number comes up it comes up. Won't matter where I am. Have to say I wasn't too thrilled when they shifted the flight path to right over my house today when it stormed for awhile.Only because it scares the dogs and makes the windows rattle.
posted on October 8, 2001 06:02:28 PM
Crap I'm scared all the time without any terrorist attacks or enemies. I sit with my back to the wall in restaurants and sleep in bear country with a short barrelled shot gun.
Cowards live longer. Don't believe all this when your time is up stuff. Plenty of people stick their head in the lion's mouth and hurry their time up a lot!
posted on October 8, 2001 06:12:55 PM
I'm not scared, because when your ticket is up, it's up. Oh, sorry gravid.
Actually, hubby and I just had our estate planning documents prepared. Not that we think anything is going to happen any time soon, but since I've worked in the area of estate planning and estate administration for 23 years, it occurred to me that we needed to have that done. Kind of like the doctor who suddenly realizes he's been so busy keeping everyone else healthy that he forget to get his own physical.
I feel better now that I'm prepared for whatever happens.
posted on October 8, 2001 06:16:33 PM
I had to work at warding off panic and depression on a daily basis before Sept.11. So this is just prime worry material for me now, BUT,
I am having to do alot of self talk and the words I repeat over and over are "if we give into panic HE wins". So I then try to look at a beautiful Fall tree with brilliant oranges and reds and think. Ha Bin Ladin, you are stuck in some rat infested cave cowering right now rather than enjoying the beauty of the world.
I also have to limit the amount of time I watch the news. I watch enough to know what is happenning and when the rehash starts I flip the station. I'll check back once in a while to see if anything new, or check the AW board if I am on line.
I think anywhere in the U.S. is a prime target in a war with terrorists. They do not want anyone to feel safe anywhere. Bin Ladin had that remark about from North to South to East to West, he wants the farmer in Iowa to be as worried as New Yorkers.
The world has always been full of evil, Americans for the most part have been able to put our heads in the sand since WWII and enjoy a physical safety, economic prospertity, medical advances, social advances, unlike any 0ther time in history.
Reality has caught up to us. I am not sure we can ever go back. The wonderful technology we enjoy enables terrorists to wreak so much havoc with so few people.
The terrorist's game is a head game. I try to think of all the brave military people who are putting themseleves in the direct line of fire. The least I can do is to fight the terror that wants to build over potential what ifs. I owe that to the men and women fighting, and digging in the rubble, etc..
posted on October 8, 2001 06:37:03 PM
Nope, not scared, even though we live in an area with multiple military bases(and under the flight path for the flight line).
That doesn't mean I'm not watching my back, though. I'm not stupid.
posted on October 8, 2001 06:47:00 PM
I am concerned for my children. We live in Washington DC and in my opinion the Metro will be a terrorists target. My daughter uses it every day to go to work.
In fact, she was there when the Pentagon was hit. All cell phones were busy and I couldn't get a call through.
Dam right, it's scary.
And with every day of bombing the possibility of a retaliation increases.
And what have we accomplished???????
Absolutely nothing.
Ben Laden or a Ben Laden substitute will still be in business.
We should be focused on defence of our country and covert operations to remove these bastards from our world.
posted on October 8, 2001 07:01:08 PM
I live in the DC suburbs also. I guess I'd say that I'm more cautious than scared. I go about my regular chores locally but I'll think twice about the events I'll attend in Washington. All of my family lives in the DC or New York area so there's not much chance of avoiding these issues.
posted on October 8, 2001 07:13:52 PM
rawbunzel: "Thank goodness we don't have the Mall of America!"
I live in Minneapolis, so I do. Our wonderful transportation department has let the airport create a new runway which runs parallel to the Mall Of America. The land ACROSS the STREET has been cleared for crash safety zone. I have always shaken my head that the planes would know not to cross the road and crash into the Mall if they were to fail.
deliteful: Thanks
[ edited by mildreds on Oct 8, 2001 07:17 PM ]
posted on October 8, 2001 07:25:58 PM
Not a new feeling. When the Cuban Missile crisis was on in '62 I lived right between Port Columbus airport where they had dispersed nuclear armed bombers to the civilian runways and Lockborne air force base. All night long it was rumble , rumble, rumble as they kept a third of them in the air. About the time you would get used to it they would scramble a flight of fighters that would be transonic by the time they crossed our house and the sonic booms would knock our plates off the shelves. That felt a lot worse sitting between those bullseyes than our risk with this crisis.
posted on October 8, 2001 07:57:54 PM
rawbunzel: From the Mall of America Web Site listed under Media.
"In 1982, Minnesota's professional baseball and football teams, the Twins and the Vikings, moved from Met Stadium in Bloomington to the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. Losing the two teams was a huge blow to the City of Bloomington, but it gave the city 78 acres of land in a highly accessible location. The stadium was located only a mile and a half from the airport... there were four major highways intersecting the property. It was a prime piece of real estate for development. Three years later, Bloomington Port Authority purchased the stadium site and began entertaining proposals for development...
In 1986, the Ghermezian brothers signed a historic agreement with the Bloomington Port Authority to develop the nation's largest retail and entertainment complex which followed their completion of the world's largest retail and entertainment mall, West Edmonton Mall...
There are many reasons for the success of Mall of America. First and foremost, the conditions were perfect in the Twin Cities.
Location, location, location! Mall of America is situated less than two miles from Twin Cities International Airport, a key factor for the Mall's ability to market Mall of America for international air travel. How often does a 78-acre parcel of land become available for development that close to a major airport?
Mall of America is one of the most visited destinations in the United States, attracting more visitors annually than Disney World, Graceland and the Grand Canyon combined.
posted on October 8, 2001 08:00:08 PM
Nope, not scared, not worried. The odds haven't really altered much from what they were before the attacks. I understand though that many people are. The results of a poll on CNBC reported that 50% feared for themselves and others. I don't know how to reassure anyone else since I can't personally guarantee that nothing will happen to them. People just have to think through the situation and come to an understanding within themselves.
posted on October 8, 2001 08:08:56 PM
National parks to be free during the Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 10-12. The U.S. Park Service is dropping entrance fees at its monuments, recreation areas and parks, including the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.
Website is www.nps.org
What's the reason for the "LOL"? You think it's funny that the government is wanting people to get out and go on with the business of living, or am I missing something?
posted on October 9, 2001 03:34:18 AMMildreds, James Lileks mentions the Mall of American in his Bleat column today on his personal website. He writes for the StarTrib in your neck of the woods.
posted on October 9, 2001 03:53:11 AM
Well, I'm not scared, but I live in walking distance from the blue grass army depot in ky where they store nuclear and chemical weapons. They have the place in top notch security now from all this. If something were to happen to the bunkers that store the weapons, it would pretty much wipe out much of ky, part of ohio, part of tn, and part of wv, according to some military people around here. They said that the chemicals would project for a long time and would carry with air currents. They have helicoptor fighters that can shoot flying around 24/7. While I was in VA picking up my dog, I found out when I got back through talk and my neighbors that these middle easterns had been discovered casing the place and were forced to leave (I don't understand why they weren't arrested then). The neighbors had been questioned about them, but they were pretty much quiet sort and little known about them except for 9/11 when they broke out in celebration and took down the American flag they had up until that day. They disappeared the next night. No one around here has seen them since.
posted on October 9, 2001 04:06:52 AM
I was just reading this thread, popped over to check the mail, and that was the message in my in box. It just struck me as amusing at the moment.
First the National Park Service issues a warning that national monuments are very likely to be targets for terrorists and go as far as to say, "it is just a matter of 'when' as far as we are concerned". They admit "vulnerability, lack of manpower, poor communications equipment and inadequate
security perimeters"....then they invite everyone in the country to the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument at once on Veteran's day for FREE.
Corrected: Actually that warning link is from LAST YEAR, which I did not realize when posting...but a more recent one has been on CNN or Fox. Same thing.
Today: "At the Washington Monument in the U.S. capital, the obelisk which dominates the skyline, two police patrol cars stationed on either side were the only visible indications of increased security." http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011008/ts/attack_security_dc_3.html
[ edited by jt on Oct 9, 2001 04:31 AM ]
posted on October 9, 2001 04:31:02 AM
I live near a nuke plant but that has always bothered me. I mean, they have an escape route printed in our phone book in case of some type of accident.
I admitted in a thread yesterday that I was ashamed to say I was scared. But that was because I had a day off work and was watching way too much TV.
I also think of how ugly and horrible it is in Afghanistan when I step outside and see our gorgeous fall weather. I still go shopping and make daily plans. I am not sure if I am scared or if I just hate that constant reminder in the back of my mind of what happened on 9/11 and how things will never be the same again.
