I would have expected opposite results in terms of the age statement. Unless of course, they went to the liberal NorthEast, where we have no idea what any of those people know...
I am in that age group and I remember that morning so well, waking up in a hotel, while travelling on business. And turning on the TV to get the morning news from Fox and seeing the towers being hit. I thought I was on some movie channel....until it announced it was real. I have never had a cold sweat like that in my life. September 11, 2001 will never be forgotten by this ole vet.
Short of my daughter's birth - I can't recall a day when every single detail of the day is imprinted in my memory. From being up way too early on the West Coast, to calling everyone I knew waking them up and telling the to turn the news on - to the rest of the day - every single detail is still there....
(although I am not part of the age groups mentioned.)
My own recolletion of that day is really wierd. I woke up before the alarm went off (We live in Mountain TimeZone) because someone yelled "America will wake up from Her Complacency", only nobody was there. No radio or anything. I fixed breakfast for Wifey, and she went to work. On a whim, I turned on the TV and the first plane had just hit the first tower.
I was 32 at the time, living in El Segundo, CA. Right next to LAX Airport. I couldn't find my watch, my clock was on the floor, buried under clothes. I turned on the tv because I knew the morning news would have the time on the screen. I thought I was watching a movie preview...considering how many times I've seen those towers in movies (Ghostbusters, Daylight, Working Girl).
I was in shock, sad, mad, enraged, wanted a hotline to President Bush to clear a plane for me to take out whoever did it...I cried for a week straight, every time I saw an American flag, or heard the National Anthem (one local station played it at 6:00am, 12 noon and 5pm everyday). Damn, I'm starting to lose it now, just thinking about it...five years later...
And then it hit me. It hit me that it was never EVER so quiet in my neighborhood. No planes were running (the President had grounded them). If I recall, one of those planes was due to come here to Los Angeles. It was eerily quiet. Not too many cars on the street. Not many at the pub next door to my apartment.
One of the weirdest days, worst days, most focusing days I have ever experienced in my life. I always say that two things shaped me politically: the 2000 Election recount and aftermath, and 9/11/2001.
I'll never forget. And thank you for your service.
I have to agree, and for much the same reasons.
We woke up the same way, in Seligman, AZ, on our way to Albuquerque.
Fortunately for us, we had driven across Hoover Dam on 9/10.
It will no more be forgotten than 12/7/41, even if I was born until 4 1/2 years later.
Now, as I watch Leno, I see college grads, some with fresh history degrees, others who are new teachers(!), who don't know the significance of 1492, 1776, 1861, etc.; nor even who was fighting in the American Revolution or WWII.
It is truly frightening to see the ignorance of the younger generations.