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COVID didn't feel like it was going to change everything all at once at first to me. Lots of "2 weeks and it'll be over" talk. Then reality slowly set it.
9/11 felt like all at once to me, same with the second Trump election. Like I woke up and things were different.
I think it was 2022, when Russia attacked to the Ukraine. I couldn’t believe it happened. I couldn’t understand why and why Russia made such an asshole move. Why start a war in Europe, when all you needed to do was make trade and get your land straight up to rich. How stupid you need to be to think otherwise?
I had a crippling migraine. I thought I was going to die. I crawled to the bathroom and ran the tub, tears streaming down my face. I felt so weak, every movement made my head feel like it was going to explode.
I got my partner to grab me some water and Advil as I lay in the bath. I stayed there all night: head pounding, wishing I was dead, dreaming of drilling a hole in my skull with a power drill just to relieve the pressure behind my eyes.
Eventually, it passed, but it lingered for the rest of the week, consistent, though much less intense.
The following day, I got a call from my mother. She was worried about me. It turns out she’d had a dream that I had died in a bathtub, and she wanted to check in.
Later that day, I saw an article on quantum immortality, and remembered a part from the game Alan Wake, where a TV segment you can come across discusses the theory.
Essentially, at certain moments there is a quantum break, which creates alternate realities, where you, or you conciousness shifts to a universe where you are still alive, but also creating alternate versions where you die.
so basically,you never experience your own death
Sometimes I wonder if I did die in that bathtub. The world I woke up in only seems to be getting stranger and stranger each day.
Or perhaps not. Who knows? There are many mysteries in life. And to many, that’s what gives it meaning.
Who am I to question the incredible strangeness of existence? And who would I be if I pretended to know its secrets? ...Evidently, nobody of consequence.
I remember explaining having the same phenomenon of a feeling that that was what happens to peoples conscience, everyone has their own dedicated server for their own life to continue, essentially.
I love hearing other people's brains sharing the same concept as me, wild when a planet of 7+ billion can do that.
Horrible and weird experience aside, to anyone else reading this: That could have been a brain bleed or aneurism. Not that I'm a doc, but if you ever have pain that severe immediately go to a hospital.
I think I experienced the same, but have never tried figuring out if there was a definition of it.
At an after party where we already took a bunch of shit, designer drugs, we decided to hit huge lines of K. I K-holed and woke up next day, feeling like everything was just the slightest bit off.
Family, friends, all without reason, checked in that week. Haven't touched the stuff since.
The first time was the day I had a fight with my older brother and ran away from home. It was scary. I was not even 8. This was in Guangzhou, I only retroactively learned how common kidnappings are in China (caused by the One Child Policy... and yea my parents violated the rule and gave birth to me).
The day when I first ride in a plane. It was to JFK airport NYC for immigration to the US. I barely remember a thing (I was like 8-10 at the time, I think?), but it feel so strange being lifted away from the ground. Felt like magic. This is probably the moment that defined my political views, my entire life. This is the moment the timeline has split. There's probably a timeline somewhere I didn't end up in the US for some reason, and probably ended up in prison for shit-talking the CCP.
The day I moved to Philadelphia (about 5 years after arriving in the US). Similar, but less significant as literally moving countries. Although, my memories of this day is much clearer. I remember more of the 2 hour car ride than the 10+ hour plane ride. Philadelphia houses were much cheaper. In NYC you basically had to rent forever. Multi-family houses were terrible. Apartments in Guangzhou was also terrible (also no elevators lol). Feels like you have a "Base" for the first time. It was the first time I ever had a bedroom for my self.
Also: (This is a separate comment in case it violates rule 6)
January 6th, 2021. I wasn't alive during 9/11, but this is the closest thing I witnessed to 9/11. Death toll wise, obviously 9/11 is way worse. But in terms of democracy, this is one of the most significant indicators of the decline of US democracy.
November 5th, 2024. We all know what happened. It was a tragedy. Was constantly checking the results and on 6th morning, I felt like my country is under hostile occcupation.
I completely agree. Also every day afterward just hoping it's not going to be bad and just seeing it get worse and worse and worse.
Way back in 2024. Things were bad, but then, in October, there was a tectonic shift in the US, when the impossible became reality. There was a limbo for a couple of months, but in January this year we (the US) was flung back into 1940, and since then the years seem to be going backwards.
From 1940, 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900 and looping back around to
^1984, ^^1984, ^^^1984, ^^^^1984, ^^^^^1984
9/11. It was the only time in my life I saw newspapers publish extra editions.
For those too young, extra edition as in "extra, extra, read all about it," when a news story is so big that the newspapers publish a whole nother edition later in the day.
Talking of the news on September 11th, 2001, I had that day off and was sleeping in that morning when my sleep was interrupted by my (landline) phone ringing, I groggily answered and it was my best friend frantically telling me to put on the news. I fumbled, still half-asleep, for the TV remote while mumbling "what channel?" and she said "any channel!" just as I turned the TV on and, sure enough, whatever channel it was on was showing what was happening.
It's a funny trope in film and TV to have characters generically tell each other to "turn on the TV/radio/etc." without specifying which channel or whatever, and the required plot-fueling info just happens to be broadcasting live on whatever station is already tuned in. That's the only day I remember that actually happening to me in real life.
For me too. Watching that footage where it's live and the second plane hits and everyone is speechless trying to process. Longest 5 seconds we will ever witness, it's 5 seconds that went from "oh my an accident how could this happen" to "the world is not going to be the same after this, there's no going back"
Some assholes gave the US a bloody nose and America spent the next quarter decade trying to stop the bleeding by continuously stabbing itself in the heart
This is such a remarkably apt way to put it.
I must say that nothing afterwards has ever given me the feeling of This Changes Everything quite the way the fall of the Berlin Wall did.
Two evenings ago I had dinner with a friend who grew up on the other side of the wall. It's not something that we really talk about very often, but it's impossible to forget.
Something similar happens to me. I get shocked every time I meet someone from the USSR.
I was at the thrift store the other day and I found a box for $5 for sale that had a piece of the Berlin Wall in it.
I don't even know why, but I had to snap it up, and now it's sitting on my little curio shelf.
You got a bargain. I think my parents have a piece somewhere as well. It was world -changing for them.
2016 Brexit referendum was quite a turning point.
2016 - woke up and swore at the TV twice that year.
Once for brexit, and again for the US elections.
Never have I had so little faith in humanity.
oh my God it's been almost 10 years hasn't it? It feels like it was maybe 3 or 4 to me.
In the USA the news story the next day was something like, "Most common search query in the UK: 'What is the European Union?'"
Honestly I'm still surprised the UK didn't undo it and rejoin. But the world is a crazy place all over.
When Russia invaded Ukraine... It may sound like the first thing that came to my mind but for a few days I thought Russia would attack my country as well. Before, I was feeling very safe in my country.
Of course that's only the direct impact on me personally. Let's not forget how Ukrainians feel
I even remember the moment I heard. My husband came to me and our baby, we were playing on the bed, it was a Thursday. He asked if I had heard yet. I asked what, and he told me that Russia attacked Ukraine. It felt so surreal. It felt like being held at gunpoint to r*pe your sibling.
We don't live in Russia or Ukraine, but we have close friends and relatives in both countries. For about a week I couldn't concentrate on our daughter. My head was somewhere else which felt awful, but was also the first time I had allowed myself to think about something else and not give her 100% of my attention. We went to demonstrations (well who cares) and kept doom scrolling, which felt more urgent, more necessary to stay in touch with what is happening. We realized how we didn't see the obvious for years. Which was very painful, since my husband was always interested in politics, also back when he lived in Russia, and got me into being more political myself. We were way too naive about it.
We kept asking our friends and family how they were, what they planned to do. Some fled immediately. Some a bit later. Most stayed. With time, the imminent feeling of threat and impending doom numbs down to low key anxiety. So many years down the drain. So many futures waisted. They stole their futures.
I remember I kept telling my daughter "one day we will tell you about a war between our countries that lasted for 1 day when you were a baby". 2 days. 10 days. 30 days. I stopped counting at 100.
Now I just hope we will have time to go there. Will my grandparents be able to see their great granddaughter? Will she meet her grandpa in Russia? Will she ever be able to play with her cousins in rural Ukraine? I had planned to spend summers there, to get to know this side of my spouse's family, and hoped she would get to learn some snippets of Ukrainian there. That's how he knows the language. And now I just hope that his cousins will not die. The fat one lost about 2/3 of his body weight so far. I'm not surprised being in the military does this to you.
Damn I even remember the pigeons. That stupid pigeons. We had pigeon problems on the balcony and in March 2022 they built a nest and it had eggs in it. But the day prior they bombed an orphanage. Or a children's hospital? Or a maternity ward? God these assholes bomb everything, don't they. And I cried and we couldn't do it, we couldn't bring ourselves to remove the eggs. We had freaking pigeon babies with incredibly proud pigeon parents who were, btw, super progressive, crazy emancipated pigeons, both were looking for the eggs and babies equally. We gave them names when they hatched and watched them grow older. And then fuck nature, about two weeks before they would have left the nest, a fucking crow ate Hittin first, and poor Putler was so, so scared, and we tried to shelter him and even lifted the rule of no feeding no water, but then the next day, he was dead as well. The parents were devastated. We were devastated. We were powerless. We still are. We couldn't protect them. We couldn't make a change even when we tried. We were powerless.
The universe stood still, and then it started going with a different pace and in another direction than before.
Not sure where I am going with this, I think I'm just grateful someone else found this moment... Majorly significant.
💛
You found the words I didn't find. Sometimes it's good to just write down all of your thought I guess.
Back in 2014 I thought we are witnessing the beginning of WW3 and even went so far as to head down to the shops and buy enough food for ~ 2 weeks.
Call me cynical, but in 2022 I felt more like "You guys are surprised about this? Really?"
I was in second grade when they changed the way that Wednesday is spelled.
It used to be Wendsday, at least that's how it was spelled in the universe I came from.
Nothing has really made sense since.
was that isn't how you spell Wednesday? how else would you spell it?
edit: oh shit i mistook "spelling" for pronouncing
I was MASSIVELY hung over on 911 and had my cbc radio on as I exited my room. I thought it was a radio drama. It made everything go sideways and thought the world was ending for a bit.
was it really that big of a deal? i'm european and can't really understand whether people want to make it seem like such a big deal, or whether it actually really had anything to do with most people's lifes?
It was one of the most life changing events in our countries history. Hell, I was in first grade on the total opposite side of the country. (Living in Las Vegas NV at the time, had no relation to anyone in New York or anywhere even close to that area, and even I could feel the impact.
It was a total cultural shift in every sense of the word for the US. It was the first time in our history that a foreign power had directly attacked us on our own soil. And even more than that, the most unifying time in our nations history as well, oddly enough.
thanks for sharing your perspective. i feel like i'm starting to understand what you all would have felt like.
I don't think it was the destruction of the building, but rather the implications of the inevitable maybe century to follow which would bring reduction in human rights, war, chaos, political upheaval.
One could argue that the political chaos were in right now could be traced back to 9/11. I was relatively young on the day, but still an adult who fully grasped the fork in the road this would take us down, and I was not wrong or overreacting.
It was our Franz Ferdinand.
9/11 was absolutely a start if not the absolute turning point to the madness that afflicting this country today.
What's the biggest building in your nation's largest city?
Knock it down killing everyone inside.
Big deal, or nah?
I was just a kid and school was dismissed early and we were sent home without knowing why, but the rumor was that there was a terrorist attack (somewhere).
I got home being glad school was cancelled, and was shocked to see my dad and Mom both home from work (very unusual) and both very serious and scared, watching the TV of the building on fire. And then the second plane crashed into it on live TV. And then one collapsed. And then the other. And all those people died. There was a special service at our church. Lots of people came, lots of people were upset. Our pastor gave a sermon about tragedy and how God gave us strength to get through. Suddenly American flags were everywhere, with slogans like "Pray for America" and "Freedom isn't Free. People were making magnets, tshirts, even 8½ x 11 color printouts we got from our school. I had it in my room for a long time.
And then our country was going to war with a completely different country that wasn't related. And then with the country that was related. And there were anti-war protests at the high school. And the Patriot Act, and Bush/Cheney reelected...
I'd say it was the biggest world event of my childhood. COVID topped it in scale, but they're the only two world events in the same category for me.
Not american but I think it was the sense that war only happens far away for america, so 911 was a huge shock?
I mean the post was asking about a time you thought the world was ending.
I was 18. When I say hangover I mean coming down off some Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lol so when I heard the radio being all shouts and people freaking out I definitely thought it was all about to go world war 3. Looking back obviously it wasn't life ending for me but I'll say, it permanently changed how north America treated air flights and media started getting crazier then. Things were different in North America after that.
Back when I was living in Germany in 2020, I took a walk around the small city my family used to live. Everything was fine and normal.
But when I walked back home, everything changed for the worst.
Why? Because it was day Covid was declared a pandemic.
I still think about the walk that changed everything!
Back in 2001 I slept with the radio on and was on the US west coast. So I literally woke up September 11th to live breaking news that life would never be the same.
I woke up just in time to turn on the TV and see the 2nd tower get hit.
When my mom called me at 5AM to tell me that my dad had a heart attack and was unresponsive
I think that those moments exist throughout your life, some personal, some shared. As you get older, more seem to happen more often but the emotional drama seems to reduce.
For example in no particular order, here's a few:
Every Thursday morning
Last Thursdayism. Damn.