September 11 Digital Archive

story8694.xml

Title

story8694.xml

Source

born-digital

Media Type

story

Created by Author

yes

Described by Author

no

Date Entered

2002-11-29

911DA Story: Story

The tragic event of September 11th has changed my life in so many ways as it has for many others. I will never feel as safe and care free again. Prior to September 11th, my views of government and world security really didn't play a large part in my everyday life. Of coiurase I was interested in things happening in our country, but other countries did not seem to important. Although, now I try to stay on top of all of the news that is happening around the world, due to the circumstances I realize that we are not totally safe. This is a horrible way to feel but, September 11th has opened my eyes and my life will never be the same.

The morning of September 11th, I was sitting at my desk and my boss was listening to sports talk on the radio when he said you have to be kidding me, (he explained that the first plane hit the World Trade Center). Then we continued to listen and the second plane hit with the additional planes striking their targets shortly after. It didn't seem real! Of course we tuned into the news talk on the radio and listened in shock to the news accounts of what was going on. It still didn't seem real! The only thing that kept going through my mind was those poor people. The overwhelming sadness that I felt was unbelievable. We continued to listen throughout the entire day (of course) in complete horror. Although, later that evening when I actually saw the news coverage on the television, I did not imagine the extent of the damage. When viewing this horrific event, I never before had felt such compassion and sorrow for complete strangers. The multiple feelings that I felt were overwhelming, fear, sadness, anger and most importantly, HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?

For many months after this tragedy, I thought about it constantly. I feared additional attacks would follow. Although Americans were told to go about their daily lives, but be more aware of youir surrondings. I personally could not follow that advice, at least at first. We weren't locked in our house, but we did not rush out to the City to shop anytime soon. I am ashamed to say that for many months after, I had mixed feelings that I wasn't sure about. Prior to September 11th, I had never had racial thoughs of any kind. Many of the stores I stop at to get my morning coffee and gas/food stores had foreigners running them. For awhile I stopped going to those stores and found different ones to get my coffee etc. These people had nothing to do with the attack and I was reacting like they all were terrorists. I knew my feelings were wrong but it was hard not to be bias after what had happened. I am not a racial person, and hope that I never have to again feel that way.

To watch America come together like they did was the most inspirational account that I will ever probably witness in my lifetime. I give the utmost praise to the many thousands of people who risked their own lives to rescue those trapped. My heart and prayers go out to all of the victims' families, and the thousands of people that worked day and night to try to save that one more person from the debris. There is no where else in this world that you could feel this unity. I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!!!!

Citation

“story8694.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed May 15, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/3607.