story5933.xml
Title
story5933.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-12
911DA Story: Story
It was about 7:30-7:45 Central Standard Time. I'm a Spanish teacher and I was preparing for the coming class.
I decided to turn on the television and show a film before class started. When I turned on the televison my student and I noticed a building on fire. We thought it was some type of movie or some old footage. The tv had a lot of static and the volume was low. He said that it looked like one of the Towers in New York. I thought that was impossible that one of the towers of the World Trade Center could be on fire. At about 8:30 to 8:45 a teacher ran into my class and told me that a plane hit the world trade center and that it was possibly an attack. I turned on the televison and we all watched the tragedy. The kids could not believe it. There were sure that war was eminent.
"We're going to bomb them" the students said. "They're not
going to get away with this." The students somehow did not understand the magnitude of this incident. As adults we believe that the U.S is the greatest country in the world.
Understanding that with greatness comes great responsiblity.
And to see one of our great structures hit and thousands
of people killed showed us that we are not as safe as we all thought.
After my class was over I spoke to my colleague who is a German teacher. She cried. "How could this happen," she said. "These kind of things just don't happen here." It was scary for us all. It is still scary today. How can we trust again. How will we heal. The theme, "We Shall Never Forget" touched my heart. I will never forget this and my children and their children will never forget this. It's weird how an incident like this brings everyone together as a nation. It shows you who you really are. I'm an American, I was born an American and I will die an American.
This is my country and this is my home. I'm proud to be a part of this great country.
I decided to turn on the television and show a film before class started. When I turned on the televison my student and I noticed a building on fire. We thought it was some type of movie or some old footage. The tv had a lot of static and the volume was low. He said that it looked like one of the Towers in New York. I thought that was impossible that one of the towers of the World Trade Center could be on fire. At about 8:30 to 8:45 a teacher ran into my class and told me that a plane hit the world trade center and that it was possibly an attack. I turned on the televison and we all watched the tragedy. The kids could not believe it. There were sure that war was eminent.
"We're going to bomb them" the students said. "They're not
going to get away with this." The students somehow did not understand the magnitude of this incident. As adults we believe that the U.S is the greatest country in the world.
Understanding that with greatness comes great responsiblity.
And to see one of our great structures hit and thousands
of people killed showed us that we are not as safe as we all thought.
After my class was over I spoke to my colleague who is a German teacher. She cried. "How could this happen," she said. "These kind of things just don't happen here." It was scary for us all. It is still scary today. How can we trust again. How will we heal. The theme, "We Shall Never Forget" touched my heart. I will never forget this and my children and their children will never forget this. It's weird how an incident like this brings everyone together as a nation. It shows you who you really are. I'm an American, I was born an American and I will die an American.
This is my country and this is my home. I'm proud to be a part of this great country.
Collection
Citation
“story5933.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 15, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/10119.