story20718.xml
Title
story20718.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2006-09-11
911DA Story: Story
Since writing "Tonight I Cried", it went on to live a life of its own. I shared it with the members of the National Middle School Association in November of 2001. It was even read on radio as far away as Wisconsin. I have seen print copies of it several times. Why someone chose my view over 280 million other stories in America I will never know.
Personally, I have struggled to come to terms with that day. It is now five years later and I am able, for the first time, to see the video of the tower collision. This is a big step for me. Life is for the living, but never forgetting where we have been. Grad school is finished and the girlfriend is now my wife of almost 4 1/2 years. I tell her of the Washington that used to be; the one that celebrated the scaffolding around the Washington Monument at the millenium. I tell of traffic that was not crippling to the commuter (I know she will never believe that). I tell my middle school students how technology failed us that day. This is the first class of students that was too young to be impacted directly. The first grade classes did not stream the media coverage the same way the rest of us did.
Tonight I Celebrate life. Tonight I Toast to those who had no choice but to become immortal that day. Those lost will never be forgotten. However afraid, shaken, weak or strong, only the memory of fellow Americans lost remains.
We have not done all we can to make peace in this world. In our hearts we know this is not where we want to be. May the ones who live on find comfort in our love, hope and dreams for their well being. May those lost never be forsaken.
Cassidy Nolen
September 11, 2006
Personally, I have struggled to come to terms with that day. It is now five years later and I am able, for the first time, to see the video of the tower collision. This is a big step for me. Life is for the living, but never forgetting where we have been. Grad school is finished and the girlfriend is now my wife of almost 4 1/2 years. I tell her of the Washington that used to be; the one that celebrated the scaffolding around the Washington Monument at the millenium. I tell of traffic that was not crippling to the commuter (I know she will never believe that). I tell my middle school students how technology failed us that day. This is the first class of students that was too young to be impacted directly. The first grade classes did not stream the media coverage the same way the rest of us did.
Tonight I Celebrate life. Tonight I Toast to those who had no choice but to become immortal that day. Those lost will never be forgotten. However afraid, shaken, weak or strong, only the memory of fellow Americans lost remains.
We have not done all we can to make peace in this world. In our hearts we know this is not where we want to be. May the ones who live on find comfort in our love, hope and dreams for their well being. May those lost never be forsaken.
Cassidy Nolen
September 11, 2006
Collection
Citation
“story20718.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 15, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/10586.