story278.xml

story278.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-03-19

On September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked. Terrorists hijacked four commercial flights and ran them into different buildings in America. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit. Both World Trade Center towers collapsed after being hit. Over 5,000 people died in the attacks. This event has affected our nation more than any other in history.
I awoke that Tuesday morning to the sound of my alarm reminding me that I had to get ready for the President?s inauguration. As we were getting ready, my roommate, Wes?, cell phone rang. His conversation consisted of several, ?no ways? and ?wows?. He then proceeded to turn on the television which showed the World Trade Center towers. One of them had evidently been run into by an airplane. At first, my thought was that it was an accident, but I soon found out otherwise. Another plane then proceeded to run into the other tower. I was shocked and amazed that this was happening. The television also flashed to the Pentagon where another airplane had crashed into it. As much as I wanted to stay and watch what was going to happen next, I had to go to the inauguration in order to get the double chapel credit that I had originally waken up so early to achieve.
Upon arrival, I overheard several people talking about what happened in New York. Some people were finding out for the first time and were finding it hard to believe. I had a lot of time to think during the inauguration, so I did. I was finding it hard to believe that this had happened in the so-called invincible United States of America. I didn?t understand how we could let something like this happen. I felt like it was all just some story that happened in some other country, the past, or in some terrible movie, but it wasn?t. This happened on that day and in New York and at the Pentagon. It was all very hard to believe.
I went back to the dorm after the inauguration and turned on the TV to CNN. I had come to find out that both of the towers had collapsed and that the odds of there being any survivors were very slim. Also, another plane that had been hijacked crashed in Pennsylvania and was evidently on its way to Camp David before falling from the sky. They mentioned that a man named Osama Bin Laden was responsible for conducting these evil acts of terrorism. I had never heard of him before, but they proceeded to explain that he was also responsible for other attacks in America prior to these. Why was this man still alive? I was wondering. He should be dead and gone, but I found out that he had been in hiding for several years and that the military had no idea where he could be. At this point, the government was not sure he was responsible for the attacks, but he was definitely the prime suspect. I was still having trouble believing that all this had actually happened. How and why did these people want to destroy others and themselves? What had America done to these people for them to do this to us?
The following five or six days were spent, when not in school, watching the television to see if anything else had or was going to happen and what we were going to do about it. Within a day, most of the people that had hijacked the plane had been identified. I was amazed how quickly they were discovered. Each terrorist had their own story of how they took flying lessons in the U.S. and managed to get away the murders. It was amazing how simple these people made it seem to do what they had done. They simply took the courses on how to fly, bought some box cutters, knives, and tickets on an airplane. I was surprised at how smart this Ben Laden character was to think of such a scheme. He had to be a very smart man and put a lot of thought into these attacks. The search for survivors continued throughout the following week. All hope was eventually given up and over 5,000 people were listed as dead.
I was very angry when I realized how real this was. My science teacher, Dr. McNair told our class about his brother who worked at the Pentagon. He was at a meeting that day and had he been in his office would be dead. I was really wishing that Bin Laden was dead or that we would catch him and kill him. After hearing my very wise history teacher, Dr. Fink, talk on forgiveness and how God could touch Bin Laden?s heart and change it, made me change my mind. I have had my share of second and third and fourth chances, and Bin Laden deserves his too.
I had heard several rumors of war and it scared me. Many of my friends were talking about the draft and stuff, and I had and have no desire to fight in a war. Neither did any of my friends. I talked to my Mom and Dad about it a little bit and they made a very good point that no government official had mentioned the draft. Only the media and the public had talked about it. That assured me a little bit, but it was pretty obvious that we were going into war because of some things that President Bush had said. And I knew that it was going to be a long war since it was a war against ?terrorism? and not a specific country. So, eventually there would probably be a draft. In addition to all that, a lot of what was going on made me think of the end times and Revelation. The Bible talks about that in the end times, there will be wars and rumors of wars and that made me happy and that brought out a mix of emotions. I am ready to go to Heaven, but there are several things that I want to do before I die or go to Heaven. I also was scared at the thought of this being the end times. What is going to happen? Will the anti-Christ appear suddenly? Tons of unanswerable questions flooded my mind.
As the days went by, I watched our nation turn to God for answers. It was very shocking, but awesome. What Satan thought would completely destroy our country, turned out to be just what it needed. Prayer was being heard all around the country; at schools, at sporting events, and by our President. I think this is something that our nation was in desperate need of. We were and still are not a Christianity based nation like God would want, but anything is a start.