story7725.xml

story7725.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-17

September 11th, who would have thought that such an ordinary date would be scarred in our minds forever? It seemed like any other day. I woke up at 5:30 AM (like always) to get ready to go to school. I met my firend at the fence, which became out daily ritual, so that we would walk tot hte bus together. We talked while waiting for the bus and when it came, we simply got on and went to school. At school everyone walked around the hallways like zombies because all of us knew that it was way to early for anyone to be awake, much less at school; all of us just wanted to go home. Finally, the bell rang and all of the students went scurrying to calss; i went to Chemistry. After chemistry, the bell rung once again at 9:25, and i set off to go to spanish class.
I remember that my teachear seemed different and kept floating from our roon to the roon across the hallwayto talk to the other teacher. After conversing with the other teacher, our teacher walked in stunned and in some what disbelief; she told us what had happened. She explained that the World Trade Center ahd beenhit by planes, the class was in shock and confusion. OUr teacher then turned on the TV and put on the news, and at that moment we realized what had REALLY happened. The news channel had split the screen inhalf, on half had the picture of the Twin Towers burning, and the other half had the picture of the Pentagon of fire. The images that were put before us seemed so unreal and scary. Many of the students from this area come from military families, so most of thier parents work in the Pentagon. Consequently, some girls in my class cried of panic and fear not knowing where their parents were. One of the girls from our class, as well as many toher students from other classes, went to the guidance office to try to get a hold of her parents. Through all of this, the rest of the class as still in awe of what they were watching. I was frightened not only for the other people that were in danger, but also for my family. My uncle and my aunt work in NYC, and my cousin, at the time was going to college in the city. I was worried about them as well as for my dad who works in D.C. All of a sudden, I remember looking at the screen and seeing more smoke coming from the Twin Towers than usual, and right at that moment the tower crumbled to the floor. The TV screen blew up the picture of the WTC so that it filled up the whole screen. I saw the tower fall live; it is a lasting image that I know that I weill never forget. As the tower crumbled, I began to cry. It was just absolutely awful. The rest of the day seemed like a dream; it was all a blur.
Now that I look back, I realized that even though much chaos resulted from such a catastrophe, there were also some good things that resulted from it too. Our nation as a whole came together and united as one to fighta gainst terrorism. Also, I don't believe that anyone has seen our contry be more patriotic than it was that week and the many days to floolow. All of us heard many movind stories of people who died, people who almost died, and heroes who gave up their lives to save others, but in the end, we eventually (though slowly) moved on and simply became stronger and more unified country.