story2616.xml

story2616.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Though I am only 13, (12 at the time of the attacks) I feel that I should record my life on the day of September 11th. I was sitting in the living room watching TV, when the broadcast stopped and switched to the WTC site, just after the 1st plane hit. All I could think was, "This is too unreal." As much as I hated to admit it, it was clear to me that it was a terrorist attack on our beloved country. While I was still in utter disbelief, I saw another plane coming in low, and watched live as the 2nd plane hit the tower. Later that day, I found out that Mark Bavis, a former player on a local hockey team, had been on that 2nd plane. That's when it really hit home. Knowing that he was on that plane, and knowing that I watched live as he died was really hard. I'm homeschooled, so my grandmother gave me the day off. While I was talking to my friend, another homeschooler, I heard that the Pentagon had been hit and that a plane had gone down in Pennsylvania. It wasn't much of a conversation at this point, more than anything it was a way to vent our anger towards these cowards, otherwise known as terrorists. Shortly after I hung up with my friend, my grandmother got a call letting us know that our friend who worked at the Pentagon, was safe. We weren't sure if he was OK, but it turned out that his office was in the section that was being remodeled, so he had been given a vacation and was away at the time. I had a soccer practice later that night, and when I got there, everyone was pretty much just standing around, not doing anything. My coach led us in a prayer for our country and the victims and their families, and a couple of the girls started crying. That was the most quiet practice we ever had. No one said anything the whole hour, just did what our coach said. I've been raised with the impression that I'm not supposed to cry, but that day after practice, when I turned on the TV, and every channel showed the news, I broke down and cried. This was undoubtedly the most dastardly thing that has ever been put to action against our country. But these terrorists should be warned, that we will find them, and they will pay. They may think that they succeeded in bringing America down, but they were dead wrong. American pride and spirit lives within the people, not within buildings. And as long as there is atleast one American still standing, American pride will never die. So to everyone out there who may be reading this, don't live in fear of these terrorists, for we are stronger than them in every aspect of life as we know it. In the words of a great man, Todd Beamer, America, "Lets Roll."