story5515.xml

story5515.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I am a public high school teacher of tenth grade English 2 students in the small town of New Caney, Texas. On 9-11, our Advanced English 2 class had just begun at 9:00 a.m. and had heard about the first plane going into the first tower. We have Channel One programming in our classrooms, so we were watching the events as they unfolded. My students and I were watching when the second plane crashed into the second tower. I felt a sense of panic and fear sweep over me as I realized it was no accident. Then we heard of the plane crashing into the Pentagon, and finally the last plane crashing in Pennsylvania. I just remember thinking, "When will this end? When will all of this just stop?" It seemed there was no end in sight. Obviously, we were all fixated on the images and could not have class at all. I just felt such an immense fear at that point. I wanted to run out of the building, but I knew I could not panic for my students' sake. When the first tower began to crumble however, I felt my knees begin to get weak, and I had to sit against a wall. Tears streamed down my face as I realized the enormity of what I had just witnessed. Little did I know the other tower was about to do the same. I knew I had just seen thousands of people meet their final fate and had watched their very souls be taken from this earth. I felt as if I had intruded, although unintentionally, on their very last personal moment of life. When the other tower collapsed, I wept openly, calling out to God, "Why?" and "Please just make all of this stop." I began to pray for all of the victims and their dear families in front of my students, not fearing any future reprimand from admimistration because I had no other choice but to call on my God and Savior, my sustainer of life. And then, it did all seem to stop for the time being. I believe it took my students a few minutes to realize what they had just seen was very real and not just a scene from a movie. Then they became intensely curious about the number of people who had been in the buildings. We speculated a little, and then I felt compelled to tell them that their lives were going to change from this moment forward. I told them I didn't know how or when, but life would not be the same anymore. They had witnessed an historic event that they would remember for a lifetime. In that moment, we became part of each other's lives forever. I knew that for the rest of their lives whenever they looked back on this fateful day, they would remember where they were and what they were doing and who they were with, as would I. We were bonded in that moment. We saw, we were afraid, and we wept together in that moment. When Christmas came, I wrote each of them a letter encouraging them to hug someone and let the people they love know how much they were loved and appreciated because we all have been reminded that we are not promised tomorrow. You may never get another chance to say the things you really need to let others know. Thank you for giving Americans the chance to remember this day in a unique way. I do hope they decide to call this "Patriot Day" for all those patriots who died that day, as well as for all those who helped total strangers to safety. They are truly patriots. It makes me proud to be an American. May God bless us all and may God bless America.