story11151.xml

story11151.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-11-09

I was on my way to Algebra class when a friend grabbed me in the hall and told me that the Pentagon had been bombed. I shook my head and said "no way, that's a rumour". I really thought that there was no way the Pentagon, of all places, could be attacked.

But when I walked into Algebra, my teacher had the TV on, and I saw the towers billowing smoke and flaming. I was in complete shock. I mean, I'd been raised very well aware of what the real world was like, so I understood the reality of it, but it was still just absolutely horrifying to realize that at the very moment I was sitting there, people were dieing, and had been for two hours(It was 10 AM EDT, 9 AM CST). By that time, I was in tears, holding myself to keep from sobbing.

I remember seeing the TV flash to the Pentagon, and that's when it really hit me, I think, that America really wasn't as safe as we all thought it was.

Then of course, it went back to the towers, and it hit me that I have two very close friends who live near the World Trade Center. My thoughts immediately went to them, praying that they weren't there, and wishing that no one else had been either. Unfortunately, wishes are just that. And thousands of people were there. Thankfully, my friends weren't. They watched the towers collapse from across the street, though.

I began taking notes the rest of the day of news casts and things people said. I guess I wanted to go back and read it later, since it was all so much to absorb at the time. I mean, like every other school in America, we didn't do anything in class that day, we just watched the news. So there was plenty to write down.

Most of us thought we were going to war, or that World War 3 was hitting, or the Apocolypse. Everyone was losing their minds. Out of all of my friends, I was the most calm, and that's saying something. They were all yelling and panicking, and not really thinking about the situation, so much as just letting their worst fears get the better of them. And I did that too, I admit. I was terrified that we'd go to war, or the draft would be re-instated and all of my male friends would have to go to war. It was a terrible day, but I think what helped me keep from totally breaking down was crying. Letting myself mourn for those who'd been lost and those who were losing those they loved helped a lot. While it hurt like hell to think of it, and it still does, if I'd bottled it up, I'd have lost my mind.

Anyone who sees that would lose it. Anyone who saw those towers, heard the stories and the screams, would have lost it. And I don't blame them in the least.

One thing it did, if only for a short time, was bind America together. Every person in America was bound together. Black, White, Democrat, Republican, Gay, Straight, Pagan, Christian, it didn't matter. It didn't matter who you were, you were an American. And for awhile, we actually appreciated the value of eachother. Unfortunately, that dwindled and eventually died out, but there are a few people I know who still are that way because 9-11 changed something in them forever.

I know it did in me. I think that was the day I really grew up and started caring about what was going on around me in a new way. I'd always cared, and always had tried to pay attention, but now I had a reason to. Now it was almost like I felt I owed it to those people to do everything I could to honor them.

Hopefully telling this story, is one more way of honoring them.