story732.xml
Title
story732.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-06-06
911DA Story: Story
Leighton Johnson Global Studies
5/20/02 911
September 11, 2001 was a horrific day. Nothing of this scale has ever happened ever on the United State's soil at least. This experience has changed my view of many things especially airplanes and tall buildings.
When I first heard about what happened, I was in third period, my English class. At about 9:30 AM when I walked into class, my teacher, Mr. Bellonte, had CNN turned on. Even though the plane had crashed a while before, I was at band. None of the televisions in band are ever turned on and we were not notified. It showed on the news one of the twin towers with a whole lot of smoke coming out of it. It was the scariest thing that I had ever seen live on the news. They were saying that many people were still in the building. The worst thing to see was little bodies flying through the air. I don't know what I would do in that situation, but I am pretty sure that I wouldn't commit suicide. They were saying on the news that a plane had crashed into it. I couldn't believe it. Mr. Bellonte turned off the television and said that it was probably just an accident. He said that we could watch what it was all about that night on the news. Then we had class.
Next, I had Earth Science Lab. We did a short lab while we were watching CNN. They were showing a replay of what happened earlier. All of a sudden another plane crashed into the other tower. I couldn't believe my eyes. Later that period, there was news that a plane had also hit the Pentagon. Next period, the first tower collapsed. The planes turned out to be hijacked. That was also the period that a plane had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania. Later we heard that it was on a path directly towards the White House. After that period, we watched the news in all of the following periods.
How could somebody be so evil and kill all of those innocent people? The thought was incomprehensible. There are many terrorists in the United States that are living normal lives and are ready to become a terrorist. They are just waiting for their time. I think it is because the third world countries are just jealous of everything that we have here in the United States. They have nothing and we have everything. That day, all of the sporting practices and events were cancelled. That was very good because nobody would want to play on a day like that. It would not be fun at all when you know that this is the day that the worst terrorist attacks happened on United States soil ever. Although there might be a worse one to come. A worse one probably will not happen because I think the United States will shoot a plane down if there is another chance of a hijacking. The passengers would die anyways. The U.S. would probably agree to shoot it down if they can save the people in the buildings. It is the kind of event that will be put in textbooks for the rest of history and never be forgotten. Children will learn about September 11th just like we learn about Pearl Harbor.
For now on, I will never feel as safe or secure in an airplane or a tall building again. This is same for many people. When I fly on a plane, I will not take a direct flight. The planes that were hijacked were full of gas for a direct flight. There is not much that the United States could have done about it and that makes it even more scary.
5/20/02 911
September 11, 2001 was a horrific day. Nothing of this scale has ever happened ever on the United State's soil at least. This experience has changed my view of many things especially airplanes and tall buildings.
When I first heard about what happened, I was in third period, my English class. At about 9:30 AM when I walked into class, my teacher, Mr. Bellonte, had CNN turned on. Even though the plane had crashed a while before, I was at band. None of the televisions in band are ever turned on and we were not notified. It showed on the news one of the twin towers with a whole lot of smoke coming out of it. It was the scariest thing that I had ever seen live on the news. They were saying that many people were still in the building. The worst thing to see was little bodies flying through the air. I don't know what I would do in that situation, but I am pretty sure that I wouldn't commit suicide. They were saying on the news that a plane had crashed into it. I couldn't believe it. Mr. Bellonte turned off the television and said that it was probably just an accident. He said that we could watch what it was all about that night on the news. Then we had class.
Next, I had Earth Science Lab. We did a short lab while we were watching CNN. They were showing a replay of what happened earlier. All of a sudden another plane crashed into the other tower. I couldn't believe my eyes. Later that period, there was news that a plane had also hit the Pentagon. Next period, the first tower collapsed. The planes turned out to be hijacked. That was also the period that a plane had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania. Later we heard that it was on a path directly towards the White House. After that period, we watched the news in all of the following periods.
How could somebody be so evil and kill all of those innocent people? The thought was incomprehensible. There are many terrorists in the United States that are living normal lives and are ready to become a terrorist. They are just waiting for their time. I think it is because the third world countries are just jealous of everything that we have here in the United States. They have nothing and we have everything. That day, all of the sporting practices and events were cancelled. That was very good because nobody would want to play on a day like that. It would not be fun at all when you know that this is the day that the worst terrorist attacks happened on United States soil ever. Although there might be a worse one to come. A worse one probably will not happen because I think the United States will shoot a plane down if there is another chance of a hijacking. The passengers would die anyways. The U.S. would probably agree to shoot it down if they can save the people in the buildings. It is the kind of event that will be put in textbooks for the rest of history and never be forgotten. Children will learn about September 11th just like we learn about Pearl Harbor.
For now on, I will never feel as safe or secure in an airplane or a tall building again. This is same for many people. When I fly on a plane, I will not take a direct flight. The planes that were hijacked were full of gas for a direct flight. There is not much that the United States could have done about it and that makes it even more scary.
Collection
Citation
“story732.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 19, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15316.