story3717.xml

story3717.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

The day starting out to be like any other, I was sitting in my 2nd period World Cultures class. We were given a test that day, and we started to work on it. Soon, a teacher came running into my class, and whispered to my teacher to turn on the TV. As soon as she turned it on, the first thing I saw was one of the towers engulfed with flames and smoke. I didn't really know what to think. As we watched in silence, not really knowing what to do or say, my teacher had tears streaming down her face. I read all the captions desperately trying to figure out what was going on. Soon after the TV was turned on, we watched in amazement as the second plane hit into the other tower. I was stunned, I had never seen something like that take place live. We spent the rest of our class talking about what was happening, but for the most part we sat in silence as we watched all this madness take place. Throughout the day, the teachers kept the TVs on so we could see what was happening, but still went on with the regular lesson plan. I couldn't really concentrate on Trigonometry when the financial capital of the world was falling apart.
I got a call later on in the day around 1:00 saying that I needed to go pick up my brother from school, and come home. As soon as I got out to my car, I called my mom, not really knowing what to think. As the phone rang, I kept thinking about what had happened that I needed to go home. When she answered she said, "We can't find Uncle Lewis and Big Lou, you need to come home, in case we need to go to New Jersey." I was shocked, I had totally forgot that my uncle and his father had worked at the World Trade Center. I was at a loss of words and I just told my mom that I'd be home as soon as possible. When I got home my mom was on the phone with my aunt. I soon found out that my uncle's father was running late to work and was just gotten off the subway when the first plane hit. As for my uncle, he was working in his other office across town, so thankfully he was safe. I didn't find out all the details about my uncle's father except that he was in the hospital but in critical condition.
When I found out about this tragedy I didn't know how to feel. But when I realized that my family could've been victims in this, in hit pretty close to home. My first emotion was, worry. Next came, anger. How could something like this happen in this day and age? I'm upset about how any human being could have the courage to try and destroy a nation. Us as a nation seemed to fall apart, but we realized that we need to keep our heads up and fight for freedom and justice. I'm saddened at the fact that thousands of people lost their lives, many innocent people doing their job, whether it is a fireman or policemen, or those people at the office for the day. I can't help but feel anger towards everyone in Afghanistan but then when I realized that they were fighting just to stay alive, I knew it wasn't their fault. I'm proud of our country in fighting for freedom, and keeping our heads up. I know that we can get through this terrible time and fight for what's right.