story246.xml

story246.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-03-13

Well, September 11th 2001. I was in Lubbock, TX, attending Texas Tech University. It was the first semester of my senior year, and like the rest of the world my mind was occupied with a million other concerns that now all seem trivial compared to what happened that day. I had gone to bed the night before thinking about my senior seminar paper for my BA in history, what I wanted to do with my life, and about a girl I was in love with. I woke up the next morning went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and visit Cathy at the front desk (I lived and worked in a dorm), as I usually would. The person with the shift before Cathy was at the desk at the time. He told me what had happened, and at first I followed my learned inclination to disregard any information from that desk as unreliable gossip. But news like that! Oh my god! Why would anyone fabricate something like that? I got my coffee and immedately went upstairs to turn on the news. On the television, I saw the burning world trade center and the partially-obliterated Pentagon. The sight of such longstanding symbols of American pride and ingenuity sent a myriad of thoughts running through my mind. What was happening? Why? Was it safe to step out the front door to go to class that morning? Where was my family? Did they know what happened? Were they safe? What about my friends? How were they? After gathering myself together, I decided the best thing o do was to continue my day and watch as much of the news as possible. By doing that I could at least be near other people adn talk with them about what was going on and see how they were responding. I arrived in Dr. Mosher's New Nations in Latin America to find similar worries and response voiced by my classmates, and Dr. Mosher decided to cancel class after we convinced him that the best place to be was in front of the television watching the news. The rest of the day, I saw faces all over campus in shock, mouths wide open, eyes glued to any and every television available. I remeber hearing that gas prices were shooting up and seeing the lines at the gas stations. I remember a police officer getting out of his car to come in tell me I could not sit where I was sitting in the street due to the rush at the gas stations. He tried to display authoritarian anger towrds me as I spoke, but I saw the fear and worry in his face that was common to the rest of us. That day was a horrible day, and the fear of it still resonates in my mind at times. I know it will for many others too. It's a day I'll never forget, and one that will promt thought for me about many issues.