story10352.xml

story10352.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-19

The memory of where I was is still very fresh in my mind. September 11, 2001 was exactly 11 days before my 13th birthday, and the day of my friend Kelly's birthday. I was not in a very excited mood to be heading off to my school. But in the last 10 mins of my global class the loud speaker came on. My principal at the time informed everyone in the school that two commercial airlines had hit the world trade center. I couldn't comprehend anything. It was wayy to much of a shock. As the day went by kids were being signed out and teachers were sending us down to guidance couselors. On my bus ride home I thought about what was going on and if people were ok. I didnt even bother to go to my house. I went to my neighbors and watched what had gone down all day. I was in such amazement that anything like this could be happening. I became so scared as I relalized that soo many people were down there. My father went down as a doctor to help. My mother was on call in her hospital waiting to see if they needed her to go down. My uncle a firefighter in rescue 2 was down there. I just knew he was. I was frightened that I would lose family. My father went missing for 2 days, my uncle for 10. He was found on my birthday, dead on floor 136 by the elevator. The whole idea hadn't hit me until six months after and still haunts me today. I can't imagine what people went through who workd in the world trade center, nor those who were on the planes that day. To have to call loved ones and tell them your not coming home to them. This world is ugly, but with the small help we give one another, everything can be rebuilt. One of my favorite quotes someone gave me is "What we do doesnt define who we are. What defines who we are is how well we rise after falling" Our nation did this for a short time. But we rose together and we need to continue that process everyday.