story5279.xml

story5279.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

On the morning of September 11,2001, I was dropping my kids off at school when the school secretary told everyone in the office that a plane hit the twin towers. I thought surely it was a horrible accident. I was saddened for a few minutes thinking to myself that several people must be hurt...or possibly dead. I got in my car and went back home. My raidio was not on , so I heard nothing else about it until a friend of mine called and said "are you watching this?". I didn't know what he meant. He told me the channel to turn to (which at the time was just about any one on the air)and he began to tell me the story when the second plane hit. I said "WOW, what movie is this? What great special effects!!!" He yelled at me "This is real!!!" I could not believe what I was seeing. Then the report of the Pentagon being hit came over the news.I didn't know how to feel. I felt so guilty over the next few days because I just wasn't as emotional about it as the rest of the country seemed to be. Living in Houston and watching this happen in New York on television really made it seem like another country or like it just wasn't real. A few weeks later I started seeing people on T.V. talking about people they lost, showing pictures of firefighters, husbands and wives, police officers and so many other innocent people that lost their lives. The feeling of unity among people I had never met before but walked past every day ,was overwhelming. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason, no matter how terrible they seem at the time, we have to look for the greater message. This country showed the whole world what it takes to exist in a country full of diversity. We rush around living our lives everyday without looking up to see what is right in front of us...WoW!!What a wake up call!! Look at all the good people around us!!!We have learned a huge lesson!! I will never take any person or opportunity for granted again!! What if it's gone tommorrow?

Krystyl Fruge'