story20423.xml

story20423.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2006-09-11

Four years prior to September 11th, 2001 I had stood at the top of the Twin Towers on a trip to NYC for my eighth birthday. Four years later I watched them tumble to the ground, taking thousands of American lives down with it. I was 12, and in my second week of seventh grade. I was in my gym class talking with some friends when an administrator for my school came on the intercom, her voice shaky and her tone serious. She told us that the World Trade Center had been hit by two airline planes and my hands covered my mouth in shock. The gym exploded in gasps and screams and oh my god. I didnt even hear her continue to say that the Pentagon had been hit as well. I was 12, I didnt even connect that the World Trade Center was the Two Towers. All I knew was that something big had happened, something that would change America forever. The bells rang like normal that day; I went from class to class like normal. I still didnt really understand. Then, I heard that the Pentagon had been hit. The Pentagon I knew. I knew my best friends mom worked at the Pentagon, I knew my dad had been going in to lead a bible study in the Pentagon on Tuesday mornings a few weeks prior, I could see the Pentagon in my mind. Thats when I began to get scared.

I remember walking home that day with my friend Lizzy. We were silent. We didnt know what to say. We didnt know how to comfort each other. We didnt know if we were allowed to be scared. We didnt know that America could be wounded. Our whole lives we had lived under this belief that America was invincible. In one day, in one moment our view had completely changed for the rest of our lives. America was still our home but now it had become more. The pledge wasnt just the pledge. Our flag wasnt just our flag. They were symbols of everything that we held dear. It was the first day I realized everything that I valued in being an American citizen.

I went home, threw my backpack on the ground and watched the news with my mom and my three brothers around a small TV in my living room. My dad, being a Pastor at a local church had been off comforting families and seeing how he could help the congregation. I wanted him there so bad. I wanted him to hug me and tell it was going to be ok and I wanted to feel safe with him.

I couldnt cry though. I watched the news and saw the images but I couldnt cry. I heard the stories I saw the pictures, but I couldnt cry. The next morning school had been cancelled for a day of remembrance and I decided to take a walk outside and process everything that had happened the day before. I walked to the corner of my colt-a-sac and looked down the street. Thats when I stared crying. Someone in the night had gone and tied a red, white and blue ribbon on every tree by the side of the road. It was the greatest image of I have of those days. That picture of patriotism and unification.

We became that class of September 11th. We became grown up on that day.