story5076.xml

story5076.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was driving in my car across town to a tech-school I was attending at the time. I had the radio on and there came an interuption from the radio broadcast. He said a plane has crashed into The World Trade Center. When I first heard that an airplane crashed into the twin towers I first thought, "How could a pilot hit them? They're so huge!" It didn't quite sink in yet on how much damage a plane could do to them.
I arrived to my class to find that my small class had heard the news also. We were talking and exchanging what little information we knew at the time. Our substiture for the day came in and rushed to find a working TV. We struggled to get an outside wire and turned it on two minutes before the 2nd plane crashed. When I saw the 1st tower on TV with the smoke coming out of it I thought, "This can't be real. It has to be fake." I chose not to believe it until two minutes later I saw another plane crash into the 2nd tower LIVE. I could feel the panic in my class mates as we all wondered, "What's going on?" It sank in fast how very real this was and that is was no accident. We stared in awe as we watched New York panic and run in horror. The only things that managed to come out of our mouths for the following minutes were words like, "Oh my gosh", "Oh no," and "What's going on?"
We were mesmerized by the attack and didn't know what else to do but watch in devistation. The towers collapsed and we lost our emotion. We couldn't take in what was happening because it was all so horrible so fast without any explanation.
We were ordered to continue our day and go to our individual high schools. I remember that I didn't return to my school that day. I felt vulnerable and unsafe. I drove around that day listening to the radio and hearing about the other 2 planes. I still couldn't believe that this was happening. I read and hear stories like this in history books by I never expected to be experiencing. All day I kept thinking, "What's next?" and "Is it going to end?"
Airlines were ordered to land the planes which caused an erie silence and suspence in the sky.
I didn't feel comfort until weeks after the attacks. Even though I didn't know anyone directly or personally involved in the tragedy, I still mourn for the loss of others and my own loss of my feeling protected in the U.S. My security and my rights were taken away on Sept. 11, and I was vialated in everything my country fought so hard for before.
Reliving another Sept. 11, day has brought up old feelings of helplessness and some anxiety. I don't think another year in my life will go by where I don't question if it will happen again and if this time it'll be worse.
I often think of how lucky I am to have not known someone involved but at the same time I feel guilty for the same reason. I can only pray that I will never know what it feels like to lose someone to such a tragedy.