story984.xml

story984.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-07

I was sitting in French class on what seemed to be just an idle Tuesday, staring at the clock on the wall, and pleading for class to end. The irony of that day for me was that morning I had thought to myself how dull Tuesdays usually were. At about 9:30, our principal spoke on the intercom, giving possibly the most vague speech I've ever heard. He required the children of Military personel working at the Pentagon, to come down to the office, because there had been a terrorist attack in Washington and New York. A couple of kids left the class, while the rest of us began to immediately itch to turn on CNN. The teacher, who like most French instuctors had a total stick up her ass, said that she did not want anyone who did not want to see what had happened be forced to watch. After almost a class mutiny, she finally gave in (mostly because she was just as curious) and we were instantly horrified by what we saw. Everyone's eyes were glued to the TV, and after the first tower fell, the teacher, who was infamous for showing no emotion toward the kids, turned off the TV, almost to tears. The rest of the day in each class every television was fixed on the event. Although no one died in the attack, you could see kids running down the halls crying (as they were unable to reach their parent) Our school paper which was being prepared to be printed immediately got the axe, in favor of a whole issue dedicated to the event. The main thing I remember from the whole day though was just how phony everyone was. People who usually show no moral standards went to church and pretended to be in total agony, and every car plastered some stupid bumper sticker or what not a day later. Everyone pretended that this act had somehow changed the morals and brought everyone in the school closer together.Baloney. A month later everything was exactly the same as it always was.