nmah4242.xml

nmah4242.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was in high school when the attack first occurred. It was about 10:30 in the morning and my friends and I were eating lunch. The TV's were turned on but there was no sound, and we couldn't get close enough to read the captions. I saw smoke coming out of a building and assumed a bomb had gone off. Lunch was pretty normal - sure, we were worried, but we didn't know what had happened.

Once I got to my next period, which happened to be history, my teacher explained everything to us. Our class went to the library and watched CNN. We did the same thing in all of my other classes but math. I remember how none of us could concentrate, but our teacher insisted that we work. I have no idea what we learned in class that day.

When I went home, my mom was there and we both started to cry. The news was on, and I was eager to see how many people had been rescued. Unfortunately, it wasn't any. I remember that almost every channel, with the exception of a few kids' networks, had live coverage of the horrendous events. My family watched the news together until it became too much and we just had to turn the tv off.

The day after was when you began to here the personal connection stories. My neighbor had an uncle who was a missing NY firefighter (luckily, he phoned home 2 days later). One of my classmate's mother and stepfather had survived the pentagon attack even though their desks were less than 50 feet from the collision. Everyone had a story to tell, and that's pretty much all anyone talked about all day long.

Throughout the year after, I began to watch the news more and pay attention to the War on Terror. I've become much more interested in current events relating to the US.

Everyone's life has changed one way or another. I'm much more patriotic than I used to be. When I say the Pledge of Allegiance now, I actually mean the words I'm saying. Not that I didn't before, but it seemed more like a chore or something you had to do.

I have a fear of more terror attacks, like many other people. At first, I refused to fly. I was too frightened. I even didn't go on vacation with my parents because of it. But I realized that by doing that, I was letting the terrorists win.

I appreciate how great my life is, and I have a greater respect for those in public service.

9/11 was the day that America was unfairly attacked. Innocent lives were lost. But it was also the day when we became a more unified nation. Freedom and liberty and rights have so much more meaning now.

Every rescue worker and vollunteer's courage should be remembered. Everyone who gave blood, ran a fundraiser, donated money, and helped in so many other ways should be remembered.