nmah4831.xml

nmah4831.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

When I first heard about the terrorist strike of September 11,2001, I was in my fourth period Algebra 1 class. We took our test as scheduled, and then once the last person had turned theirs in, my teacher broke the news to us. I first thought,"That's horrible, how could anybody do sucha thing." But the information my teacher had given us was old, and then my principal came over the PA and gave us the real news. I remember I looked at the clock when he came on, it was 10:47, I had found out what happened after both towers had collapsed. The really sad thindg was that I wasn't sure what the World Trade Center was. I had heard of the Twin Towers before, but I didn't have a clear picture in my mind of what they were.
One of my most vivid memories was how bad I was trembling. I would shiver, but I wasn't cold. My teeth would chatter uncontrolably and I couln't believe the number of presumed dead I was hearing.
That night, I remember the silence. Things were so quiet, so different, so somber.

I think that the only part of my life that has really changed since then is the way I look at people and the way I feel about my country. Sometimes when I look at people, I wonder how 9/11 effected them. I wonder if they lost somebody or if it is just a day to grieve for them. When I went to NYC this summer, it seemed that every person I saw on the streets I found myself wondering if they lost somebody in the attacks, if they had once worked there, or if they were just some ordinary person who had watched the towers fall from their office bulding.
Since September 11 I have had a lot more faith and honor in my counrty. I have never in my life felt more proud to be an American.

I think that September 11 should always be a day of rememberance for the people that died. I think that on this day every year we should remember the fire fighters, the police officers, the port autority, the people, the military, the families, and the nation. I think we should remember the people that died, not the horrible way that they died. When documentaries and rememberance stories come on, I don't think they should fill the screens with the towers falling over and over, but show the families, the surrviors, and run memoirs of those who died.

Yes, the American flag flew outside my house almost everyday since September 11. Since that day my whole perception of the flag has changed. I always knew that our flag stood for freedom and that it was important, but the freedom achieved belonged to stories in history books, and my parent and grandparent's generation. I had never in my life seen out freedom threatened, I had never seen out nation in such disarray and turmoil as I had seen on September 11. When that day happened, when I saw innocent American's die, when I saw hatred of our wonderful country, I knew that our freedom had been invaded. All of a sudden the flag meant more to me. It was asif I knew that it really did stand for freedom. In the months that passed September 11, and I watched on the news our troops defending us and protecting our freedom, that was when I think I realized I knew what freedom meant. The word now actully meant something to my generation, it now a visual, heart breaking meaning, and it was not read in the history books, but was now a present day fight for our American Freedom.