nmah5424.xml

nmah5424.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-02-02

On september 11, I was at school doing a spelling worksheet that our teacher had given us. we worked silentley on our paper for about fifteen minutes until the door that leeds from our classroom to the office opened and the principal stepped in. he said "um", like he does when he wants to get our attention. we all looked up as he began to speak. I will never forget what he said."we have just gotten word that something has happened to the world trade center and the pentagon is under attack". I didn't know what had happened. what stood out with me was that my principal, one of the people you were always taught to trust and believe had just said that the center of the military of the most powerful country in the world was under attack. I turned cold and looked to my teacher who seemed to be in shock. he reached into on of the drawrs of his desk and fumbled for the remote control for the t.v. set up in our room. he turned it on, and it was already on the news from ealier that week. I saw the horror of the smoking tower for the first time. from looking at the news ticker, I had learned that a plane had crashed into it. I thought that it could be an accident or something. by this time I had gathered that the pentagon was not troops rushing in planes bombing ships in the Patomac under attack. we watched all of the media coverage until the moment came when I knew that this was no accident. I saw that second plane hit the side of the other tower and the fire shoot out, I was horrified. most of that day we watched the coverage, and when I got home I emidiatley turned on the t.v. I took out a blank tape and started to record the news for "future reference". The one thing that sticks out in my mind is when later on in the day when I was home, I was watching CNN and dan rather was playing some new tape and the plane hit the building and he was at a loss for words. all he said was"oh".