nmah6361.xml

nmah6361.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-11-17

Second MOD (in my case the class was Spanish II) had just begun, and we were starting to work on our verb warm-up, when our teacher was handed a note by a hall monitor. She read it, and immediately her face turned a ghostly white. She told us something awful had happened, but that she wasn't allowed to say anything until our principal made an announcement. Shortly thereafter our principal came on the loudspeaker and announced that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center towers. Initially I thought it had to be some sort of freak accident. It couldn't be terrorism. America had always been safe from things like that. We turned on the radio, and the first thing we heard was that the Pentagon had been hit. It felt like the end of the world. Recognizing the panic that was sweeping over us, our teacher turned the radio off, and forced us to continue taking verb notes.

Finally the MOD ended, and I had to get to the first Student Senate meeting of the school year. Once I got to the auditorium, where the meeting was being held, I heard several of my friends talking about the attacks. Apparently during the MOD, the first World Trade Center tower had collapsed. Our principal came in, and led us through a tender recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, the Student Senate advisor told us to go back to our third MOD class, which in my case, was Government. When I got up to my classroom, I immediately saw footage of the WTC in flames, and then the first tower collapsing. Soon after I arrived, the second tower collapsed. My Government teacher told us that these attacks would likely be the defining moment of our generation, as the assasination of President Kennedy had been for her, and Pearl Harbor had been for our grandparents.

Lunch came, and I couldn't eat a thing. I literally felt like I was going to spew my guts out. My knees were shaking and I was braking out in a cold sweat. I went back to Government class, and we were told to evacuate the building, because there were fears that a plane was heading for Camp David, some 30 miles to the west of us.

When I got home, I realized that since I had left the house, the innocence of my generation had died with the collapse of the World Trade Center.

I've always been apprehensive about flying, and the terror attacks of 9/11 only amplified my fears. Since the attacks, I have flown only twice, to go to and from Wisconsin for my grandmother's funeral, which occurred three months after the attacks.

September 11th should always be known as our nation's greatest tragedy, and our finest hour.