story9563.xml
Title
story9563.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-09-10
911DA Story: Story
I remember, I was in my Senior Philosophy class, with Mr. Graney. An interesting place to be when a disaster strikes close to where you live...
It actually started the day before the attack. I can't remember what the topic was, but I distinctly remember Mr. Graney saying something about, "How weird would it be, if someone just destroyed something familiar? Something in this area...like the Washington Monument? Or Lady Liberty?" It was just something he had asked to make us think....we never knew something like that would really happen.
At the beginning of third period on Sepetmber eleventh, Mr. Graney was about to put in "The Devil's Advocate" so he could explain something or other about morals and temptation and whether or not it was right or wrong. Once he turned on the TV, we heard Bryant Gumble announce that the first plane had hit the first tower in New York. Apparently he hadn't noticed, because we had to yell at Mr. Graney not to put in the tape, because this was definitely very big news.
Once we had gotten the gist of what had happened, Mr. Graney went out across the hall to tell the other teachers in the area to turn on their TVs. We flipped the channel to several different news stations and settled on CNN, as all of the stations were covering the same thing. We heard the opinions of a few startled callers who had either witnessed the impact or had heard rumours of other targets.
While Mr. Graney was still out, my entire class watched as the second plane hit the second tower. We started yelling for Mr. Graney to come back in and we explained what had happened.
One of the security personell came up to talk with Mr. Graney. While the teacher was otherwise occupied, the rest of us started talking about how this may not really have been happening, that it may have just been a conspiracy. It was Philosophy class, so what are you gonna do?
So, Mr. Coles, the security person wanted to talk to the class about the incident. We turned the TV off in order to listen to him. He had worked for the government at one time, and apparently this was affecting him strongly. He began to talk about some of his work, when all of a sudden this girl in the hall started screaming, "They got the pentagon! Oh my God they're coming for us! My Daddy!"
We discovered that her father worked in the pentagon, and that another plane had actually struck it recently. So we turned the TV back on immediately.
It just seemed so unreal. This couldn't have been happening to us...
Class ended, and I went to lunch. There were rumours that another plane had hit a mall in LA, but those were untrue. I had also heard about the third plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, but I wasn't sure if I should believe that one either. I also noticed that some girl had brought a kitten to school, and it had a blue tuft of hair on its head. I just...walked, sort of in a daze. I ate my lunch, and watched as the towers collapsed on TV. I started to lose interest.
I was sad, because many people had died, and more people had lost their jobs because the buildings had been ruined. I was sad, because firemen and policemen and other had lost their lives to rescue any survivors from ground zero. I was sad, because I am aenemic and therefore cannot donate blood. I was sad, because I had no money to donate to the cause.
In the weeks that followed, I became angry with the people I knew. Many were becoming patriotic, and blaming the Taliban for their smallest problems. Such as, our coffee machine wasn't working, so my mother started ranting and raving about how the Taliban had infiltrated our coffee maker and did it just to get to her. She would talk to my aunt and ask if she was wearing her red white and blue. I am now sick of those colours...
I'm glad that the level of the attitude of the American people has gone down. I'm glad that I don't see or hear the words "Nine-Eleven" wherever I go. I'm glad that I don't have to listen to anymore strange theories about why we were hit, and whether or not World War Three had started.
I think it was a tragedy, but I also think that we've mourned long enough. Yes, we should remember it, but we needn't dwell on it forever.
It actually started the day before the attack. I can't remember what the topic was, but I distinctly remember Mr. Graney saying something about, "How weird would it be, if someone just destroyed something familiar? Something in this area...like the Washington Monument? Or Lady Liberty?" It was just something he had asked to make us think....we never knew something like that would really happen.
At the beginning of third period on Sepetmber eleventh, Mr. Graney was about to put in "The Devil's Advocate" so he could explain something or other about morals and temptation and whether or not it was right or wrong. Once he turned on the TV, we heard Bryant Gumble announce that the first plane had hit the first tower in New York. Apparently he hadn't noticed, because we had to yell at Mr. Graney not to put in the tape, because this was definitely very big news.
Once we had gotten the gist of what had happened, Mr. Graney went out across the hall to tell the other teachers in the area to turn on their TVs. We flipped the channel to several different news stations and settled on CNN, as all of the stations were covering the same thing. We heard the opinions of a few startled callers who had either witnessed the impact or had heard rumours of other targets.
While Mr. Graney was still out, my entire class watched as the second plane hit the second tower. We started yelling for Mr. Graney to come back in and we explained what had happened.
One of the security personell came up to talk with Mr. Graney. While the teacher was otherwise occupied, the rest of us started talking about how this may not really have been happening, that it may have just been a conspiracy. It was Philosophy class, so what are you gonna do?
So, Mr. Coles, the security person wanted to talk to the class about the incident. We turned the TV off in order to listen to him. He had worked for the government at one time, and apparently this was affecting him strongly. He began to talk about some of his work, when all of a sudden this girl in the hall started screaming, "They got the pentagon! Oh my God they're coming for us! My Daddy!"
We discovered that her father worked in the pentagon, and that another plane had actually struck it recently. So we turned the TV back on immediately.
It just seemed so unreal. This couldn't have been happening to us...
Class ended, and I went to lunch. There were rumours that another plane had hit a mall in LA, but those were untrue. I had also heard about the third plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, but I wasn't sure if I should believe that one either. I also noticed that some girl had brought a kitten to school, and it had a blue tuft of hair on its head. I just...walked, sort of in a daze. I ate my lunch, and watched as the towers collapsed on TV. I started to lose interest.
I was sad, because many people had died, and more people had lost their jobs because the buildings had been ruined. I was sad, because firemen and policemen and other had lost their lives to rescue any survivors from ground zero. I was sad, because I am aenemic and therefore cannot donate blood. I was sad, because I had no money to donate to the cause.
In the weeks that followed, I became angry with the people I knew. Many were becoming patriotic, and blaming the Taliban for their smallest problems. Such as, our coffee machine wasn't working, so my mother started ranting and raving about how the Taliban had infiltrated our coffee maker and did it just to get to her. She would talk to my aunt and ask if she was wearing her red white and blue. I am now sick of those colours...
I'm glad that the level of the attitude of the American people has gone down. I'm glad that I don't see or hear the words "Nine-Eleven" wherever I go. I'm glad that I don't have to listen to anymore strange theories about why we were hit, and whether or not World War Three had started.
I think it was a tragedy, but I also think that we've mourned long enough. Yes, we should remember it, but we needn't dwell on it forever.
Collection
Citation
“story9563.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/4228.