story11215.xml

story11215.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-12-13

The first I heard of the plane crashing was in my Creative Writing class. I walked in and greeted my teacher, who was listening to the radio. She held up a finger as she cocked an ear to try to understand the announcer's voice through the heavy static. I was confused by her strange behavior, but I took my seat anyway. I retrieved my journal from my bookbag to write down some ideas for stories I had. When class began, the teacher went to the front of the classroom, where the chalkboard was. We (the class) became quiet, for we knew something was not right. Our teacher never used the chalkboard during Creative Writing. She said quietly, "A plane has crashed in the Empire State Building." We were a little concerned but we did not understand why all the fuss about it. (Since accidents are the day-to-day events of life.) However, she explained that this was not an accident; this was a terrorist attack. Some radicals had hijacked an airliner and drove it into the building. We were shocked to hear this. America was being attacked? This was the first time we have ever heard of someone attacking us. Then we heard a announcment from the PA that another plane has crashed into the Empire State building; Also that a plane has crashed into the Pentagon. when I heard this, I became terrified. My father works for the government and he often visits the Pentagon to do repairs. I asked the teacher if I could call home to see if my father was fine. I was lucky; my father was not at the Pentagon at the time the plane crashed. However, some of my classmates were not so forunate. It was not long after that I found out that we were being sent home early to be with our families. It scares me to think that it is this easy for the terrorists to be able to hurt us in such a manner. Now everything is much more secured, even the college I attend. I drive onto campus each morning and I see the campus police looking out for us. I watch the news and I see the progress our men over there in Iraq are making. I feel safe now, since we have these hard-working people keeping us safe. Thank you for all the hard work you do. Thank you for risking your lives for us. God bless America.