nmah5274.xml

nmah5274.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-11-06

I was actually an intern at the Smithsonian when Sept. 11 happened, at the National Museum of American History. A student at Cornell University, I was in DC for the Cornell-in-Washington semester-long program. It was my 4th day at work. It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. I woke up at 8am and my roommates had left Today on the TV when they left for their internships. I got ready and just a few minutes before I walked out the door, I heard about the first crash. I thought nothing of it. Just some idiot who nicked the building. I went to work and met the other intern in the department for the first time, Kristine. We waited for our supervisor, Bill, and when he arrived, we went into his office because he wanted to call his wife for updates. She informed him of the Pentagon crash and we went to a corner office on our floor to see a huge mass of black smoke filling the sky. Later that night, when I found out that the Pentagon was actually 3 miles away, I couldn't believe it. All that smoke made it look so much closer. I was confused and scared and didn't know what to do. Fortunately, one of the women in the department, Shelley, suggested that I go home and, being a Cornell alum, she walked me back to the Cornell building in Dupont Circle. I felt safer once I got home but still I was scared. I grew up in New York City and my family was still there. It was very difficult, but I managed to get in contact with them. It was the first time I can ever remember hearing my mother cry. My best friend's uncle is a New York City fireman. I had met him a few summers before and I remember him saying how much he loved his job. A few days later, she told me about how much he hated having to go back to Ground Zero day after day and search for dead bodies. I walked around in a daze for the next few days. The reality of the tragedy hit me when I found out that another friend's uncle, also a New York City fireman, had been on the 34th floor when the building came down. They found his body 2 days later.

I'm a lot more aware and cautious of what goes on around me. The aura and false sense of security is broken. We can no longer fool ourselves into thinking that everyone loves America. Maybe this country should rethink the way it gets involved in other nations' affairs and Americans should stop being ethnocentric and be more accepting of other cultures and beliefs.

It should be remembered as a day that brought us all together. Despite the tragedy, it united Americans from coast to coast and served as a wake up call that we should all be more careful and open-minded.

For me, the American flag always has and always will symbolize everything that is this country, from the triumphs and great innovations to mistakes and great flaws.