nmah6645.xml

nmah6645.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-09-09

My parents were out of town and went to a "spontanious" vacation to New York. School was in session so I was sleeping over at a friends house for a week. It was a day that school didn't start until 9:45 so I was hoping to catch up on some sleep. I awoke that day to the news blaring in the other room but muffled from my friends bedroom door. I woke up and I said "what's goin' on?" my friends mom looked at me, her face was red and puffy, she had a crumpled tissue in her hand, and she grimly looked to me and said "a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center".

My jaw dropped, my response was "on purpose?". She said "we don't know yet, but they suspect it's a terrorist attack."

Who could do such a terrible thing? Right then she said "OH MY GOD!". I immediatly asked "what is it?!" and she replied "another plane has crashed into the other tower". This is impossible, I thought. I wasn't even sure what the trade centers were then. I thinking "who would want to crash into some stock place?". You could see people with masks everywhere. Huge clouds of dust surrounded this tragic event. The news showed people jumping off the buildings.

I can remember very vividly that photo that we all know so well of two towers with smoke billowing from their sides.

One thought came into my mind.

"Oh my god, my parents."

My life has changed drastically. I recall seeing lines that went for blocks long of people trying to give their blood. I became a lot more grateful for my parents (they both survived, I got a call during the school day from my mother saying everything was OK). Everyone has been effected by this. They either new someone in the towers, near the towers, or sent off to war. I remember seeing the firefighters try to run in and save more and more people risking their owns lives. I greatly respect those men and women.


There's niceness in everyone, it's just a shame that we have to have something like this happen to discover it.

Everyone needs to know that people in that weren't all just business men and straight forward. Many of them had families. You can sit and watch the documentaries and they have some phone conversations that say how much the families loved each other, and there is a great rage in anyone who has heard that. Who could tear people away from their small children?

Also, I was watching the news some time later, and I remember that there was a Day Care center in the World Trade Centers. The interviewees said that one of them grabbed a shopping cart and was just piling screaming infants and toddlers in there. They told anyone that can walk well enough to run, and don't worry if you fall over because someone will pick them up.

They interviewed a four-year-old. She said "We got to go outside and play. And then there was a big noise, and we heard people yelling and sirens go by and then... we... weren't allowed to play"

My feelings have not changed much about the American flag. It's always seemed to me a sign of great pride and feeling. I had walked down my street that day, and every single house had an American flag from it. I entered my empty house, went to the balcony and proudly put up the flag.