nmah6763.xml

nmah6763.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-09-13

On September 11, 2001, as the first tower was being hit, I was 13 and getting ready for school with no idea what was going on. I did my usual and met up with my friend to walk to school. On the way, she mentioned how her aunt called her to tell her "a plane crashed into some building", but she said it so nonchalantly that I didn't think anything of it. We walked into 7-Eleven and as we were buying stuff, I heard the people on the radio talking about this plane too. After that I figured it was a little more important than my friend was letting on. When I got to school everybody was talking about it and my first period teacher had the news on the television. That was the first time I really understood what was going on. They replayed the footage over and over and by the time I saw it, both planes had crashed into the towers. I was still confused but a little more aware of the seriousness of the situation. As the day went by, all my teachers spoke about it but did not show the news because our principal ordered them not to. She assumed we were too young to see what was going on and didn't want to worry us. That was the dumbest thing I had heard. Sooner or later we were going to see what happened. It was possibly the biggest thing that was going to happen to our country in all our lives. When I got home, I ran upstairs and watched the news all night long. Even though I was an ocean away, it hit me hard. Seeing the tapes and the second plane hitting was astonishing. All the innocent people being killed and in danger because of some crazy fanatics was unbelieveable. After seeing the planes crash into the towers and then hearing about the pentagon being hit, I felt like that was the day our country was going to fall down. Like that was the end for all of us. It was as if terrorists were everywhere and crashing planes in every major city they could. Even though New York was on the other side of the country, I didn't feel safe. I worried they would attack California, (Los Angeles) next and that was the end. Before that day, I had the feeling that politics were bigger and able to protect us, as were our parents and teachers. But after the events, I remember having a strong feeling that everybody was in the same boat now. Little children were scared and in confusion and surprised and so were those older, wiser adults I looked up to. I felt so unprotected and like the terrorists had the upper-hand. I remember my science teacher telling us that we will all remember what we were wearing that day the towers and the pentagon were hit, and he's right. Khaki pants and a striped shirt. And I'll never forget.

September 11 changed my life by letting me see, at a very young age, that life is unpredictable. Anything can happen and ruin our lives at anytime so you must live your life as much as you can. It's let me learn to take chances and not be afraid or regret things. Before the horrible day, our country was divided by racism and sexism and many other issues. Even if just for that one year after September 11, America was brought together in hurt, love, pain, and pride. It's sad to see that gone now and we're back to our old ways. But I know my life isn't the same and I will never be the same again.

If one thing is to be remembered by September 11, it's the fact that our lives are short and you can't take it for granted. So many peoples' lives were changed and damaged forever by the events of September 11. You can't regret not telling someone you love them or holding them and spending as much time as you would like with them.

Everybody I knew flew the American flag after the events. You would drive down the street and see tons and tons of flags and fire engines flying them as they drove by. The flag means something different to me now though. It used to symbolize being the best, the country everybody else wanted to be in. But it's not that way now. It stands for victory after tragedy and being united by one common thought, love for one another.