nmah4746.xml

nmah4746.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I live in the West, so most of the events happened before I was awake, or at least before I bothered to turn on the radio. I learned a few details on the radio on the way to work, although I didn't grasp the horror of what was happeneing. At first, I felt the same way I feel when I hear about a train wreck or a bridge collapsing. I was sad, but I was so far removed from it all. But, once I got to work and saw the footage of the airplanes crashing into the towers, I realized this wasn't just another disaster. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. The image of the plane exploding on impact with the WTC is something I will have seared on my heart for the rest of my life. I called my husband from work. he had no idea about what was going on because he was getting my son up and dressed for the day. I am a high school teacher, and I also informed many of my students, especially those I had in my morning classes. I had trouble trying to communicate the horror of it all.

I wouldn't say my life has changed much. I still work at the same job, and no one I knew was killed in the attacks. But, my idea of the world and my place in it is changed. The world is bigger and scarier than I could have imagined. I live near an airport, so I see a lot of low-flying planes about to land. Each time I look up and think, "Isn't that plane flying too low?"

It's still too early to judge. Is this the only terrorist act we will have for 50 years? Or, is it the first in a string? Since we have footage of the plane crashing into the tower, and security pictures of the plane crasing into the Pentagon, no doubt the Social Studies textbooks 100 years from now will have those images in them. But, I also hope the bravery and the patriotism will be remembered.

I did not have a flag to fly, and I couldn't find one in any store around here. They were all sold-out. So the local grocery store chain printed the flag on large posters and gave them out to customers. Almost everybody around here still has one of those, albeit faded, in the window.