story10392.xml

story10392.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-28

I still remember this day, junior year of high school. I was on my way over to my academy class in Chantilly. I remember hearing someone tell me ?A plane just hit the World Trade Center!? I didn?t know what to think at the time. Was it a joke? Did it really happen? Who did this? How much damage was done? Were people injured? Killed? I didn?t really have enough information. When I arrived at my class the television was already on and several students already watching. There were scenes of smoke and many other things. The World Trade Center was hit, then the Pentagon was hit, then the World Trade Center was hit again, all in what seemed like a very short period of time. That hour and a half went quickly and I was on my way back to Westfield High School. I had English next, with Mr. Butterfield. He told us ?A lot of what you see today is unedited and you will most likely not see again.? He was right. Several of the students remember seeing footage of people jumping out of the buildings trying to get to safety, it was disturbing to see. To be honest, I don?t remember what happened next period. I do remember the widespread feeling of anxiety and depression; it was all a little overwhelming. There were news stories on all day, on every channel, endless coverage of the event, seeing the same few seconds of footage over and over again. Remembering the feeling when the buildings eventually imploded. The day didn?t seem to end, nor did the widespread anxiety or depression. That is my memory of 9-11.

Arti.