story11356.xml

story11356.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-03-29

It was my freshman year, I remember waking up extra early that morning to finish wrapping my friends birthday present, she was turning 16 that day. I had a DVD playing in the background when my mom woke up and told me to turn on the news. I didn't understand why they kept showing the same footage on every station. The situation didn't make sense to me until my first period that day at school. Walking into the building, it was like one of those silent films from the old days. It didn't belong in a high school. Then we had the morning anouncements on the TV in my math class. a group of friends and I sat watching as they explained what they could. Then it hit me, the video footage I was seeing, was the last seconds of hundreds of lives. There's just, so much that I can't describe, it's a feeling that you always remember. I think it was my generation JFK, or Marting Luther King Junior moment. But the silence was occasionally broken by sobs from my friend who had a sibling that he couldn't get a hold of. I remember in one class some kid was joking around about it. The teacher didn't say a thing when someone punched him. It's a horrible experience watching the videos, and hearing the silence broken only by anguished cries of those who are losing loved ones. I think part of humanity died that day. It had to have, for something like that to happen.