story5695.xml

story5695.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

September 11th didn't seem real at first. My alarm clock was set on the radio so the first thing I heard was "ladies and gentelmen, this is a terrible, terrible day." This seemed humorous to me, since I was not ready to wake up and go through the normal routine to get to jr. high school. I acutally laughed. I was so drowsy that I thought the news report was that a two person plane had crashed into a hill. I had woken up to a terrible, terrible day. I pressed the snooze bar on my clock.
Ten minutes later I was downstairs trying to find my backpack in the living room. My older brother was sitting on the coffee table staring at a smoking building on the T.V. screen. My father was buttoning his shirt and staring at the T.V. too. He said "the world trade tower was hit by a plane." It was such a simple statment. My first thoughts were: where is the tower? how could a plane have had such bad aim? how did it hit? As the news played and replayed the images of a plane flying straight into a tower I realized it was a commercial plane. Like the ones at the airport.
At that moment I thought " At least it is too early for anyone to be at work! It was only seven a.m. after all. But wait... my mind froze. There was a time change from here to New York. It must be about three hours. That would make it about ten in New York. Ten was way past the start of the work day. Suddenly it hit me, there were people in the tower! Someone might have died this very second! And another! And another! Every muscle in my body seiezed up, like the time I touched a electric fence at horse camp a few weeks before. Oh, this wasn't funny at all anymore. The news man on the radio had been serious. I had laughed that moment while someone in the tower might have died. I had to keep moving though. I was running late.
As I ran back up to my room, I grabbed the telephone. It was early, but I knew my friend would be up. She answered the phone.
"Have you heard what happened? Oh, it's Meghan."
"uhhhh... Meghan? What are you talking about?"
"Just turn on the t.v., any news channel."
"okay..."
"bye, see you later."

I had to tell someone. She was coming to pick me up later anyway since we carpooled together. When she knocked at my door, she said "I saw what happened! can you believe it? there where people in there!" She had come to the same conclusion as me. Shock. Though that school day, rumors flew as other kids heard bits of news.
Thousands of people worked in the tower. Another one had been hit! Was not an accident? A plane hit the Pentogon! The towers collasped! Another plane crashed in Pennslyvaina! All the teachers had watched the news on a television in the librey. Every computer was focused on CNN News website. Though out the day, I felt helpless. I couldn't tell what was true and what was a rumor. When my social studies teacher told us in 6th period that yes, the towers had collasped I wasn't sure what that meant. I thought that a few floors had collasped. Not true. None of the rumors or facts regersered until I saw the T.V. again after school. I really wanted to see what had really happened to make the teachers's eyes look red and puffy. Why was my older brother's school canceled? What had caused one girl's mom to come home early from work and give her a ride home from the bus stop? She was worryed about leaving her daughter at home alone until nine, she said. When you are so far away from the tragety, the t.v. answers all your questions all too well.
Evern though we weren't allowed to, my friend who carpooled with me and I ran downstairs as so as we got to my house. Oh yes, this was real. A picture is worth a thousand words. Business men and women coated in dusty suits running down a street as a cloud of the world trade center chased them. Some had blood gushing down their white faces. A cloud of smoke covering Manhatten. Fire fighters blocking people from running toward the towers to save loved ones. Footage of bodies falling from windows. The thuds as they hit the concrete. It was as the whole world came crashing down with the toweres. The world had become a Hollywood set. But it was real. Thousands had died. My mom came down and turned off the t.v. and my friend left. Slowly a year passed. September 11th never ended though. It was relieved today. I got over the shock. Life went back to normal at school. But things like flags on cars, Proud to be an american signs, and being pulled out of line in the airport and having my bag sifted though remind me. It seems like an invasinon of privacy to be swatted down and asked to remove my Roxy sandels at PDX. It is strange to see the whole school wearing red white and blue on the first anniversary, today. I can't help thinking that someday this will seem like Pearl Harbor to children in 20 years. Just another holiday. No real meaning to those who where born after it. Whether 9-11 is made a holiday or not, people will still remember where they where when they heard or experenced the day that changed American's perception of the world we live in. How lucky we are to live in this country! I will always remember that and September 11th.