story11797.xml

story11797.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-09-06

I can remember September 11, 2001 so well. I was a freshman in high school and it was my sixth day of school. That morning, I was sitting in History class, just trying to listen to the teacher when suddenly; another teacher came in the room to tell everyone what had happened. We just heard that there was a plane crash so my teacher was hesitant to stop class and turn on the television. The buzz was heading around school but no one could imagine what was really going on.
My teacher turned on the television after she had finished her lecture and we all watched one of the Twin Towers pour out insane amounts of smoke. We had no idea that it was not an accident. The only thing we could do was watch and hope that everything would be alright. Then the unimaginable happened, a second plane hit. We were all in shock, not knowing what to think. I, being so na?ve, thought that it was just a bad day for flying. We watched diligently as the first tower collapsed. Shortly after, the second one fell too. What a horrific sight. The word that so many people were throwing out was one I didn?t recognize. Terrorist? What was that? And why were so many people scared of it?
I got out of class a hurriedly went to my next class not understanding what was really happening. Word had gotten around quickly, and as I got to my next class, I was told that another plane had hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. I was a nervous wreck because my step dad was at work in Arlington which was close by and I was scared for him. I hoped that he was fine but still had no clue as to why all of this was happening.
We were let out of class early and I noticed my best friend out in the locker commons. She was balling her eyes out so I quickly ran over to her to see what was going on. She told me, between sobs, that her dad had been working at the Pentagon for the day and she and her mother had tried calling him but they both could not reach him. Thank goodness later when she got home, her dad had called her mom back and he was absolutely fine. At the time, I had no idea what was going on, I just knew that things were absolutely not right.
The rest of the day went by pretty slowly as I continued to think about what had gone on in the morning. The teachers kept talking about this tragedy and I felt a little guilty because I was not affected because I had no idea what had gone on and why. So many people were crying and I just seemed to have forgotten about it by the time school was over.
I met my sister, Mary at the car after school. When Mary approached the car, I noticed she had tears in her eyes. When we both got into the car she said ?God, this is so terrible.? I simply asked her, ?Why?? She looked at me like I was some inhumane being, but I just didn?t understand. She would not talk to me for the rest of the day.
When I got home, my mom was there and she reassured me that my step dad was fine and that he was on his way home. We watched the coverage because it was the only thing on, every channel. She cleared about all of my confusing about everything that went on. I was disgusted. Even to this day I have no idea as to why someone would want to purposely hurt thousands of innocent people.