story4168.xml

story4168.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

On the morning September 11, 2001,I was sitting in my math classroom, oblivious to anything concerning the outside world. I sat in my desk, half paying attention, half coloring on my notebook. I was wearing an American flag shirt that day, as coincidental as that may seem, and I remember waking up and questioning whether or not to wear it, as it was a little "bold" to say the least. When I got out of my zero hour class, I was walking down the hallway when my friend Stacy ran up to me to tell me the news. She said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I had no idea how bad the situation was, in my naive mind, I thought it was a small private plane that had barely hit the top of the building...no big deal. An announcement came over the loud speaker telling the teachers not to turn on the TV's, but just to go on with what they had planned for the day. My spanish teacher kept us all on task, but none of us could really concentrate. We had no idea what was going on, and our imaginations were running wild. When I arrived at my second period class, my history teacher had the TV on MSNBC so that we could watch. I remember gasping in horror as I walked into the room and saw the images for the first time. I had no idea it could ever be that bad. The entire class sat in silence and just watched.
Looking back a year later, I realize how much this country has changed. Before September 11, 2001, many of us were worried about the trivial aspects of life, like our bank accounts or our social status. After that day, America was different. We were no longer obsessed with the trivial, but focused on the important. People turned to their faith. There were no enemies, only friends. A year later, this country is still a changed one, and I can only hope that we will be permanently affected and never forget how we felt on that day in September.