story20380.xml

story20380.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2006-09-10

2001, i was 16 years old, a sophomore in high school. still a child, but maturing into an adult.........

i remember waking up on 9-11, to see my cousin in my living room watching tv. this is appox. 530 am PST. seeing the twin towers on fire, i thought this was some kinda movie or something on the sci-fi channel. being scared i asked, "hey whatcha watching?" he said someone flew the plane into the towers. stunned, i got dressed for school which starts at 815. so i had less than 3 hours to go. i got dressed as fast as i could, and sat with him. we talked and talked about it, who did this? why did they do it? was it an accident? then we watched in horror as the second plane went into the other tower. news breaks flashing in and out with the other planes and their crashes. shocked, we go to school and find everyone there talking about it, crying, huddling up. being a peer counselor, i had so many referrals that day. i was scared so i couldn't help my classmates, when i needed help myself.
was this what my grandparents felt when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor? My parents when Kennedy was shot? my older cousins when Challenger exploded? after a rough day at school, we had our Boy Scout Meeting.
Me, being the Senior Patrol Leader (Head Scout) i had to explain to 10 younger Scouts what happened and help them cope with what had happened. that weekend was our yard sale, so we made a flagpole, raised the flag to full mast, said the plegde of alleigence, then lowered the flag to half mast while Taps played on a CD player. we then observed a moment of silence for all that were lost, and prayed for the people who were trapped in the debris.
looking back 5 years later, i see how precious life is and how sudden it can change. its still makes me scared and i get goosebumps when i see the video of the planes hitting, or the towers crumbling. i get teary-eyed when i see the Pentagon smoking and people running everywhere. what calms my fears and makes me proud is Flight 93. how such couragous people, sensing something was wrong, decided to risk their lives so many more could live. what if it hit the Capitol? our lawmakers wouldn't be here. and if it had struck the White House, what would the US response be?
we can infer many things from 9-11. it will always always be a sad day, but amidst all the tears and cries, average joes and janes became heroes. we all reached out, regardless of race, sex or religious beliefs, and said "my fellow american, feel free to cry on my shoulder, everything will be ok"