story11750.xml

story11750.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-08-22

I was 18, and in my first year of college. I woke up that morning to get ready for class and flipped on the television. I must have tuned in right before the first plane struck, as Jerry Springer was replaced with a smoking building about ten minutes or so into the show.

At first, the reporters seemed vauge and confused. They speculated about a plane that went "off track". I sat there wondering how in the hell a plane could go so "off track" it ended up inside the World Trade Center. Moments later, the second plane struck. And then, the Pentagon.

I watched as the buildings smoked. The reporters voices seemed more urgent, more panicked. Sirens punctuated the pauses in the reporters commentary.

When the first tower came down, I began to weep uncontrollably. All I could think of was how many people were still in that smoke-filled building trying to get out. The original estimates of the dead were mind boggeling.

A bomb threat got called into my school, so classes were canceled. Leave it to some bored college student to take advantage of such a chaotic day. It seemed like everyone was out driving, most likely to pick up their kids or to return home to their families. The roadways were packed...I looked into the car next to me and an older couple was silently sobbing behind their thinly tinted windows. To the other side of me, a young man was crying into his hands.

I think I realized that day my adult life was going to be changed forever by this one day in history. And now, four years later, I remember the emotions of that day and still have faith in our President's efforts to combat terrorism.