story8601.xml

story8601.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-10-30

I was only eighteen years old and in my very first semester of college when September 11, 2001 occured. I remember sitting in class, wishing I was at home in bed, when a student entered the room, whispered something to the professor and left. My professor then annouced to the class that a plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. My first thought was to wonder how could that have happened, I had no clue that it was an apparent attck on our nation.
Once class was dismissed, many students gathered in the halls to watch the current news on television. I saw replays of the first plane crashing and then the second, it was then that I realized this was no accident, something very wrong was happening. I saw shots of people falling from windows and running through the streets. I was dumbfounded when I saw the crash site in Washington D.C., I had just been there about three months before and had flown in over that very building. The cameras then cut to the horrific site of the towers crumbling to the ground. All anyone could have done was pray that the people inside survived.
In the days that followed the attacks, I began to see our nation's flag pop up in every yard in the city. People even had stickers and flags covering their cars. In a sense, I was glad to see that so many people had such a since of pride in their country and were proud to be an American. However, it also gave this sadness, knowing that it took such a tragic event and hundreds of lives to bring these feelings out into the open. It was something we, as Americans, should have acknowledged a long time ago. After September 11, I tied ribbons of red, white, and blue to the rear view mirror of my car to remind me of the great country we live in today and how different things might be if we hadn't fought for our freedom. With these ribbons, I also have a ribbon in yellow, so that everyday I will be reminded of the many heroes, past, present, and future, that have died for the United States of America. I hope that I will never again take forgranted the precious things that so many have fought and died for just so we can remain the nation we are today.