I remember this day like it was yesterday... it was the day that changed my whole perspective on "my world". I was a sophomore at Aliso Niguel High School. I was 15 and still needed to get a "ride" to school so that meant my mom and my best friends mom would switch off... It was my friends mom turn to pick me up... to say the least I hated her. she was uptight, opinionated, and would pass judgement on any kid who walked in front of her car... lets just say she was sort of like an evil Martha Stewart... but the difference was... I actually had to see her on a daily bases... and also our rides to school included "Dr.Laura" so pretty much for a 15 year old... She was the biggest bitch I'd known. I get in the car and we are driving along and she turns the radio on.... " A plane has crashed into the twin towers" I have no clue what's going on... Evil Martha is flipping out... my best friend is silent like always when she is at the wrath of her mother... So I ask " what does this mean?" she turns around and says this " BROOK DON'T YOU GET IT ???(no bitch obviously not) TERRORIST ATTACKED THE TWIN TOWERS" me: " what is a terrorist?" I mean literally I had NNNOOO clue what a terrorist was... I've never even seen a crime happen in my neighborhood how the hell am I supposed to know that there are extremist who want all Americans dead? I was 15 mind you... my life involved school, swimming, my friends, the phone, and make up. So to say the least evil Martha was not pleased with the answer... little did she know her daughter had no clue what the hell was going on either... I just remember I wanted to go home. I didn't want to be in the car with an insensitive BITCH yelling at the radio... I wanted out... but of course I went to school. My best friend and I had choir together so we walked in and the TV was on and everyone was SILENT... We watched and as we watched plane 2 crashed into the other tower... it was real then... I knew by the news casters that tower 2 was FULL of people who they told not to evacuate... I knew they were dead among the people on the plane... then both the towers collapsed ..what do you do? you're a helpless viewer.... nothing like this has ever happen since I've been alive. I still didn't understand why or how someone would or could do this. I didn't understand because it wasn't a "country" attacking us, it was terrorist... I was so naive I thought no one could hurt America... I was wrong... That day was one that will be burned into my brain forever... It changed how I saw everything... by innocence was stolen. I now second guessed flying all together, going to big cities, and the media even scared us to go to our local mall... I remember going home and just being numb. All those people... all those frantic people on the news begging to find their family members... pictures, banners, flowers, ash, nothing could save those people from the misery they were feeling.... all I could think was "why?"
My heart goes out to all those people who were killed in 9/11 and my prayers go out to all those who have loved ones over in Iraq. I've been there. I've been the girl that checks the casualties of war list praying that my boyfriend wont be on it... tossing and turning all night because I haven't heard from him in over a month. Watching the news only to make me feel worse... holding my phone in my hand all day and night because I don't want to miss his call. You learn that life is precious and not to take it lightly. If 9/11 has taught me anything its to be thankful for where I live, not to take things for granted, and know that someone is way worse off then I am....
6 comments:
I was a sophmore in college and sitting in traffic court when it all happened. I wouldn't have even known if not for the people whispering behind me.
your ending thought are so true. I was teaching when it happened and I remember watching it on tv with my students, it was terrible and I will never forget it.
i remember that day like you said "as if it was yesterday". my husband and i had just found out i was pregnant with our first baby. i was at work when it all happened, no tv's just radio. i remember being so afraid, i couldn't eat, i couldn't bare watch the news {which for weeks, it was all day, all the time, in your face news} without sobbing. i remember when i came home that day my husband and i made a survival plan.
and here we are, seven years later. i still cry when i watch the footage. it's something that i will never forget.
I was just about to leave work, and for some reason clicked on the internet to check the news. They were just reporting on the first plane crash, then I watched the live feed as the second plane hit. That was exactly one month prior to my move here.
We were used to terrorist attacks being a very real possibility in England, thanks to the troubles in Northern Ireland, but I had never seen something on that scale unfold before my eyes.
It is awful, worrying every moment for your loved one away in a war zone. Thankfully mine all came home safely. You're so right about not taking things for granted.
I had a four month old baby and held her alllll day, never putting her down. All of the kids in my neighborhoods made flags and signs and decorated our whole neighborhood. I had nightmares and didn't leave the house for weeks. My husband is a contractor and the banks temporarily shut down the jobs. It was insane and I still have anxiety from it... even 7 years later, and even tho I live on the West Coast. I will forever fly an American flag on my house because of that day, and for all of those who are fighting for freedom today... my flag reminds me to think of them EVERY day!
It's unfortunate that you were not with your mom or someone that could explain better and provide comfort at that time of confusion. We watched it all on TV also...first the towers. Then the Pentagon. Then the reports of the plane going down in the field. Then the chaos. I remember going to work and no one got a thing done that day; we just sat there in our offices and it was quiet all day. I'll never forget the eerie silence outside when all air traffic was put on hold. Looking up in the blue, blue sky and thinking of all those people that died. Lighting a candle for the weeks on end while they searched for survivors at ground zero and feeling exhausted just watching it all unfold every day, every hour, every minute.
They are all heroes--those that are gone and those that survived, and those that are preserving our freedom around the world.
We will never, ever forget.
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