There are those certain days in a person's life that they will always remember. They leave such an impact that you will remember where you were, what you were doing, what time it was, and all the other uncessary details that you usually would not remember on a day to day basis. September 11, 2001 was the day in my life so far that I remember every little detail. Being that I lived so close to Washington D.C, September 11 did not only affect me in the way I look at things today, it was also a wake up call to how I need to be aware of things day to day.
It was my first week of highschool and I was so excited to be starting a new school and meeting new people. The last thing I think that was on everyone's mind was a terrorist attack. I was sitting in the front row of spanish class when we all heard a big boom. Everyone just ignored it and went along with class. A few minutes later our principle came over the loud speaker and told everyone to stay calm. No one had the slightest idea to what was going on. He told us not to turn on the TVs and continue on with class. The class ended about two minutes after he came on the loud speaker. As Im walking to lunch I pass the main office and I see people inside crying. Still absolutely clueless to what was going on, I decided to be a rebel and turn my cell phone on and call my mother. She told me to stay where I was and she was coming to pick me up imediately. As soon as I got off the phone with her I felt like I was in a dream or something.She told me about the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Of course I knew what the Pentagon was, but the Twin Towers did not quite ring a bell. All I knew is that we were being attacked and that was one of my biggest fears. I didn't really think that this could be happening. What made it that more scary was that I was only about 10 minutes at max from the Pentagon. Then I thought about that huge boom that I had heard in spanish class. To this day I still believe that I heard the plane crashing into the Pentagon. My mom picked me up and I went home and turned on the television. It was all so unreal to me. I was thankful that my mom had picked me up because I can not imagine what it would have been like sitting in a classroom all day with this going on. I got ahold of one of my friends that was still at school and she said that in one of her classrooms they had turned the TV on to watch the news and the principle came in and turned it off and told the teacher to keep teaching. I think that is completely wrong. I don't know of any other school that wasn't watching the TV if they were still in school when this was going on. I was just happy that I was at home with my family.
I personally did not know anyone that was killed, but a few people that I knew had their parents killed. I do not think that I ever shed a tear, but my feelings of anger and loss were with them. I was only 13 at the time, I was a young freshman, so I did not really understand a whole lot of this. I knew the basics. I had no idea who Al Queda was or Osama Bin Laden. I watched the news everyday and so eventually I figured it all out. All I could think about is, why would people do this? What do they get out of killing thousands of people? My heart goes out to everyone who lost their life that day. They were the victims of a cruel act.
I always thought that the United States was the greatest country in the world, and that everyone else was too scared to do anything to us because we were the most powerful. September 11 sure changed that mind frame. I quickly learned that anything could happen. You can't take your life for granted because you never know what is going to happen. To this day, everyday there is that little bit of fear inside of me that something is going to happen. We live in the primary target and I think that is what makes it a lot more scary. September 11, 2001 will always be a day in my heart filled with sorrow and anger. It has taught me a lot about the world and there is nothing that can make me happier then to be an American. United we stand.
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