September 11th, 2001. A day that will forever be engraved in the memories of countless people, just like people who were alive when they heard about the Kennedy assassination. These people can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing. The same can be said for me remembering the 9/11 attack.
I was in the 5th grade, my class was just returning from gym class, as we entered the classroom we all took our seats and looked around at the unusual events occurring in our classroom. Our teacher was nowhere to be seen, but there were other teachers gathered at the small round table in one corner of the room. They were watching the large TV that hung in the corner with looks of shock on their face. I looked up to the TV, the scene was confusing, a building with smoke coming off of it.
My first thought was that it was just an out of control fire, but as I listened to the newscasters covering the story, I came to realize it wasn’t just a fire. Two airplanes had been hijacked and crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City.
The classroom was now buzzing, some with excitement about watching the drama on the news, some with confusion, not understanding the severity of the attacks, but mostly the classroom was full of fear. After a few more minutes of reporters repeating the same facts over and over and showing the same footage that they had at the time.
Our teacher entered the room and turned off the TV. There was a large protest from the class, now that we knew about the attack we wanted to be kept up to date on the news. After a few minutes of protest, our teacher agreed to leave the TV on with the volume down, but we still had to do our school work. For a short time it worked, we went on with our lessons, throwing glances at the TV every few minutes.
Soon enough everyone was too engrossed in the TV to focus on anything else. Our teacher gave in and turned the TV volume back up and let us have “free time” to watch the news or work on whatever we chose. I got out a coloring sheet and absentmindedly filled in the lines with color, my focus was on the TV showing the same clips and listening for every new bit of information as it became available. The school day came to a close and I returned home, my parents arrived soon after I did. I asked them about what had happened on the news and we turned the TV on again.
It was the main topic of discussion for a long time, at home, at school, on the news, it was everywhere, impossible to avoid. Eventually all the facts were put together and people mourned and debated the events. There was still fear in the public and it was impossible to fly anywhere in the country. Every year we hold remembrances of what happened, we think of those who died and we pray for the families of those who lost their loved ones. There are TV specials, documenting every minute of that day going into as much detail as one could follow. Each year I remember that day and what my thoughts were when it happened, with each year my exact memories and feelings begin to fade and heal, but it’s still a memory I will never forget as long as I live.
Printed in The Orbit: 09/15/2010
