Monday, September 11, 2006

5 years later...

Since today is the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I thought I would share my memories from that day...

It was my junior year in high school. I was participating in a program called "elementary mentorship" in which a group of students went to the local elementary school 2 or 3 times a week to work in a classroom. I worked with a 1st grade teacher named Susan. Susan and I had already bonded, even though it was still the beginning of the school year.

I can remember that I was helping a student with his reading journal when Susan called me over to her desk. She told me what had happened and we sat behind her desk with a small hand-held radio up to our ears trying to hear the latest updates. This was inbetween the 2nd plane hitting the World Trade Center and the crash into the Pentagon. I remember being very confused and not really realizing what was going on.

The elementary school administration did not allow any television that day and so many of the visual images that people have of the events of that morning I did not see until later.

When I got in the car with a few other students to drive back to our high school, neither one of them had heard about the attacks, so I told them about it. By the time we got back to our school, many teachers were not allowing students to watch the news reports, and so I wasn't able to see anything until that night. My parents were out of town, and I can remember feeling very unsettled.

So many people had such devastating hours that day. If you haven't seen the World Trade Center movie, go see it. It is a great look into the personal lives of two Port Authority officers who were trapped under the rubble and their experience of that day.

Here we are, 5 years later, wrapped up in a war caused to some extent by the events of that day. May we continue to support our country and our troops. No matter your political leaning, on this day, lets all join together in remembrance of what our country lost and the freedom that has been given to us.

What are your memories from that morning?

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