9-11-2001

Today my professor asked me to remember about the events that happened on nine eleven. I thought to myself that it was something I have not done since the one-year anniversary of the attack. After stopping and thinking about it, all the emotions and memories came back very easily.
I was sitting in my high school English class with one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Cobb. No one knew anything at all until she received a phone call. Mrs. Cobb is one of those teachers who are always cheerful and full of energy, but when she answered that phone it was obvious something was wrong. Her wonderful personality went to something the class had not seen. She went straight to the television, said thank you to the person on the phone, and then informed the class of what was happening. My first thought, when I herd the news, was about my aunt who is a flight attendant. Thankfully, Mrs. Cobb let me call her and I found out she was not flying that day.
The rest of the day did not go on as normally scheduled. Instead of doing class work, we watched CNN in every class. During lunch instead of everyone talking about the Friday night game, the conversations where filled with mixed emotions from anger and revenge to sorrow and worry for the victims. After school was out, I went straight home and got back in front of the television.
Despite the day starting out very confusing, the reality set in that we were under attack on our soil and new fears emerged in my thoughts. Being from a small town thirty minutes away from a military base–that was disposing of chemical weapons–I knew there was a danger. My fear was that if the base where attacked the gas and chemicals could reach my town before I could get far enough away. I started talking to my father about everything I was worried about and he put me in a new perspective that made everything better.
Dad told me not to worry about some little military base that no one knows about. He said the targets the terrorists are after are much larger. I was told that I should stop worrying about our little town and look at the big picture. He told me, there are hundreds of men and women who were effected by these events: some have injured or deceased loved ones, some people are still missing, and some are working and risking their lives as we speak to improve this disaster. Then he told me that my thoughts and prayers need to be with them, and I should realize just how blessed I am.
I would like to end this recap with something that came to me a little after nine eleven. What I am referring to is Patriotism, and not only did it effect me but the whole country. The best way to describe this feeling is by describing a commercial I saw. It showed a normal looking neighborhood street in any suburb in the US. The narrator in the commercial said something like, “The terrorist of nine eleven wanted to change our country.” Then he goes on to say, “They did,” the commercial flashes back to the same street, except this time all the houses are covered in American flags. The events of nine eleven, I hope, is the biggest tragedy that my generation sees. Just like World War One and Two where that of the generations before mine. In the end its all the same–with great tragedy comes great unity, and the terrorist see this now and that is the biggest blow our country can inflict on them.