Today marks the 11th anniversary of 9/11. With traumatic experiences we tend to remember exactly where we were on the day in question. For me, I was in 6th grade. I can remember kids being called to the main office and asked to gather their stuff because their parents were there to take them home. It was alarming because by the end of the day there were only a few people left in school by the end of the day. I went to a very small school but the hallways were never quiet except for this day. I remember walking down the hallways to go to the bathroom and seeing a bunch of teachers huddled together crying. I had no idea what was going on. I was finally in my math class with Mrs. Stig. She was called out into the hallway and when she returned she mentioned that if any of our parents worked in the city and we couldn't reach them that we needed to call the school right away and someone would pick us up. Looking back at that I'm shocked that the school didn't feel that we should know what was going on. We later found out that the elementary school actually found out what happened but how could they comprehend what was happening. I remember getting home and seeing the planes hit the building over and over on every single channel. I remember calling my mom and just crying because I didn't understand what was happening. My mom told me to turn the TV off and put a movie on because I shouldn't be watching this. My poor mother did not know what to do in this situation. I remember being mad at her because she didn't come pick me up from school but my moms a nurse and she couldn't leave because some of the injured people were being boated over to her hospital for care. While watching the replay of what was happening it was the first time I can remember realizing that there were evil people out there that were capable of killing innocent people.
Later when I was a junior in high school I had a student teacher who told me that while she was teaching in St. Louis the children didn't even know what happened on September 11. They watched the news cast from the day and thought it was a movie. I was shocked, maybe it affected me a little more because where I live is directly across the water from lower Manhattan but this was a major event in our countries history. As I'm writing this I'm watching the news coverage from the memorial and can't help but feel sympathy for all the families that lost someone that day. Although, I did not know someone that perished on 9/11, I remember the sense of community the country felt after these events. We need to band together as a nation and support each other and NEVER FORGET those who have lost their lives on 9/11 or fighting for our country.
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