Sunday, September 11, 2011

Another Day of Infamy

It's hard to believe that ten years have passed.

I was in college when 9/11 happened. I worked as an RA, and I woke up early and grumpy to do my assigned hours at the front desk in the lobby. There was something on the radio--an attack, something happening in NY--but I flipped it over to a music station.

Another RA came by. "Did you hear about the attack?"

"What attack?" I asked.

We turned the radio back to the news station.

As soon as I could, I ran back to my dorm room and turned on the television. By that point, only one tower had fallen. Before my eyes, I saw the second fall, too.

It was at that moment when I knew things had changed for me forever.

Glimmers of memories stand out from that time. Classes canceled. A friend, whose mother worked in the towers, crying unconsolably. My boss, who was a Muslim and wore a traditional head scarf, afraid to leave her office for a week. A campus-wide meeting, in which we warned, since we were located at the state capital, that we might be next.

But I don't think I really understood how the world had changed until I became a teacher, and started teaching kids who couldn't really remember a world before 9/11.

7 comments:

LM Preston said...

Isn't it funny how we usually tune out disasters?

Katie Dunn said...

I've been thinking about that a lot today; my children, born after the 9/11 attacks. My daughter is only 5 years old, but has a heart larger than life. When we got up this morning I sat down with her and brought up a picture of the towers before and I told her that bad people took planes and hurt a lot of people. She saw the tears in my eyes and I saw hers well up. She asked if I was sad and I said yes. For her the day will continue like any other, as it will for my 2 year old son. But one day they will ask me what I was doing on that day, and the only response I can give them is "Crying."

bbbb said...

I remember perfectly this day. I'm from Spain, sho here it was afternoon. It was my mother's Bday. We were eating cake when the TV says that a tower had fallen. Soon came the second, and we saw it live. It's something I'll never forget, and that I was only 6 years...
Bye!

NeuroHormone said...

I was 9.
There were smoky towers on every channel. And no cartoon on Tv.
I didn't understand. And I still can't wrap my mind around it. This is something we can't imagine. this is horror. Not an alien invasion.

Bethany said...

I saw it unfold on tv, then I had to go take an exam at school (college), because class wasn't cancelled. I remember stopping at a red light, feeling sick and upset. A man in the car next to me turned and looked at me. We made eye contact for far too long, both understanding each other perfectly.. it's amazing how connected I felt with perfect strangers for a while.

Robyn Campbell said...

Wonderful understanding how everyone came to 'hear' about the attacks. I loved the way we were all connected after that day. Wish it would have stayed that way. *sigh*

(((hugs)))

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Being a teacher really does open your eyes, doesn't it? We had a beautiful memorial ceremony at our school today--so powerful!