Where were you ten years ago, on 9/11?
I was a senior in high school in rural Kansas. Light years away from New York and Washington DC. The future was full of promise and potential. I was filling out college applications and starting my advanced courses. I also just began my role as editor-in-chief of our brand new school newspaper. Below you can read the article I wrote as a reaction just days after it happened.
That scary day, the entire school was silently in shock. CNN was put on a projector right here in our school library. I was glued to the set with the other students. I’d only leave the coverage to walk over to the computer and refresh CNN.com for updated news.
Here is my story – what is yours?
a country that would never be the same ;(
And we never were. This one event changed everything about how we view life. My prayers are going up for all the families affected. I can barely type as I write this.
i’m so glad you kept this. WOW. priceless.
What a wonderful write up. I’ve not decided if I’m going to post about 9-11. I never have, not because I don’t remember, but because I choose to look forward with hope. That was a day of terror that lasted for years.
Thanks for posting.
So very true Connie. I respect everyone that is choosing to leave this awful memory in the past. I was so far removed from it, but I still remember the thoughts and emotions that took me over. I wanted to share my very first reaction to see where we have come since then. I wrote in the last lines “the citizens of the United States will construct a country that was better than before” and I believe we have.
Where have we come since then? thoughts to ponder. Where are we going?
I decided to post and I’ve spent the last hour crying while I wrote it….I’ve decided to post at midnight and then go silent for the day. I’ve also made a donation to the widows and orphans of the firefighters. I have to let it go or it will drag me back down.
Thanks again and for prompting me to work through some of it and post.
Connie
Thank you so much Connie!! While money cannot ever replace what they lost 10 years ago, those donations will help them in so many ways. I too have to let it go. We should not let this day drag us into depression – we can’t give the terrorists that much power! I am glad writing it out was a way to send your emotions out there and hopefully it will bring a touch of healing for you.
Connie, you are a beautiful person and you have brought tears to my eyes.
I respect your decision either way. My 9/11 post is the only on I will do today also.
God bless you and your family along with our entire country.
Thanks for writing this. I decided that it was time to write about my experience and the terrible things I saw on that day and because I wanted to have a written record of the day for my daughter.
http://www.nycsinglemom.com/2011/09/09/where-were-you-mommy-on-september-11/
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It took a lot of courage for you to relive those moments and do so publicly. I had no idea you were SO close to them when it happened. I cannot imagine the images in your mind or the emotions you feel when this day comes around every year.
that’s a wonderful article Annie – thanks for sharing.
You were a great writer even then. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thanks so much for sharing your words from 2001. They are still so relevant today. I was a mom of 3 little ones, waiting to see if my husband would come home safely from his job in DC. I had no idea what was really going on in the City.
Annie, you are an incredible writer, then and now.
You brought what we were all feeling to the page so well.
I’m so glad you saved this article so we could all share it forever.
Hope you share the day with your family.
What a great article that perfectly embodies what we were all going through. Disbelief. Fear. Strength. There was so much going through our minds. Thank you for sharing.
That was awesome Annie – Thanks for sharing…I had just dropped my son off at preschool…had to rush back and get him….I held him all day…we will never be the same.
Great article Annie, thank you for sharing it.
Great post! Boy is that a day that the world will never forget! I was in Grade 11 when it happened and I remember walking down the hallway in high school past the media classroom and there was a scene projected onto the wall of a plane crashing into a tower. I thought they were just watching a movie and I was so shocked to discover that it was real! We spent the rest of the day watching the news in all of my classes. I remember my teacher’s saying that we were experiencing history being made and that one day this event would be in the history textbooks that our children would learn about it.