It is so hard to believe that almost a decade ago, America was attacked. But as this day was approaching, some of my friends and I have been thinking about where we were when the World Trade Center was attacked. Every year it is always the same question and I always give my same answer, but this year was different. I realized that my answer to this, "where were you on September 11?", question was quite sad. See, this is the question that my kids and grandkids are going to ask me just like I have asked my grandparents about Pearl Harbor and my parents about the JFK assassination. I wish I could tell them a story that was passionate or memorable, but all I have is the truth, so here it is...
The morning was like any other morning at my house. My alarm went off that tuesday morning, mom was already at work, John already at school and my dad was out of town on business. I probably dreaded getting up because lets face it, 7th grade is not fun for anyone, but I got ready for school, ate breakfast and then walked out to my bus stop. The bus pulls up, so I get on and find my seat next to an old neighbor and we begin to chat about who knows what. The bus moves into Sylvan Forest and at one of the stops, two of my fellow classmates get on and they are freaking out. The girls are talking a hundred miles a minuet and all I really heard was that a plane flew into a building called the World Trade Center in New York. Well the first thing that came to my mind was, what's the big deal? I mean like that sucks but planes can crash. I had no idea what the World Trade Center was and I never even thought that this act was on purpose. Then a couple stops later, some boys got on the bus and they too were freaking out because it had happened again! This time I was like "OK, we need to hire some new pilots because how can this happen twice now, and is it foggy or something in New York because how do people just not see a sky scrapper?" I was trying to listen to my fellow peers, but I honestly just did not want to listen to a bunch of 12-14 year olds, so I would just wait until I got to school to hear what really happened from my teachers. We finally got to school and instead of having to wait outside till we were allowed to go in, the principal told us all to just go strait to class. I was confused because they never let us into the building early and then I became even more puzzled when I walked in and saw all of the teachers crying. I had no idea what was going on and I also specifically remember being naive and asking someone "what the big deal was?" and I remember getting this look like I was going to Hell for saying that out loud. So I just sat down waited for my teacher to talk. She told us that the events that had occurred were terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and that we would not be having regular class and we would be watching the news. I was excited about not having class, but I was not excited about the news. As the day went on, my questions still were not being answered and I was just getting more mad because kids were going home! I don't know if their parents thought that there would be another attack on Knox Jr. Hight or what, but I remember it irritated me because my parents worked and I knew that I was not going go home early. All of the questions that I had were not really answered until my dad got home from his trip and he could sit down with me and explain the situation in "Julie's terms". Looking back now, I wish I knew more and could comprehend what was going on that day, or at least I wish that my teachers could have explained the situation to me so I could have been more sympathetic to the situation at the time.
But I can not change the past, I can only reflect on it and apply it to today. So, while you are rooting on your favorite college football team on this wonderful Saturday night (Hook Em'), or just cheering for Penn. State to Beat Bama, take a moment and remember where you were on September 11th and remember the men and women who are still fighting today.
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