September 11, 2001. Where were you? Eleven years ago [to this date], I sat a scared eleven year old in my seventh grade classroom. I remember my teacher [Mrs. Patterson] receiving a call from the principal and frantically turning on the television to ABC 7 News. By this time, the first tower was already shrouded in smoke. I was under the impression that a plane had been misguided into the first tower accidentally; however, [moments later] the second World Trade tower was struck. I remember the cold chills I received once witnessing both towers collapse and the tears that it brought to my eyes. I cried on and off for hours that day. The students and teachers in my school were in a panic and we were all advised to stay in all of our designated classrooms. With nowhere to go, I looked out of my classroom window and I remember seeing documents and debris [from the World Trade Center] descending from the sky [all the way in Brooklyn]. I just could not fathom how there were people in the world so wicked to commit such heinous acts against innocent, defenseless people.
Today is a day for us to come together as a city, a nation, and as people to remember the innocent lives that were lost in the towers, Washington D.C. (passengers of American Airlines Flight 77 and citizens in the Pentagon) and Pennsylvania (passengers of United Airlines Flight 93); it is a day to honor the devoted volunteers, NYPD and FDNY members who put their lives on their line to protect the people of this city on that horrific day and our troops who fought courageously to protect this nation following the September 11 attacks. As President Obama stated today, the victims of the September 11 attacks would be remembered "no matter how many years pass".
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