It was an ordinary Tuesday just like any other. It was about 6:15 am in the morning when I woke up on my usual routine of the day for school. Except that day I had a pep rally performance so I needed the extra time to get ready. It was a 1-3-5 schedule so I would be attending Math, Civics and Dance. The pep rally would take place during 3rd period, so we would go to class first and than head to the gym. At about 9:00 am in my Civics, class after studying the attack on Pearl Harbor we began to head to the pep rally. Just like every other performance, the cheerleaders rocked the crowd, got them a little rowdy and unfortunately told them we had to return to class. At that point is where every detail of this day haunts me and becomes a day forever in my heart.
As my overwhelmed and out of control classmates and I returned to class we were suddenly stopped by the loud and shocking cries and screams our Civics teacher was giving while staring at the TV just inches from her face. After some minutes that it took a couple of us to calm her down she sadly told us that the horrible catastrophes we had just finished studying about before the pep rally had unfolded right before our country’s eyes. One of the twin towers of the World Trade Center had just been hit . It didn’t take me more than 2 seconds to regain my senses, rush to the TV and see for myself the truth of one of my biggest fears today, a possible terrorist attack. Not only were tears running down my eyes for the thought of the ones dying but because one of my friends father was in New York City for a business trip, where he would be visiting the World Trade Center that same day for a meeting he was going to be conducting.
Unfortunately, she was absent that day so I wouldn’t be able to know anything about it until I got home after school. Minute after minute and hour after hour student by student began getting picked up early from school. Of course, I was in 7th grade at the time so I was very naïve and didn’t understand why everyone was going home in South Florida when this was happening up North. Right before I got picked up from school, the CNN news had announced that the second tower had also been hit shortly after followed by The Pentagon, meaning this accident was no longer an accident.
Now at this point we had absolutely no idea if there were any additional planes that had been "hi-jacked" and heading for an assigned target. This day drove everyone up the walls, families who didn’t know where their loved ones were, if they were alive, if they were hurt, if they were even in the buildings. Firefighters and armed forces running in and out of the fires, loosing their lives while trying to save others. The government trying to figure what went wrong and who was behind it all. Imagine me a thirteen year old attempting to help these people and answer those questions myself.
Little did I know that the next and last tragedy of that day would be the one to touch and affect me the most. The last of the four planes that had been accounted for as "hi-jacked" planes by Saudi’s had landed in the middle of a field somewhere in Pennsylvania. At first I didn’t make much of it because it had not hit anything and lots more lives had been lost at the other accidents. All we knew about this mystery plane is that there were no survivors and luckily it had not hit a final destination, whatever that may have been, or so we assumed.
The day went on with people crying, suffering, worried and concerned about their loved ones. For months our country was in our own self-created, mourning. No smiles, no happiness, no fun, just as if our hearts had been ripped right out. September eleventh became a day people would never forget. Luckily it also became a day my friend and her father wouldn’t forget either, it turns out his alarm clock never rang and he woke up at about 9:45 am to the sound of the sirens and honks through his window.
At first when the tragedies had occurred I tried no to attach myself to them too much because I am very sensitive to things like this. But after sometime I couldn’t help but wanting to find out about that mystery airplane. Eventually news from it began unfolding and after about a year I was able to truly find out what had happened to the so called "mystery" plane, which led me to become so attached. It was known as United Flight 93. It had been hi-jacked but not brought down easily. It was the only plane whose passengers were able to call out and let family and friends know "they weren’t coming home". They were the reasons why we were able to put pieces together and figure out who led the attacks. It hasn’t been 100% proven but it is said that Flight 93 was originally headed for The White House. The plane consisted of 40 passengers plus the 4 hi-jackers and to our knowledge was the only plane that went down with a fight. Those 40 passengers decided to use their last minutes alive not to say good-bye, not to cry, not to pray but to fight to gain back control of their plane and prevent the terrorists from fulfilling their plan.
They have opened my eyes to so many things and have taught me to value life. You may never know when it’s going to get planned out for you. The one thing that I can honestly say this day did for me physically was attach me more to god, ever since that day I find myself praying and going to church a lot more now that I pray for them not just myself. What has it done for the community? Well, lets say they the UNITED States of America definitely became united. Everyone can relate to this day someway, somehow because everyone either has a story, an experience or a feeling about it.
They didn’t go down in history as victims of an attack or as loved ones that were lost but as heroes who looked beyond people’s selfish ways and made a difference. They made a difference in everyone’s life as well as mine. I’ve learned to view and approach things in a different way. I admire and pray for them each and everyday and hope others do so too. These were just some of the many things that made the day so unforgettable to me but so many more lives, souls and hopes were lost at the towers, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. It will always be a day forever in my heart.
