It's cool. I like it. And today, more than any other day, I understand what it means to do it.
A friend asked this question on his facebook yesterday and I'm going to throw it out again.
What were you doing when you heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center?
Me? I was in 10th grade. B building. It was between classes and I heard something about an airplane being flown into the World Trade Center.
But I didn't know what the World Trade Center was.
And assumed that it was a horrific accident.
Why would I assume anything else? It was a different world back then.
That was in the hallway by my locker between 1st and 2nd period. Then when I got down to English class, it was all the buzz. The teacher had the TV on, but when the bell rang, she tried to do class as usual. She (none of us, really) knew exactly what was going on, and teachers can't just stop class every time there is buzz among students.
But then the teacher from the classroom next door burst in (literally) our classroom. She was out of breath and said to turn the TV on-- that the second tower had just been hit.
We watched the TV for the rest of the class. I'm glad my teacher learned quickly that history (although a terrible part of it) was being made. And that history in the making trumps Shakespeare.
I still didn't know how to react. I just learned about the WTC and that there are two really tall buildings next to each other in NYC. It was a lot for my mind to process.
But throughout the day it began to sink in more and more. As each class started the big question was if our teachers were going to let us watch it or not. Let's face it... nothing else.... NOTHING else was on TV or radio. NOTHING.
By lunchtime the teachers started to teach class again. I had a test in one (history, of all classes!). In another she let us listen to the radio while we worked (sewing). But halfway through the class she got a message that listening to the coverage was potentially damaging for young minds to hear. Or something like that.
It hadn't really occurred to me, but when I got to French class, there was a girl who had family who worked in the WTC.
Looking at it from the outside, I didn't know if it was better to not let her watch it, or to let her watch it. They decided not to let her watch it, but she could call home to get updates. Or something like that.
We didn't know how to handle it. But looking back, we should have all stopped. Reflected. Prayed.
But we didn't know what to think when all of it was happening.
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One of my brothers was driving down the road when it happened. He was listening to the radio and, since it was morning radio, assumed it was a prank. They do pranks every single morning, so why would this one be different?
Then he changed the channel. Same prank.
And again.
I'm not sure how many times he changed channels or when he realized what was really going on, but it shows the disbelief that we all had about the situation.
So what's your story? What were you doing when you found out? What did you think? You can add it in the comments, of if you have a blog and wrote about it, leave a link and I'll add it to the bottom of this post.
God bless, and remember our troops today. Remember the families of those who worked in the WTC. Whether they're alive or not, they've been through hell.
1 comment:
I think we might have been together that day. Your story is identical to mine. Did you have Ms. Love that year?
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