#1818 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
I was working, just like any other day, when a colleague/friend told me. I thought he was joking, until he gave me a URL. I went to it and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

At that moment I felt time stop, and then I felt everything change. I didn't know in what way, but I knew everything would be different. Then time resumed, and reality set in. Then a mild form of shock. I didn't want to believe, but what choice did I have.

I called some friends in the New York area to see if they were alright. My friends were, but they all personally knew at least one person who was killed. Days later I learned that someone from my hometown, who was related to a friend of mine here, was also killed.

After my company closed for the day, I went straight home and attempted to eat something. I managed to eat a little. After watching an hour of the news I decided I wasn't going to allow those cowards to win. So I drove up to Hammond Castle in Gloucester, MA. I ended up taking two black and white photos, neither of them very good.

On the way, though, I encountered an experience that has remained with me in amazing detail since.

I was at a stop sign and I had the choice of turning left or right. In front of me was a small monument and beyond that a sidewalk and then the ocean. There were two women, with their children, out enjoying the eighty degree weather. Two of the children were in strollers and the other three, two boys and a girl, about 3 or 4 were running around happily.

One of the boys had removed all of his clothes and was running around free as a bird when he decided that he needed to relieve himself. So, unbeknownst to his mother, he chose the monument at which I was facing and proceeded to do his thing. It was quite the contrast to the events of the day, and made me smile at the innocence, the lack of fear and the lack of understanding on what that day meant, and still means.

As I watched this, I again felt time stop, but the feeling I had that time wasn't one of dread or disbelief, but of hope. I couldn't help but laugh this sight, and neither could his mother and her friend.

Just then his mother noticed me and immediately blushed and ran over to her son, obviously thoroughly embarrassed that her son was defiling public property in front of stranger.

Her friend also noticed me and went into hysterics herself. So in an effort to assure them that I wasn't offended, I just smiled and nodded. There didn't seem to anything to say. I felt a profound sense of hope and encouragement that we as a nation, as a people, would not only make it through the tragedy, but that we would only become stronger.

And that sight, of the little boy peeing on a rock in public, still remains the most influential experience in my life. It serves to encourage me to live life one moment at a time, to live and let live, and to just be happy for what I have. That experience has enabled me to grieve when necessary, to laugh when laughter overcomes me, and to walk a middle path in the times in between.

greenbough | 32 | Massachusetts

#1819 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
That morning I was watching TV not the news just some old re runs of "A Different World” after I had just gotten a lecture from my sister how it is better to watch the news in the morning. After that my brother came to me and said it was time to leave for school. We jumped in his car and herd talking on the radio something about a plane crash. So we just popped in a CD and turned up the music.
When we got at the campus there was hardly any parking but no one around. I proceeded to the lounge to wait for class. I walked in and there was no room to even stand. Everyone was looking at the TV with tears in their eyes. I said, "man, must be a good movie on” right after I said that I looked up and saw a building on fire. I then said, "what’s that building?" Someone gave me an odd look and said "The World Trade Center” I asked, "is that a bank?" I was never taught what it really was and no I'm not stupid, you can ask any teen and they will tell you honestly if their not lying that they did not know what the World Trade Center was before September 11th.
As I was watching the TV I saw the second plane hit and herd a newscaster on the TV say “Oh My God…Holy S***” on TV! No edit. Then it hit me hard and I found myself crying as well as everyone else. It was crazy, everyone was screaming that “WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE” which didn’t help at all. So I went up stairs to the library to go and email my friends in the military to see if they were all okay cause I had no clue what was going on. There were TVs everywhere in the campus. Even right outside the bathrooms. I walk into the library and log on the computer. I got into my email, which took a half-hour and started typing. All the sudden the systems went down and logged me off the computer. Just as that happen I looked up and there was a kid running around screaming “THEY HIT THE PENTAGON! GET OUT OF TOWN NOW!” By that point I was freaking out running around school looking for my brother.
I grabbed people I didn’t know and just started praying with them. I found out that classes were finally canceled and I went home with my brother. And spent the rest of the day at home with my family. If there was one good thing that came out of September 11th its that people put their faith into God. God bless America! God Bless you!
Colleen | 19 | Virginia

#1820 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
Wow... Where was i september 11th, 2002...?
That is one question i've heard alot. I
was sitting in my first hour class, not believing
the people that came into the room , talking of
the attacks. We all blew it off, til the bell
rang and all the students were talking about it
and watching it on tv. It was incredible!
Krista | 18 | Minnesota

#1821 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
I was a freshman in college. As I walked back to my dorm room from my 9:00 English class, I kept hearing snippets of conversation: "The Twin Towers fell…hijacked airplanes…hit the Pentagon…" Naively, I assumed that the conversation was centered around a debate or project in another class. Walking up the stairs to my room, I came across my roommate, who just said, "Oh my God, you haven't heard." (By this point, it was already 11:00 a.m., and I was "behind the times"). She switched on our television, and every station (we have over 100) was tuned in to coverage of the attacks. Our dorm room was in a central location, and within 15 minutes, we had over 30 people in our room, some whom we had never met, watching CNN intently. They kept showing the images of the planes crashing into the Towers, then the devastating collapse. The most horrifying image, however, was not of the buildings; it was watching the people of New York run for their lives as buildings crashed around them. People who had never met before that day held hands, held one another as those with family and friends in NYC tried to comprehend what had happened and broke down in tears with frustration that the phone lines were tied up (they stayed tied up for days). At 1:00, the Dean called a special Mass on campus- Catholics, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims…it didn't seem to matter what religion anyone was. All that mattered was what had happened to our country only a few hours before. What was supposed to be an act of terrorism to tear this country apart ended up bringing people closer together than ever before. Many of us (myself included) lost family or friends on that day, but they will never be forgotten
Caitlin | 19 | Alabama

#1822 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
I was at work on the morning of September 11th 2001. One of my co workers had CNN on the TV, and he came running into my depatment saying the WTC has been Crashed into by a jet. We all gathered around the television to see what was going on, when right then the second plane hit Tower 2. We were all frantic, and we all running around trying to leave to go and get our children from school. I called the school and they told me that they weren't letting the parents come and get the children due to the mad rush that they would have. So, I went home to get my daughter off of the bus at 12 noon and spent the rest of my day watching the TV and being with my children. To this day everytime that I hear the song that they dedicated to 9/11 it makes me cry. "I WAS THERE" sung to the music of Silent Night. My family is now more Patriotic than ever. We listen to songs that remind us of that horrible day, and remember the lives that were lost. I pray that we will never have to go through anything like this again. And, I also pray that we will find the Bastard that did this to our Nation, our Families, and our thousands of Friends lost that day.
Stephanie | 23 | Maryland

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