#1838 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
On September 11th I was living in Phoenix. My Fiancé and I had decided to take the day off from work. He was suppose to got to school later that day. We didn't have the TV on that morning. Around 7:30 or 8 our friend Jerri came pounded on our door. We almost didn't answer because we wanted to spend the day alone. We ended up answering the door, she had a look of shock on her face and asked if we had heard what happened. We kind of looked at her weird and said "no, why?" She said, "The twin towers in NYC have been attacked!" So of course we turned on the TV. My first thought was my ex's family. My ex's whole family lived in NY, and I had remembered them saying his uncle worked in the WTC. So I jumped up and called his family. Thankfully he hadn't made it to work yet. (Thank god). At that time we hadn't heard from anyone else though. We hung up the phone when the President came on TV. Later in the day they called to say everyone was just fine. For the next week or so all we did was watch TV to see what was going on. We couldn't believe what had happened. All we kept saying was it was like out of a movie. It didn't seem real. We couldn't believe someone could do such a thing. Everywhere you went it was there, someone had a TV on, or the radio. There was no getting away from it. After a while we couldn't handle it. We had to get out of the house, take our minds off of it. The whole thing made you think, it made you call people that you kept telling yourself you'd call but never did. It made you remember all the good things about people, and reminded you to cherish them. My mom and I hadn't been talking before that, but we talked that day. I was so scared, I was worried it was just the start of something bigger, since they had also hit the pentagon. I am glad that it nothing else has happended since that day.

I think that people shouldn't forget the people from the Pentagon, they need to be remembered also. A lot of these sites remember the WTC victims, which they should, but we also need to remember the Pentagon people and the people from that plane that crashed in the field. Nobody that was taken on September 11th should ever be forgotten.
Brandy | 19 | California

#1839 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
On September 11, 2001 I was getting ready for bed. I am Australian, and I turned the tv on in my room to watch the late news as I always did and was SHOCKED to see the Terror unfold before my eyes! I remained awake until very early in the morning, glued to the Tv set. This day changed the world forever!
Debbii | 28 | Australia

#1840 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
I was in class, when this happened. I remember getting into my van to go and grab something to eat and run home for a bit before my next class. The radio kept saying something about the pentagon. I didn't understand because the announcer was not forthcoming with any information. All I understood was that there was a fire. My thoughts turned to getting home and hopefully finding out what was going on.

Then I reached home and saw the unthinkable right there on my television.

I had made it home just 2 minutes before the first tower fell. I just remembered feeling lost. Should I go and get my children from school and daycare? Should I go back to class? Oh My God, what about my husband? Does he even know?

Then it happened again...Soon before I left to go back to class, the second tower fell.

I did continue my day. And as it went on, I saw more and more anger and sorrow among my classmates and even my instructors. Classes turned into full-blown discussions of what was happening to our nation. I remember seeing crowds around offices and classroom televisions, struggling to hear the latest news.

When I went to get my two smallest children from daycare, is when I think it finally hit home. I walked into my daycare provider’s home. It was quiet, as usual, because it was naptime. When I approached my provider’s living room, there she was just sobbing. It was then it hit. We just stood there, sobbing together—not saying a word.

Now that the anniversary grows closer and the TV replays those horrible images and the radio play those beautiful songs in remembrance, I will stop and thank God, again, for giving me my family, my friends, and my life. I will give my boys an extra hug and tell them for the ten-millionth time I love them. I will kiss and hold my husband a little longer before he goes to work. But most importantly I will go on, because if I let it get to me, they will win—and this American is not about to let them.

Christie | 30 | North Dakota

#1841 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
I was in my first class that I took over when I was student teaching and talking about the nervous system and then people in the hall came in and told us to turn on the television as we did that the second plane was flying right into the other tower it was the scariest and most disturbing moment I had ever seen. Victor P. Exeter, PA
Victor | 23 | Pennsylvania

#1842 | Monday, September 9th, 2002
On September 11, 2001, I was working in a highrise building in Pittsburgh. It was only on the 11th floor, but that was high enough for me. Someone had the radio on that broadcasted from New York City when the first plane hit. I wasn't near a television and didn't want to be. I was confused. Why was this happening? Who would do this? WHY would they do this? Then I heard about the second plane hitting the other building. I started feeling like I just wanted to run into a bathroom and cry, I was so frightened. Next, I heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon. I've been near it once and the size of it truly amazed me. That someone would fly a plane into that building, let alone the World Trace Center buildings, blew my mind. I heard about planes being highjacked. I heard about one flying near Pittsburgh. I looked out my window. Where was it? Was it close? Would it come near downtown? The USX Steel building is the tallest in Pittsburgh, 64 stories. If it hit there, my building, next block over from it, would be affected. I wanted to leave work. I wanted to go home, go home to my mother, want my brother to leave his job, ( he works at the county courthouse, which was right accross from where I worked) and just go home. He couldn't leave until the building was secure, but at least he knew I was OK and I knew he was.

I saw the pictures of what happened, what the end devistation was and was horrified. I was proud that President Bush, who I didn't vote for, was smart enough to send troops to Afghanistan to deal with the Taliban. I was in the Air Force during the Gulf War, as was my brother, and we both wished we could have gone over there ourselves.

I know that that day changed the way I thought about life. How I lived it, who I wanted in it, who I didn't. I had never learned to drive a car because of fear of getting behind the wheel. That day taught me that life is too short to live in fear of ANYTHING. Two weeks afterward, I started taking lessons and 10 days before Christmas, I got my lisence at the age of 30.

We cannot let terrorists dictate how we live our lives. We cannot let fear of anything stop us from doing what we've always done before. If we do, then they win. We also can't look at everyone who is different from us and just assume that if they are from a Middle East country that they are automatically terrorists. There were Muslims who lost their lives as well on that day WHO WEREN'T TERRORISTS. Hopefully people will remember this the next time they see somone Arabic and automatically want to hate them because of what SOME PEOPLE did to us.

We are a strong nation. We have survived many wars in our country. We have pulled together to get ourselves back on our feet. We will get through this as well. God will not let us down, nor will He let us forget that we are ALL THE SAME, REGARDLESS OF RELIGION. I think it's time that we all looked at life a little differently because of this situation and learn from it.
Melissa | 30 | Pennsylvania

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