One of the most important events of my life occurred on a bright late summer morning. It was a terrible day, a day everybody would talk about and would remember all of their lives. The event of that Tuesday morning would go down in history as one of the most terrifying experiences ever.
My mom shook me and my brother, Seth, awake at about 6:20 a.m. on September 11, 2001, and brought us downstairs. I was a little confused and upset because I still had another 40 minutes to sleep before going off to school. Once downstairs, I saw my dad sitting on the couch with his eyes glued to the TV. My brother and I watched, not fully comprehending what we were seeing, but a few minutes later, we were amazed when one of the super tall buildings exploded and then slowly collapsed in a huge cloud of smoke and debris. It looked as if the television was broadcasting in only black and white because of all the ash and smoke. My mom seemed in shock and kept saying softly, “Oh dear God so many people are dying.” My mom never talks like that so I knew the situation was really, really bad. After watching the buildings collapse, we went upstairs and got down on our knees and said a prayer for all of the people at that tragic scene. At school, the teachers seemed agitated and distracted, and very little teaching was attempted that day. Back at home, our television, which usually stayed off, was on all evening showing videos of the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes over and over and over.
During the year since that sad day, I have come to realize that many people’s lives were changed forever by what happened that morning. Since I was only six, my own life returned to normal pretty quickly, but I know I will carry the images of that morning in my mind forever.