When the World Stopped

I was in my first grade classroom on 9/11 and I don’t remember a thing. All I can say is that I knew something was different. That day and weeks after that, I would fire those obnoxious little kid questions, like “why do we have to take our shoes off at the airport now?” and “Why are there so American flags everywhere?” And one of my parents would patiently sit me down and explain to me what had happened, try to come up with some sort of justifiable answer to my little 6-year-old self.  How do you even explain 9/11 to a six year old?

As I got older, I understood more and more about what went on. We talked about it at school and at home and I tried to get my head around this catastrophe. I’m sixteen now, but I hardly have my head around it, and I’ve grown up to think that no one really does, or ever will. Even though I really have no remembrance of the day, I still sit here, on Sept. 10, tears sliding down my cheeks as I watch a timeline video of the day posted on Yahoo. There are just no words.

It’s amazing though, to see the overall reaction to 9/11. I have honestly never been so proud to call myself an American. The firemen and police officers, day after day after day, sleepless but still fighting. The hundreds upon thousands of people who lined the streets of New York City near Ground Zero, clapping and cheering for hours to show their support as the rescue workers drove by. The
citizen volunteers, who brought hot drinks and food to the workers, at all hours of the night. Not to mention the American flags flying from the flagpoles of every house.

This is why I’m proud to be an American. 

"These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong." - George W. Bush, September 14, 2001

The link to the timeline video on Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/9-11-video-timeline-how-the-day-unfolded.html

Until Next Week,

Rachel