9/11 writing prompt

9/9/2014

Where were you on 9/11/2001? At the time, did you know what was happening in America? Write about your dominant memories of the events of that day.

On the morning of 9/11/2001 I was home from school because I was sick. My mother and I were watching the Today Show and when the first plane struck the first of the twin towers the coverage shifted from in studio to a breaking news report. At first I was shocked but not overly concerned because it seemed like it could have just been pilot error. I had never seen anything like this and wasn't aware of the trade center bombing in the early nineties, and also wasn't very clear on the toll or facts of the Oklahoma city bombing, although I did remember some of that even and its aftermath. The moment the second plane struck the towers it became very clear that this was not an accident. the words "terrorist attack" soon started being spouted by every newscaster. My mother was concerned at this time and since we lived right by the local bank, she decided to withdraw her money in case this turned into a more widespread day of terror.

It was a little more time before the report of the plane hitting the pentagon and the other going down in rural PA came through. At that point we weren't sure when planes were going to stop crashing.

I don't know if it was my level of depression at the time or my trust in my mother, but I wasn't really worried. It also might have been that we were in the small town of Liberty, PA, 30 miles north of Williamsport, and therefore not a prime target for a terrorist attack that allowed me to be calm. Even though we were about 3.5 hours from NYC, a rescue vehicle, did leave from the local fire-hall to help at ground zero.

Overall I still have unresolved issues over the whole day's events. I'm not sure if it was a plane or a missile fired by our forces that struck the pentagon. That's really the only conspiracy of that day that I give any attention to, because the angle the jetliner would have to approach at to hit the building so low to the ground is rather difficult to imagine being pulled off by a novice pilot.

It is a shame that the events of 9/11 took place, I feel sorry for the victims and their families, and I hope the truth as told is the real story so that this terrible day in history can be put to rest and we can feel that justice has been served.