9/11

I remember exactly where I was on the morning of September 11^th , 2001. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the bus stop. I was in seventh grade. As my father drove me to the bus stop, we heard on the radio that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. My father didn’t know whether to believe it. The DJ was Rick Dees, who was known for being quite a joker. We then flipped the station and realized that the coverage was on almost every station. I knew something was wrong. As I boarded the bus, I plugged my Walkman into my ears to hear what exactly was going on. The bus’ radio was not working that week, so not many people knew what was going on. So there I was, twelve years old, wondering what was happening to my country. I just had a gut feeling that a commercial airliner would not accidentally slam into an enormous building. My father drove away with a angry and concerned look on his face. It was like something in a movie, on the 45 minute ride to school, I was telling everyone what was going on. I told them when the first tower fell down and everyone couldn’t believe it. The bus driver was getting updates on the radio and I remember the terrified look on her face. It appeared everyone knew that it was no accident. When we got to school, our teachers informed us that there had indeed been a terrorist attack on our nation. Some parents kept their kids at home. The entire day everyone was on edge. We didn’t have football practice and everyone was told to talk to our parents about the day’s events. It was a long bus ride back to the bus stop. The bus we took back had a functioning radio and we heard the estimated deaths and stories that were storming into the newsrooms. I live relatively close to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). I had never seen police and police cars in such a plentiful amount. They were patrolling what seemed like everywhere. I grew up accustomed to seeing planes in the sky. It was eerie not seeing a single plain in the sky. There was much less traffic on the roads and I am sure that people were glued to their televisions wondering if Los Angeles would be next. It made sense. New York had been hit, so why not us? I remember taking a shower and worrying what was going to happen to our nation. I’m glad we came a long way.