September 11, 2006
I can't believe it has been 5 years since that day. It has gone by so fast that its impact today is still almost as strong as it was on September 12, 2001. I felt like today was the day after 9/11. Everybody was in a somber mood, going about their business with no real effort or emotion, as if they were just going through the steps. Throughout the day I was constantly brought back to 9/11/01, and my vision of that day is still very clear in my head.
It was my junior year at Charter and it was 3rd period, which was a study hall for me. Every study hall I would go down to the library and cleverly find a way past the school proxy to play stupid flash games on the internet that were otherwise blocked. For some reason that day, I got bored of my games and returned to my usual study hall class in Mr. Biehl's room. When I walked into the room, everybody looked shocked and I heard the radio on. Mr. Biehl's room didn't have a TV, so when I heard that one of the World Trade Centers had been hit, I didn't make such a big deal about it. It wasn't until I went to my English class, where there was a TV, when I realized the magnitude of the situation. That was when I saw the 2nd tower get hit by a plane, and I knew at that time we were in trouble. I remember some of the students crying and frantically punching digits into their cell phone to find out information about their loved ones. I especially remember Jen Sun calling her dad in NYC to find out how he was doing. They let us out early that day, I remember the announcement coming moments after the last tower fell.
The bus ride home was full of crazy theories and speculation. "I heard there were 4 more planes that were highjacked" (we now know there were 2 others). "Yeah...I heard one was headed towards the nuclear power plant near us." (Nope.)
The rest of the day I spent glued to my TV at home. After 3-4 hours of watching the news on every single channel (just to see if I could get more info), I decided to go to 7-11 with a few friends of mine on bike. We bought the newspaper that just came out about the attack (I'm so pissed I don't have it anymore) and we just sat at a bench and read it. I remember looking up at the sky and seeing no airplanes at all flying. It was a perfectly clear day, there were no clouds at all, and basically the sky was completely blue with nothing but the sun in it. Usually, there are planes that pass through us to land at Philly, so they are lower than usual and are pretty loud, so not hearing anything was a change for us. I went home and we just watched more news all night. And that was my day.
Pretty eerie stuff. I was going to write more tonight, about what I'm going through and what I'm dealing with now, but as I was writing this I realized that what I'm feeling now doesn't mean shit compared to what September 11th brings to many people every year. It must suck to have a birthday on September 11th knowing that you could never really celebrate your birthday because of what happened in 2001 (sorry Matt and Gayle). So, I will save my bitching and complaining for tomorrow or another day and I will end this post by honoring those who lost their lives that day and that we should never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.
It was my junior year at Charter and it was 3rd period, which was a study hall for me. Every study hall I would go down to the library and cleverly find a way past the school proxy to play stupid flash games on the internet that were otherwise blocked. For some reason that day, I got bored of my games and returned to my usual study hall class in Mr. Biehl's room. When I walked into the room, everybody looked shocked and I heard the radio on. Mr. Biehl's room didn't have a TV, so when I heard that one of the World Trade Centers had been hit, I didn't make such a big deal about it. It wasn't until I went to my English class, where there was a TV, when I realized the magnitude of the situation. That was when I saw the 2nd tower get hit by a plane, and I knew at that time we were in trouble. I remember some of the students crying and frantically punching digits into their cell phone to find out information about their loved ones. I especially remember Jen Sun calling her dad in NYC to find out how he was doing. They let us out early that day, I remember the announcement coming moments after the last tower fell.
The bus ride home was full of crazy theories and speculation. "I heard there were 4 more planes that were highjacked" (we now know there were 2 others). "Yeah...I heard one was headed towards the nuclear power plant near us." (Nope.)
The rest of the day I spent glued to my TV at home. After 3-4 hours of watching the news on every single channel (just to see if I could get more info), I decided to go to 7-11 with a few friends of mine on bike. We bought the newspaper that just came out about the attack (I'm so pissed I don't have it anymore) and we just sat at a bench and read it. I remember looking up at the sky and seeing no airplanes at all flying. It was a perfectly clear day, there were no clouds at all, and basically the sky was completely blue with nothing but the sun in it. Usually, there are planes that pass through us to land at Philly, so they are lower than usual and are pretty loud, so not hearing anything was a change for us. I went home and we just watched more news all night. And that was my day.
Pretty eerie stuff. I was going to write more tonight, about what I'm going through and what I'm dealing with now, but as I was writing this I realized that what I'm feeling now doesn't mean shit compared to what September 11th brings to many people every year. It must suck to have a birthday on September 11th knowing that you could never really celebrate your birthday because of what happened in 2001 (sorry Matt and Gayle). So, I will save my bitching and complaining for tomorrow or another day and I will end this post by honoring those who lost their lives that day and that we should never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.
posted by A. Nguyen at 2:05 AM
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