Where Were You On 9/11?
Six Years Since Terrorists Attack America
Jennifer Duncan
Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: Cougar's Tale
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The heroes that day were firefighters, police and many others who risked their lives and, in some cases, died to save others. Images of people jumping from collapsing buildings children crying, without parents, are etched on our memories.
A spirit of patriotism emerged. Many lives, however, would never be the same. A war against terrorism was launched, and since September 11, 2001, Americans been reaching for peace.
Where were you on September 11? What were you doing when you heard about the disaster? How did it effect your life? Most of our students were in high school that day. Following are a few remembrances by CCC students.
Leigh Chamberlain, a CCC junior, says that because she was and is a military kid, September 11 changed her family.
"When September 11 occurred, I was 14 and a freshman in high school. When the first plane hit the World Trade Center tower, I was doing basic algebra. I can remember thinking that people were overreacting; I brushed it off as no big deal."
"It wasn't until we all gathered around a radio and listened to reporters frantically announcing that a second aircraft was flying towards the second tower that I realized something REALLY bad was happening. I guess the most significant way it impacted my life now, is having a father who is in the military. He has been gone constantly, mostly at his base, working long hours. But also he was deployed to the Middle East."
"Even now, six years later, there's always the possibility he will be deployed again. Other than that, September 11 proved to me, and continues to prove with the death of soldiers, the brevity of life as soldiers die in the Middle East."
Joy Morrill, a CCC sophomore, was also in class.
"I was at school. They announced that one of the twin towers had been hit by airplanes. I did not even know what the twin towers were. Since I was in history class, we turned on the news. On the blurry TV screen we heard the newscasters suggest that the airplane had gotten off course."
"Then we heard the news that the second twin tower was hit. I remember the moment when they said, 'This is most likely a terrorist attack on the United States.' My heart dropped to the ground; the safety I had always felt was stripped away. But then, my life was not affected because no one I knew was killed or injured; it became a distant thing."
Becki Jo Wood, a CCC junior, also remembers that fateful day.
"On September 11, I was in my morning math class. One of our secretaries came in to tell us that two planes had hit the World Trade Center. We all just stood there in stunned silence for a few minutes. Some of us didn't know what the World Trade Center was or what the towers looked like. We soon learned, however."
Along with a great deal of sadness, Americans felt angry. Says Wood, "The other thing I remember about was feeling intensely angry, more than I had ever experienced. September 11 was my first taste of real anger. I simmered with a hatred for those who had taken away our safety and our security. Even now thinking back six years, I still grow angry at the militant, radical Islamists who took so much away from us and left so many families with a gaping hole of grief and loss."
Christians know that God was there that day, that he knew what was happening and what was going to happen in the following days, months and years. With that knowledge, Christians can find comfort.
Chamberlain says "Often, I'm reminded of David's words in Psalm 39:4: 'Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.'"
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