Today is 9/11/14. It's been 13 years since the terrorist attack on the twin towers in NYC. I will never forget where I was the morning and what I was doing. It was my freshman year at Texas Tech and I was getting ready for my 0900 Political Science class - a class that Nick just happened to be in too! Anyway, my roommate. Kendra and I would switch between a Good Morning America and the Today show. I believe that morning it was on the Today show. I turned the tv on as I was getting ready and heard the terrible news. I was flabbergasted. This could not be real.
I was half paying attention to what I was putting on to wear and mainly focusing on the tv when I saw the second plane fly into the second tower. Pure shock ran through me. I had to sit down.
It was still early in the school year and I didn't want to miss class so I had to head out. My class was in Holden Hall. About a 10 minute walk from my dorm. Since I was going to Poly Sci, I thought we would either watch the footage as this was history in the making, or we would discuss what was going on or both. None of that happened. Dr. Lee was the professor and she barely acknowledged what was going on. I was fuming and could not wait to get back to my dorm and watch more coverage.
I couldn't walk home fast enough. I threw my backpack on the floor and turned the tv back on. There was a lot that had happened in the last hour and a half that I had been in class. There was a third plane that had hit the Pentagon. This was especially terrifying to me because my dad used to work there.
It got worse. My mom was on her two weeks for the a Naval Reserves and was in Chicago. The entire base was on lock down and there was yet a fourth plane crash in Pennsylvania. I was scared that my family was in three different places and no one could comfort one another.
Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day and my sorority sisters all got together to watch the coverage. We were all seeking comfort from each other. We prayed for those directly affected by the terrorist and prayed for an answer to what and why this had happened.
Some facts about September 11, 2001
It was the deadliest day in history for New York City firefighters and paramedics. 343 were killed along with 23 NYC police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers.
Only 6 people in the World Trade Center Towers at the time of their collapse survived. And almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries - a lot of them were severe.
125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.
All 45 people on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania passed away.
President George W Bush addressed the nation that night. And he said, " Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."
9/11/01 is a day I will never forget. My heart and prayers go out to all of those who lost loved ones, to those who were hurt and to America. That we may always remember that freedom is not free and we are blessed to be Americans.
-Xoxo,
Tiffany
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