I'll Never Forget

I'll never forget how beautiful that Tuesday morning in September was.

I'll never forget when the principal came on the loudspeaker at around 9:40. It was the second week of school everyone was still trying to get back into the swing of things. I was in Mr. Ahlsen's tenth grade Chemistry class when Mr. Touretz announced that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. I can't remember for sure whether he said the word "terrorism." But I remember everyone being confused and shocked and sort of silent.

I'll never forget listening to WCBS 880 on the radio shortly after that announcement. At 9:59, the anchor reported that the South Tower had just collapsed. We all just looked at each other. I was eager to find out how it was being covered on TV, being the news junkie that I was (and still am).

I'll never forget seeing dozens of students crying outside the guidance and main offices. The change of periods had been delayed but then they tried to have the school resume with the usual schedule. This was the day before most students had cell phones and so they were lining up to get in touch with their family. Some would eventually learn that their parents were not coming home.

I'll never forget the constant announcements into classrooms asking for specific students to report to the main office to go home. Throughout the day, classes became emptier and emptier. Some teachers tried to go about their usual routine. Mr. Phillips still had us work on some computer programming. Mrs. O'Brien tried to teach a little.

I'll never forget the misinformation of that day. My global history teacher Mr. Baierlein tried to clear up some of the misinformation and announced that, yes, two buildings in the World Trade Center had collapsed but that it was NOT the Twin Towers. (He apologized to us the next day.) There were reports that the State Department had been car bombed and other planes were still up in the air. It seemed like the attacks would never end.

I'll never forget coming home off the bus and rushing to watch the news coverage. This was the first time I was seeing the plane crash, the buildings crumbling, the people running away from the dust cloud, the new skyline and the damage at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA. It was one thing to hear about it but it was so much more disturbing to actually see it.

I'll never forget being home with my sister that evening while my parents were out playing tennis. We heard planes overhead and that was scary considering that all commercial flights had been grounded. We quickly realized that they were fighter jets, which was both comforting and unnerving at the same time.

I'll never forget how annoyed I was with the way the middle school handled the day. My sister said they made an announcement telling all teachers to lock their doors and windows but said nothing more for a little while. That's what you say when there's a person running around the building with a gun. What a way to create panic.

I'll never forget watching the CBS Evening News with my sister and seeing close-up video of a person jumping out of one of the Twin Towers. We had heard about how people had jumped that morning but that was the first (and last) time I actually saw it.

I'll never forget the photos at Ground Zero of missing loved ones.

I'll never forget how no survivors were found after the first few hours. Later that week, Mr. Touretz tried to announce some good news to the school: A survivor had been found at the World Trade Center site. It turned out not to be the case -- it was a rescuer who had fallen and needed to be rescued. It was not someone from the initial collapses.

I'll never forget how we could smell the smoke from the World Trade Center fires by that Friday, even all the way out here in Suffolk County. The local weather reports on the news included in what direction the wind was pushing that plume of smoke. The schools even had to cancel outdoor activities that day because of the poor air quality.

I'll never forget the rumors that more attacks were imminent. There was a widely reported story a few weekends after 9/11 that an attack on Boston was soon to happen. It seemed like we would never be free anymore.

I'll never forget how the number of those killed kept decreasing as duplicate records were merged, and how I hoped that it would go all the way down to zero.

I'll never forget the stories of heroism on United Airlines Flight 93 and Todd Beamer's "Let's roll."

I'll never forget the November 12th American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Queens and how it made us think the terrorists had struck again.

I'll never forget the many attempted attacks since and how lucky we've been that none of them have been successful.

I'll never forget the sacrifice of thousands of military members and their families that fight in the wars overseas to keep us safe at home.

I'll never forget.