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#28 | Sunday, September 16th 2001
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I was walking out of the Bean, the cafeteria at ACU, and happened to glance at a smoking building on television. I watched the report for a minute - it was just before 8:00, right after it had happened. I walked to my Bible class. The professor was taking prayer requests, and I said that we should pray about "The plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. They don't know if it was terrorists or what, but they're worried." Everyone looked at me like I was insane, but we prayed about it anyway.
The class ended at 9:20, and I walked through the lobby of the campus center to see if there was anything else about it on TV. I watched in horror as they replayed the first building collapsing. I said a few words to a friend, Travis, and he said "Want to skip class and watch this at my apartment?" (The Campus Center was very crowded, and you could hardly hear the audio). I said yes, and we went. For the next hour and a half I just watched. I watched the second tower fall live. It was incredible.
Chapel that day was prayer. Everyone simply sat in the colliseum and prayed about everything that had happened.
And we still pray. The sermon this morning was about where God was. Don't listen to the fools who'll tell you he caused this to happen as a result of the "immorality of America." America is immoral, but our God is perfect. God was with the firefighters as they raced _up_ the stairs to save people. God was with those who called family to tell them that they knew they were going to die, and that they loved them, from hijacked airplanes. And God is with the mourners now.
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-3
Dave McVey
Abilene Christian University
Abilene, Texas
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David | 18 | Texas
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#25 | Sunday, September 16th 2001
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As I was on my way to school at 7:20 in the morning I first heard the news. I didn't grasp right away what was happening and thought perhaps it was a joke. Then as I flipped through other stations I began to realize it wasn't. Not very long after I heard them reporting that the second tower had fallen. I could barely hold back the tears as I realized what was going on.
As soon as I got to school I called my mother and told her to turn on the TV and then went to class in utter shock and fear. Though I live on the West coast I was still afraid. Afraid of what might happen next, if more was to come.
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Jenn | 18 | California
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#20 | Sunday, September 16th 2001
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I was chatting online with some school friends, arranging plans for the weekend. Just after 4pm (9am, East Coast of US time), my mom called from her cell phone. "Can you check this out for me? I was listening to the radio...it said something about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center?" I thought she meant a small plane, like a two seater or something. I immediately went to Yahoo and saw the headline. I confirmed that my mom was right, and went back to chatting with my friends. I told them the news and they both couldn't believe it. About 20 minutes later, I decided to go watch CNN to find out what was happening. Turns out I just missed watching the second plane hit. I was just in shock. I remember saying over and over again: "Oh my God, oh my God" when the plane crashed into the Pentagon too. By the time the towers collapsed, I was just stunned. Then I found out about the PA crash, and my heart stopped. By brother lives in Pittsburgh. I started crying, as I thought about what could have happened to him. I called my mom on her cell phone again to tell her, and she had pretty much the same reaction as me.
It was a long afternoon for me...I was glued to the tv for about 5 hours. I remember vaguely thinking something like "Oh, I'm missing 'Friends'." Odd, how something stupid like that came to mind. I also remember thinking that this was scarily like Pearl Harbor, which I just watched a couple of weeks ago.
I was all alone at home, so I had noone to talk to about it. Actually several friends called me up and asked if I was watching the news. My uncle in Canada also called me up to see how I was. I appreciated that they thought of me, but I wasn't in the mood to talk about it yet.
My uncle called a second time, this time to do a 'conference call' with my brother. He's ok. *RELIEF!* I called my mom to tell her.
Eventually, my dad came home from work, and we just sat there watching tv for ages. My mom came home shortly after.
Later that night, I remembered I had maths homework for the next day. I tried to do it, but I only got about half way through...
*thoughts and prayers for you all*
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Vicky | 18 | Bahrain
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#15 | Sunday, September 16th 2001
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I'm not a morning person. Never have been, never will. I usually walk around for about two hours after waking up with the attitude of a very grumpy bear. It was about 9:50 EST when I stumbled into the computer room and flicked on the computer in an effort to try and wake myself up.
... e-mail, check, move on...
... Reblogger comment boxes, check, move on...
... random web sites, check, move on...
... live journal friends page, check, freeze ....
I don't remember which friend it was on my live journal list, but there in the middle of all the entries, there was one saying that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers with 6 already reported dead and 1000 injured. My groggy eyes began to widen. My initial reaction was, "Oh yeah right, you've GOT to be shitting me." with a roll of the eyes.
I read it again. It sunk in deeper this time. All sleepiness exited my body and my hair on my arms and neck immediately began to stand on end. I don't know if it was adrenaline suddenly rushing through my body, pure fear, or a mixture of both. I suddenly felt as if I was on pins and needles and needed to go vomit.
I tried to bring up the article on yahoo.com about it as well as the one on excite. Neither one seemed to work for some reason. I ran to the TV and flicked on CNN. There, before my eyes were the two WTC towers, smoking and on fire. I got dizzy and sunk down onto my bed. I knew it was no accident then... not two planes, not both towers.
My mother saw the shock on my face as I sunk down onto the bed as she was passing my room. She asked me what was the matter. I told her in a very quiet voice to go turn CNN on the TV in the living room and that the two WTC towers had just been hit by planes. She looked at me oddly and quickly walked out towards the living room. Once she had the TV on and the picture greeted her eyes, she uttered a simple, "Dear Jesus..."
I turned my TV off and headed for the living room to watch on the big screen television with her. We both sat there in utter amazement and horror. If that wasn't enough, they then switched to the coverage of the Pentagon attack. I began to cry. She tapped my arm and told me to go wake my step father. I did. He stumbled out of their bedroom, half awake. When he looked at the TV, he made a noise that was half a grunt, half a sigh, and half shock. He wasn't awake enough yet to muster the motor skills to speak.
I knew I had to get to class and I needed to move it, so I hesitantly pulled myself away from the TV with the information I had absorbed and got ready to go. It was Denny's turn to drive me up to the campus, so we hopped in the van and immediately turned on the radio. While we were in the car, pulling into the gas station, one of the towers collapsed. I can't remember if it was the first or second. Things became a blur. As we pulled into the Penn State Altoona parking lot, they announced that a large plane had gone down in Central Pennsylvania and they weren't sure if it was related or not. Central Pennsylvania, the land I call home. Fear ripped through my gut even more than it had. I blindly walked into my class from there.
All I wanted to do was go watch the news, but there I was, sitting in my religious studies class, trying in vain to listen to the rabbi who teaches the class. No one could really pay attention, nor could he. He dismissed us. The student center was packed around the TV. I didn't want to be around that many people because I knew if I watched, I would cry. I went and found an empty bench along the pond and sat quietly, listening to a CD and just staring out at the water. A preacher walked up to me and thanked me for having a cool spirit and asked me to try and spread it in this time of need. When he walked away, I broke down.
When I finally got to a TV that wasn't jam packed, which was quite hard, I found out that the PA plane had gone down in Somerset County... I've been to Somerset and it's surrounding areas many times. It's a 40 minute or so drive.
My mind began to "what if" itself to death "what if that plane had gone down 10 minutes later? It could have been in my backyard." "what if that plane hadn't have crashed into an empty field, where would it have hit?" I couldn't concentrate whatsoever from that point on. Luckily, my last day of the class was cancelled. I called Mom and she came and got me.
We both cried on the ride back to my house. Sometimes, things just hit way to close to home. This time, it not only did that, but changed me, inside, forever.
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Heather | 18 | Pennsylvania
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#12 | Saturday, September 15th 2001
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My stereo went off at 10 30. I was still half asleep, but I heard that someone had crashed a plane into the first building. Since I was still half asleep, it didn't really register. I thought someone had lost control of the plane.
Later when I got up, I don't remember if I heard it on television or heard it on the radio, but all the sudden I knew what had happened. My first concern was if my ex-boyfriend, Laurence, was alright. I figured he was fine because he goes to school over by Central Park. But then I realized that sometimes his school has unexpected days off, and in his free time he liked to go to the towers to look at the city. I called his apartment and his cabin upstate, but couldn't get through.
Later that day my friend came over, and we watched the news the rest of the night. I finally got through to Laurence's apartment and cabin, and left him messages.
The rest of the day went by - I don't remember if it went by slowly or quickly, but the time did pass. I cried and cried, wondering if Laurence was okay. To me, he's still like my boyfriend, minus the sexual talk and the title. It's like he's more than a best friend to me, even more than a boyfriend, so you can imagine how scared I was.
I wasn't only scared about what might have happened to him, but also that something might happen where I live. I live right near the Navy Base and where submarines are built, so I was just waiting for something to happen.
The next day I went out with a friend, and while I was gone, Laurence called and left a message on my answering machine. He was alright, but he said most of his neighboorhood was gone.
After I found out he was alright, I really didn't care anymore about what was going on. I had had enough of it. I went through mourning and worrying, and I was done with it. I was tired of turning on the television and radio, just to see/hear more about what had happened. I just wanted to get back to my normal life. And now that things are calming down, I can see that life will soon be the way it once was.
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Rachel | 18 | Connecticut
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