Remembering 9/11

I was just a 16 year old teen, a sophomore in high school, when the attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon happened. I remember waking up to a sunny, beautiful day. I get ready for school and walk downstairs to get some breakfast. My dad turns on the TV and switches to the news channel as he usually does. It is there when I see the images that would go on to haunt me ten years later.

I remember seeing the breaking news bug at the bottom of the screen with the report that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I only saw the plume of smoke rising from at least one of the towers. I stared intensely at the screen not fully comprehending what had happened.

When I arrived to school I remember walking to my first class of the day and entering the classroom where I saw my teacher with a very solemn look on his face as he stared into the television screen. We spent the majority of the class watching the news learning of new information about the attacks as it became available.

Ten years later and I still remember where I was and what I was doing as though it was yesterday. The will take the images I saw that day with me forever, and certainly America will never forget the events of September 11, 2001.

To all the men and women that perished that day, and those of the Armed Forces that have given their lives in the ten years following the attacks, we honor your memory and remember the great times we had you with us on this earth.