Farmer’s wife:
That morning happened like any other morning. I got up at
the crack of dawn to get breakfast ready. Steve came moping down the stars,
quarter to 5 I’d say, mumbling something that sounded like good morning. We ate
our breakfast quickly, put our barn clothes on, and headed out for the daily
milking. It must have been close to four hours later when I headed in to get
some house chores done. I mechanically turned on the small tv in the corner by
the sink as I started filling it with dishes. I didn’t pay much attention to
the screen at first, but slowly the words started registering in my head. I
turned my head towards the screen, where it stayed for a long time. On the
screen, I saw live footage of two passenger planes crashing into the World
Trade Center. It looked like the planes were directed at the building, making
it obvious that it wasn’t merely an accident. There was smoke everywhere. The
image kept replaying, showing one building smoking and fire emerging from the
top of it. As that was being shown, a second plane crashed into the building
next to the first tower and an explosion happened. I felt numb as I watched
this. The news caster said it looks like a terrorist attack. I don’t know how
she knew that. I didn’t know what that even meant. Standing in the kitchen of
an old farm house in Iowa, I couldn’t do anything but watch.
4th grader at school:
In the middle of our spelling test, we were told to line up
at the door. It was a really odd time to have a bathroom break. I didn’t even
think twice about it at the time. We were ushered into the school cafeteria,
where we sat on the floor, looking towards the large white wall with a blue
screen projected onto it. Once the entire school got there, Mr. Koyen got up
and began to talk. It must have been hard to tell a room full of elementary
kids about such a horrible thing. I remember him saying, “The image you see may
be scary to you, but history is being made right now, and it’s important for
you to see this.” He then turned to the television that had what seemed like a
ton of cords hooked up to it. Soon, the image from the tv was projected on the
wall and we began to watch. I don’t remember many details, because I was 9 at
the time; what I know now is all from watching it over and over again as I grew
up. I remember my teacher trying to stay calm and stone faced, but when I
looked to him for reassurance, he couldn’t give me any. Some kids were crying,
scared this would happen to our school. Other kids were laughing and pointing,
because the explosion looked so cool, like movies on tv. They were soon
corrected, being told it wasn’t make-believe; real people were getting hurt and
it wasn’t something to laugh at. I didn’t know how serious it was back then. I never really understood what would happen
next.
Soldier overseas:
I remember 9/11 vividly. I got up to deliver mail like I
always do. 2 years of training and I get deployed to be a mail man. I could
have done that back home. It probably would have been a little less dangerous.
Soon we were all summoned into the conference room where we were told what
happened. Being a soldier, we were supposed to have no emotion. There hadn’t
been a single tear in the room, whether or not anyone wanted to cry. Sadness
isn’t what I felt, I went straight to anger. It felt sickening to think that we
were thousands and thousands of miles away from our home country, trying to
protect it, and hijackers back home are able to fly two planes into the World
Trade Center right under our noses. I was pissed and I wanted revenge. We were
on the same continent as them, nice and close. They always say, “Payback’s a
bitch.” They were about to find out just how much of a bitch it really is.
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