It is one of those things. One of the things you’ll never forget.  One of the things that everyone has a story about.  One of those things that you knew the moment that it happened how monumentally important it would be.  Yes, one of those things.

I remember where I was.  I had just walked into Spanish class.  I had only been there a couple other times.  I didn’t yet know my class mates, didn’t yet understand much about my teacher.  Someone ran in the door, panting, a boy… “They bombed it!” he yelled.  “They what?” the teacher asked skeptically.  “They bombed it!  The World Trade Center, it’s on fire!”  He was wrong, of course, technically.

Courtesy of Wikipedia. From top to bottom: the World Trade Center burning; a section of the Pentagon collapses; Flight 175 crashes into 2 WTC; a fireman requests help at Ground Zero; an engine from Flight 93 is recovered; Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.

The teacher turned white, not sure whether or not to believe the boy, she skeptically waved at him to take his seat.  Within a couple of moments the gasps could be heard from down the hall, students left classes, desks empty and books open and resting upon them.  Everyone was in shock.  The students from three classrooms gathered in my Spanish class, and after some whispering among the teachers, the television was turned on.  A heavy and tense silence washed over every person in the first moments we saw the images.  Tears trickled down faces; fingernails dug into book covers.

In that moment, even though we didn’t know each other we all knew we shared the same thoughts, the same fears and the same questions.   In that moment, we were more alike than we were different.  We were united by our horror, our fear, our pride. It is a feeling I hadn’t felt before or since: we were united as Americans.

Where were YOU on September 11, 2001? What is it you will always remember about that day? Please leave your story in the comments.