To start off, I would like to wish a happy birthday to Noka.
Today, September 11, 2009, is the eighth anniversary of a very bad terrorist attack. There were many attacks. One was on the Pentagon in Washington D.C. This hijacked plane managed to hit the building, although it has now been repaired.
The second hijacked plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Authorities verified that the plane was headed for Washington D.C. It is not known which building would have been attacked-the Capitol Building, the White House, or another building.
Two more hijacked planes hit their targets in New York City, where I live. The first hit the World Trade Center 1 building. It hit the top floors of the building, starting a huge fire, smoke going throughout the building. After about 17 minutes, a second hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center 7 building. It hit at around the lower to middle area of the building, also causing a huge fire with smoke going throughout the building. By now, the street and block were covered with smoke. Black smoke could be seen coming from Manhattan’s direction for miles. Around 3 minutes after the World Trade Center 7 building was hit by the second hijacked plane, the World Trade Center 1 building collapsed. Later on, so did the World Trade Center 7 building.
This terrorist attack was planned by the terrorist organization known as “Al-Queda.” Now it is the 8th year anniversary of this terrible day. This day will be, in Ted Roosevelt’s words, infamous forever. This means that this day will be known forever for something bad, just like December 7th, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Today, 9/11/2009, I write this post, commemorating all who died in the terrorist attacks, all who were injured in these attacks, and all who’s family was hurt by an injury or death from these attacks. Please take a moment of silence, remembering all who died or were injured, all who were effected, and the World Trade Center, also known as the “Twin Towers.”
On this day, I recall what I saw in my kindergarten class.
After the ground shook, and a tremendous boom was heard, my class looked out the window from our classroom window. All we saw was a good amount of black smoke. 17 minutes later, the smoke increased, the ground shook, and another loud “ka-boom” was heard. Although, in between these 17 minutes, my principal ran room to room, talking to the teachers and only the teachers. As she came running into my classroom out of breath, even us 5 year-olds could tell that something was wrong. My teacher gasped, and started to cry.
20 minutes after the first time the ground shook, the ground shook again, and some smoke increased then vanished. A little while after, this happened again, and eventually nearly all of the black smoke disappeared. The principal came back in, and this time talked to us, the children. Her question was simple. “Do any of you have relatives in the Twin Towers?” she asked. A few raised their hands. After that day, I have never seen them-they most likely moved. School ended early, and the next day, school remained closed. That night, my parents told me and my twin brother of the bad news-the Twin Towers had been destroyed.
Although this was my day, it was not my sister’s. As she recalls it, she was a senior in middle school-a normal 8th grader getting used to school after the summer, and getting used to her new teachers. When the first boom went off, the children were confused, as were the teachers. A weird code was heard over the speakers, obviously to the school staff. The teachers then locked all of the doors, closed all of the windows, and waited. 15 minutes later, they moved to a different classroom, and again locked the doors. This repeated many times. Then, her school, which is now my middle school, closed for that day and the next day.
These are only two accounts of the day September 11, 2001. Many people have different stories, none of which were happy.
Now, 8 years after the attack, 8 years after my sister was in 8th grade, my twin brother and I are in 8th grade.
My principal spoke 10 words about this being the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, then changed the subject. There was no moment of silence, which all of the teachers and students found weird-so we had our own moment of silence after the principal stopped talking over the loud-speaker.
This infamous day, maybe even more infamous than December 7th, the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii which started World War II, was 8 years earlier than today. Today, after watching the news, I have found out that 4 members of the terrorist Taliban group were arrested by Pakistan-a sign that both West and East are now going against terrorism. This is a very good sign. You see, many believe that the Taliban were going to try to overthrow the Afghanistan and Pakistan governments-gaining control of nuclear, or atomic, weaponry. This would signal World War III, maybe even the end of the world because of the nuclear bomb use. This arrest of 4 Taliban members shows that everything will be ok. We are not yet going into The Nuclear War (World War III), or the end of the world.
The 7 WTC building was completed in 2006. The 1 WTC building has now started construction. It will be 1776 feet tall.
Today, I won’t put my title.
~Ennbay~
9/11
