9-11

Every year, during this time, I always hear people talk about where they were when America was changed forever. Some people were at work, on the bus or overseas when the first plane hit the first tower. For me, I was in high school at the time, but that day I had skipped. Even though I was all the way over in Roswell, New Mexico, I remember thinking how eerily silent and weird how there were hardly any cops that my friend and I had to hide from. Once we made it to my house, my friend immediately got onto my computer to search for music and complain about the sounds my classic dial up connection made. I laughed and told her to just turn the volume down, as I put my dog outside. Once I returned, just a few minutes later, she was pale and trembling. I asked her what was wrong and all she said was, “Do you think world war 3 is happening?” I giggled and asked her why she would ask something like that. “Are you already high?” I joked. She didn't laugh back. She just pointed at the computer screen. When I looked to see what she was seeing, all I saw was a flaming tower and the words, “Planes crash into World Trade Center.” I left my friends side and turned on my TV, and just as I did, a replay of the planes hitting each tower was shown. I don't know if it was out of fear or desperation to find the truth, but I began frantically switching through the television stations. Literally every channel except, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney was covering what was believed to be a terrorist attack. At 14 years old I had never even heard that term before. My friend apparently had. “Do we go back to the school? What should we do?” she asked panicked. Just then, we heard the distant sounds of sirens. “Is it happening here?” she asked me. All I could say was, “I don't know.” After a few minutes of watching TV, our fears were only made worse but we did realize that whatever was happening it was very far away from us. She eventually decided to go home and I made her promise me that she'd call as soon as she got there, and thankfully she did. I had always loved to skip school, even though my mom hated it. That day, however, I was terrified and I didn't mind if my mom knew where I was. I called her around 11 am from home and she wasn't even mad. She just said that everything would be okay, “stay home” and that she would be there soon.

I hated that day so much. I hated it even more when I found out how many lives had been lost. I kept thinking about how the people in the towers and planes must have felt, the fear they had. The thought was unbearable. It still is today. My mom always says, “just pray.” So that's what I did and eventually my fear went away, but I still felt sadness and even anger for those who had lost their lives. Why them? What did they do to deserve that? It was so senseless and cowardly. I always see where one country was fighting with another. Or a person mad at an organization, belief, life choice, religion, or race. There are mass killings happening all over the world, Yemen, Africa, the middle east, Asia, and America just to name a few. A common thing in these killings is that innocent people always lose their lives. It's not fair. How is it just or right to involve people that have nothing to do with the fight? Most school and other mass shooting or bombing victims don't know the perpetrators. These perpetrators usually see themselves as victims, so it never made sense to me why they would want to create even more victims. It's just sad and pointless. If I learned anything from 9-11, it was to use my voice and to always recognize who the real enemy is. There are a lot of organizations that I have a problem with, but instead of using violence to be heard, I use my words to expose the wrongs that have been done to me. If those wrongs are corrected, than great! If they are not, than I'm okay with that too. Regardless of who you are or where you came from, we all have to meet our maker one day. I find peace in knowing this because one day my enemies and the enemies of Muslims, Gays, Christians, Blacks, Immigrants, etc, will have to explain their actions to the Most High. Trust me, there's never a good reason or excuse to hurt or kill innocent people.