The Twelth Anniversary

I can remember 9/11 faintly.

I has just started the sixth grade. I was, for a lack of a better term, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Despite having been told earlier in the year that I would not be allowed to head back to Brewster because I still had problems in school, I was optimistic about the future. The novelty of being in a new school had not worn off.

Then an announcement came over the PA. The principal or assistant principal told us to head down to the auditorium for an assembly. I thought it was going to be good news. It turned out I was wrong. The principal or assistant principal (I forget who it was) told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. They at that time (it was 9AM) thought that it was a Cessna that hit the towers. Needless to say the entire school was drenched in rumors through the day. There were rumors that there were other planes involved (which sadly was the case) and that the towers collapsed (also sadly was what happened).

Thankfully, I was spared tragedy on 9/11. My uncle, who could have possibly been on the flight that departed Newark (or not, as he flew Continental at that point) was in Arizona on business, and spent the day figuring out how to get back to the east. He rented a car and drove from Arizona to New Jersey. My stepdad was home by 1PM, driving the wrong way up one way streets to leave the city before the city became sealed off.

9/11 hit really close to home in another way. The father of a girl who I THINK I sat with at lunch in the first grade died while trying to rescue people in the towers. He was with the FDNY. And I recall a few people from my middle school in Westchester County who were dealing with the loss of a parent.

When two widebodied jetliners hit the Twin Towers, that all went down the toilet. Yes, the two Boeing 767s that hit the towers were twin aisle, widebody jetliners that in a pinch could fly across the Atlantic.

I just pray that we are a stronger and smarter nation post-9/11, but I'm questioning that. It's a tragic day and for the three thousand people who died that day may they rest in peace.