It was a Tuesday morning around 9:40 on September the 11. What I was about to hear was something I had never expected; never even dreamed about. A teacher walked into the in-school suspension room, where I had to be all day. He was the first to make me aware that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I had no idea there was going to be another plane crash into the other tower and even more surprisingly, that it was a terrorist attack. I never even imagined that in this day and age something so tragic could ever take place.

In the AES room no one is allowed to go in or out other than the teacher, or the teacher who is covering for him on his periods off. When the covering teacher left and the main teacher returned, I learned that the Pentagon had also been hit. All I could think about was my brother Josh, who attends the George Washington University in Washington DC.

My first time out of that room all day was to call my brother to make sure he was okay, which was around 10:30. I have never seen anything like it; so many frantic students. There were so many running around, crying hysterically, worried that their parent, relatives or friends would not make it out of the Towers alive. I then learned about the collapsing of both towers.

I was relieved to know that my brother was okay after speaking with my Dad’s secretary who said she received an e-mail from Josh because the cellular telephones were not working. He said that he could see the Pentagon on fire and the University had ordered all of the students into the basement of the student center for safety. The entire incident was not real to me for a while . It still isn’t. I never thought that in this time in our history, with all of our technology, something like the WTC terrorist attacks could happen. It is scary to think about and even scarier to imagine.

When I read about the Holocaust and heard real people tell their stories, I was scared and sad; I thought I was able to imagine what it was like, but I was wrong. I can’t even begin to comprehend how 6 million Jewish people were killed in that war and I sit here and wonder if the world will ever be the same when 6,453 Americans are missing. Nothing worse than this tragedy could happen and the worst part is that no one can assure me that I will be okay and I have no idea what will happen in the future. What I do know is that we are a strong country who will do the best we can to save our citizens. We are a free country and we will stand united until the end. No one can tear us down.

by EL age 17