9/11/2001

I was 15-years-old and a sophomore at North Catholic high school on 9/11/2001. I was sitting near the windows inside my world history class, admiring what a beautiful day it was. I'll never forget how blue and clear the sky was on 9/11. In the middle of my class lecture, my Spanish teacher came frantically into the room and told my teacher that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers in New York. The television was put on but I don't quite remember watching the coverage; just the image of smoke billowing from the top of the tower remains etched in my memory. Most students talked amongst themselves. One student in particular (who later went on to kill 3 innocent Pittsburgh police officers) was in my classroom. He was one of the most intelligent kids in my grade. I'll never forget his reaction. To this day, his stands out more than my own. He was enraged and proclaimed that "there will be more attacks." Sure enough, there was.

As the morning went on, I don't think our teachers really knew what to make of it all. In my next period, the TV was shut off and I had no clue what was happening. My older sister came to get me while I was distractingly sitting in class. She informed me that another plane had hit the towers and that there was allegedly a plane that flew over Pittsburgh. The rumors were that this plane may have also been hijacked. Because I didn't know where the plane had originated from, I worried that I may have known someone on board. I also feared that the plane could crash in downtown Pittsburgh (my high school was located nearby).

My father is a commander at 911 in Pittsburgh, so my sister called to ask if we could come home. A Vietnam War veteran, he had seen a lot of crazy things in his life. He wanted us to stay in school but we chose to go home anyway. When I got home from school early, I watched a bit of coverage but so much was unclear. I don't remember if I heard about the Pentagon attacks and Shanksville as it happened or if I took a nap and awoke to find out the news. Ten years later and things are starting to get fuzzy.

As horrific as 9/11 was for so many people, I was fortunate to not know anyone directly who passed away. At the time, I don't think I even knew anyone who knew someone who died. But regardless if I knew someone or not, the entire country was effected on that September day. I have strong opinions about what truly happened but I won't get into the details in this post. Most importantly, I am grateful to all the people who risked their lives to save others- the firefighters, police officers, paramedics, first responders, good Samaritans and every day heroes. The actions that happened on 9/11 were despicable but Americans reacted in the strongest way possible. We came together as a nation and I'll never forget our resiliency.











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