9-11-2001

So everyone says "Never Forget 9/11" I couldn't forget that day if I wanted. 9/11 is one memory I can remember pretty well.

I got up for work that morning. I was living in Vegas and I worked for a timeshare company in the collections department. I was their admin. I walked into the living room of the 4 bedroom house I rented with my mom and step- dad. My grandparents were in town visiting from Parhump, NV. Everyone, but my 2 kids, were in the living room glued to the television. My grandmother was crying and my grandfather was sitting next to her holding her hand. On my step-dad's big screen television was the North Tower of the WTC on fire. I wasn't in shock as I much as I just thought it was a bad flight and wasn't a terrorist act. That it was just a simple plane crash. Before our eyes we watched the second plane crash into the South Tower of the WTC. We all gasped and stared in shock at the screen.

I had been reading the series "Left Behind" and I freaked. I mean whose first thought would have been terrorists  acts. I thought the rapture had come and that was the excuse for the planes crashing into the buildings. I ran to check and see that my kids were in bed. I know looking back now that it was stupid, but hey I was into book 5 of that series and it just made sense to me at the time.

I went back into the living room and we watched the plane crash over and over again. (The news just kept showing it and we couldn't take our eyes off of it.) The news broke away and told us about the Pentagon being attacked. Then in shock we watched the WTC tower fall. We heard about the crash of Flight 93 and hoped that there wouldn't be anymore that day.

I rode to work with my step-dad barely talking. I was in such shock. My boss had me call everyone and tell them not to come into work. I had a lunch date that day so I had my step-dad stop by my dates work so that I could tell him I wasn't at work for that day and I had to cancel. He came by my house after work and we all watched on the television and talked about what we saw.

I cried that night when I went to bed. I just couldn't believe what I had saw. I was scared for my children in a world like this. All I could think was would there be more attacks. Were my family and friends going to be safe?

9/11 changed America because it wasn't an attack on the military, but an attack on American people. People just going about their everyday lives and they were killed by an act of terrorism. An act by an extreme religious group. Everything in the United States changed. People didn't feel safe anymore. I don't know how safe the United States feels now. I think terrorism and terrorist will always worry the people of the United States.

I think everyone in the whole world was effected by 9/11. Other countries saw that America could be attacked and if they could other countries could be too. Other countries worried about the fact that America was attacked and they could be next.

The world is a scary place. Thanks to Al-Qaeda America learned that they aren't as safe as they thought they were.