Six years ago today...

[Drusilla]

I was in middle school, out running on the track when the first plane hit... I came back inside before the end of the period for some reason that I can't remember, and I heard one of the coaches on the phone talking about something happening in New York. The talk in the locker room was mostly about how it was probably some power outage, no big deal, but I was worried. At the time, I had three relatives living and working in NYC.

I went to my next period (US History, ironically) and sat down just in time to see the second tower fall live, not one of the reruns... It was like everything just stopped for me. I knew that my cousin would have been in that part of Manhattan at the time, and I freaked. I remember people being pulled out of school for the rest of the day, and the sub in study hall being an ass and not letting us watch the news.

I found out three days later that my cousin hadn't just been in Manhattan, but she was under the towers in the subway station when the planes hit. She not only got out, but helped a blind man get to safety as well. There were so many stories of people reaching out to strangers in the panic and helping each other... and I think those are the stories that tell of the true American spirit. Even in a city notorious for the selfish and antisocial tendencies of many of its citizens, people were able to pull together to get through the dark time. The same for the people who managed to bring down the plane in Pennsylvania. They knew that they weren't going to make it, but they had a chance to insure that no one else had to die, and they took it.

So much in our world today is about us versus them, and it shouldn't be. We're all human, though we come from different cultures and have different stories. It's a shame that this is all but forgotten outside of tragedy.

[Heald]

I was getting a train back home when it happened. To be honest, it really didn't phase me; terrorism was and still is a threat that England is constantly at threat from (what with Irish Nationalists plotting against England since the 1920s) and it happened in a far-off country, although it did make me think that perhaps England might come under attack in the coming days. Thankfully, weeks passed and no attacks. Then Tony Blair goes against Parliament and decides to make England number one on the terrorist shit-list with his little misadventure into the Middle East. Wanker. The families of the 52 victims of the 7/7 attacks can thank him for their deaths.

Speaking of 7/7, I can sympathise with those who had family in Manhattan at the time; much of my immediate and extended family works in London and I can understand perfectly what it feels like when you find out a loved one could have been killed in an attack.

[Toxicity]

I was probably among the many who didn't realize until quite later, given that the only true words in regards to the day were on the news. My realization came from all of the politically-driven messages on the shirts of some on campus, many supporting the administration's decisions and thoughts while an equal, if not higher, amount went against it. But I still remember that day...

I was in seventh grade at the time, back in Kentucky. I remember everything was just calm that morning for my first class that day, Band, and then there was a bit of an unusual rush in the hallways. I didn't understand what was going on either until I managed to get into English, and saw the television on. There were constant repeats of the first crash, and then the second crash happened not too long after class started, in which we just watched and waited. We were all confused, and a little scared.

I remember hearing a lot of rumors more than I did the actual events. As in, the possibility of something happening in our part of Kentucky - when the main concern, the gold vault in Fort Knox, was a long way's southwest of our town. I didn't quite understand it either, probably because of the rush, and it shocks me how much six years can change anything. Including my mom's words when I got home that day of how she knew there would be a deployment pretty soon - not even a month, and troops were sent to Afghanistan. And the months afterwards were brutal for a small handful of classmates I knew pretty well, including a Lebanese girl and Indian boy.

And even then, I never heard much of the true selflessness that went on in the following days, weeks, and months. I still assume it was because the media, probably my only source at that time, mentioned it in passing; all was overshadowed by the praises and criticism of deployment, and the constant run-in of how there is progress when others say otherwise. It seems like that still goes on now, which creates the case of the mixed feelings about the whole event.

All I can say is hopefully things will change in the near future, maybe this time for the better. And even then, it has to take a lot of understanding on both sides of the spectrum.