911 Emergency Hotline... A Plane Sir? This Line Is For Emergencies Only, Thank You.

I didn't know what had happened and remembered thinking to myself, "wow, that guy must have lost his job." I didn't know then how serious it was. I found myself soon after staring at monitor in front of the activities office with some of my classmates trying to figure out what was going on. It didn't hit me until I saw the second plane crash into the second of the two WTC towers. As more and more information was released on TV I then realized the illusion-shattering event taking place. Uncle Sam wasn't as invincible as he seemed. In fact, he had one hell of a cut across his chest and it was beginning to bleed colors not only of red white and blue, but also green if you catch me. All we could do after that is sit and watch the buildings crumble as people hopelessly scrambled for whatever cover they could find and the heroes of the hour strong and proud took their places running back into the ash and dust looking for people who's lives they felt were more important then their own. .
             Most of all, I remember feeling my whole world falling down on top of me. Like a big shield had just been pierced like a finger to a gum bubble and that there were terrorists flying over my head, dive bombing everything I knew. I felt for the first time in my life really unsafe, with nowhere to hide, and nothing to protect me against the worst possible alternative. The world shut down after that attack, as we watched the antics of the Arabians and Iraqi who delighted in the successful attack on American soil. Schools, businesses, airlines, governments, banks. Everyone just sat and watched. Almost immediately the rescue efforts began. The Red Cross, Hospitals from Cities and States beyond were put on call and fireman, policeman, and the National Guard all in relief to try and offer some help to an almost completely helpless situation. The speeches themselves were not all the retraceable in memory to me because although I am well aware of what goes on in other countries, I"m still an American and if it happened to them, what makes me exempt? Some people decided to go on with business as planned, while others stopped dead in their tracks refusing to comprehend what they just saw.