Remembering Sept 11th

Basically my whole past is a big fat blur - memories enveloped in clouds of mist and fog seep in into my conscious once in a while but one of the most vivid memories I have is on the day of 9/11. I remember that I was in my grade 12 Biology class discussing the digestive system - I was in the second row of seats in the front of the classroom. My red headed teacher was lecturing as we did fill-in-the-blanks work and the morning was sunny and calm. I remember looking out the window, staring at the evergreen trees and thinking how very beautiful it was- when suddenly the girl in front of me turned to her friend and said ‘Did you hear about the attacks this morning?’. Her friend replied with a confused look ‘No, what are you talking about?’. Then the first girl said ‘The twin towers are down. America was attacked by terrorists, It’s all over the news’.

I remember the second girl being quite for a while, digesting this news. A few seconds later, she put her head down on the desk and started sobbing quietly, mumbling over and over again ‘we’re going to die, America was attacked, we’re all going to die’.

I was watching them in silence, not knowing what they were talking about. I didn’t know what the Twin Towers were and hardly even knew where New York was - I knew it was in America but I couldn’t show it to you on a map if you payed me. I was still confused and what those girls said stayed with me throughout the whole day. After the last bell rang- I quickly made for home. My mom was on the phone, talking in hushed tones, the TV blaring with CNN and FOX news, each station seemingly vying with each other, each trying to outdo one another in showing images of horror, death, and destruction. I remember the banner underneath CNN that for weeks ran ‘America Under Attack’. I probably sat and watched for hours - disbelief coursing through me. I couldn’t believe that those planes went into the buildings - It almost looked like an Oscar worthy Hollywood special effect.

That day, the world was never the same again. It changed for the victims, for America, and all Muslims. September 2001 has another meaning for me also - 10 days after the attack, my father passed away in the hospital.