Young Writers Society

About five years ago, I was still in casts from a recent surgery. I didn't know the date then, it was early on the West Coast of America. I went downstairs to play video games.

I turned on the TV. It was tuned to Fox News. And so it was that I was introduced to the day of September 11, 2001.

Like many Americans, the TV stayed on the news. I saw countless replays of the buildings getting hit, and after a little time, the collapse of the twin towers. There were reports of Flight 93 and there was footage of the Pentagon burning.

I was (and to an extent, I still am) in a state of shock. I knew that people had died, the fact was that it made my stomach turn into all sorts of odd knots. It was no one I knew, but that didn't seem to matter. What mattered was that America had been attacked.

Before that time, I hadn't really paid much attention to terrorism. It was out there, but I didn't fully understand what was happening. Terrorism was a crime in those days, not a war. 9/11 changed all that. What it did for me was to put an exclamation mark on the word "terrorism." It opened the eyes of a tolerant nation to an intolerant belief: that the West was the cause of all evil.

The most horrible thing I saw that day was when the TV switched to the Mexican TV station. They showed images of people leaping out of windows, just falling. It's one thing to see buildings come down, it's another to see people come down. I'm certain that the images I saw that day will haunt me the rest of my life. Months afterward, I noted that I looked at a clock and it would be 9:11. Just seeing that was enough to bring the knots back.

These last few years, I've avoided remembering 9/11. It just brings the knots back and all the terrible memories. I think it is time to look back and remember it all. Americans shouldn't forget what happened on that day, it is imperative that we don't. We realized how dangerous it is to ignore threats, instead of addressing them.

Never forget.

I know what you mean Griffin, it was just all so terrible, and even not being an American being here on this small island where nothing could possibly happen, 9/11 is still the scariest memory I have which affected the whole world, not by nature, by people and hate...Where was the love ?

I know what you mean. 9/11 is something I don't think I ever will forget. I was only ten then so I remember turning on the tv and I cried when I what was happening. Five years have passed and it's still not any easier to forget what happened that day.

It's suitably gloomy today in DC. We've had dark overcast skies all day long and a slight drizzle that never ceases or increases. Going to work this morning was suitably depressing as it seemed like half the people were wearing black (although I'm pretty sure that's normal anyhow; just didn't take notice of it). But, you also had the bell ringing at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church on Capitol Hill. It rung about every twenty seconds and let out a long, deep, mournful type of ring. It was all very surreal walking to work today.

Five years ago I was in my freshman year of college and remember it perfectly. I didn't have class that day until noon so I slept in until 10:46, and would've slept for longer if my roommate hadn't come back from his classes at that time. I didn't believe him when he told me what happened, and it was all kind of scary then because no one knew what was going on. There were reports that the US Capitol building and White House were attacked as well. There were also reports that there were more hijacked airplanes in the sky than just the four. My family back in Bethesda decided to stay put, but they were a lot of other families that decided to evacuate the DC area.

Hahaha... diary entry then.

September 11, 2001 AD (9/11)

Dear Diary,

I am afraid WWIII has begun.

Today I remember waking up and staying in my warm bed, thinking today was going to be usual.

At around 7:30, I hear Joe knocking on our doors. “Turn on the satellite,” he hisses to Mom and Dad. Joe hurried to Justine’s room and told her that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC. I thought he was joking. I turned on the radio, and sure enough even 107.9 talked about it. Even right now at 9:26 PM they are switching to music to talk.

Anyhow, I’m starting to get scared. I go downstairs, and I am confronted by the scenes of the Twin Towers collapsing, the Pentagon in smoke, and the White House being evacuated. I stared at the news in horror for a couple of hours. My mom was a little worried, so she made us breakfast, including crumb cake.

I’m still shaken. The day seemed like a dream, yet it wasn’t. My thoughts were drifting, and I didn’t think of much, yet I know what happened. I am half afraid for myself and family and half sorry for the families and the people died. It’s estimated at 10,000. I think it will be more.

At least there’s one good thing about it; the nation is coming together. Democrats and Republicans are joined together. The people are outraged at what has happened, and the president has vowed revenge. Like Admiral Yamamoto said when Pearl Harbor was bombed, “We have awaken a sleeping giant and filled it with terrible resolve.” History repeats itself, doesn’t it?

Thank God I don’t have anyone I know in those flights and buildings. If I did, I would be a stammering idiot.

So who did this terrible deed? The media says it’s a terrorist attack. I believe it is more than that. It is an organized group that has thought about this for a long time and has the nations backing it up, particularly the Palestinians.

I can’t believe the nerve of those people! They were dancing in the streets when they heard the news.

Many nations have so far offered their condolences. The nations that will support us wholeheartedly if we go to war are: Germany; Italy; England; and France. God bless these nations and look after them!

America is all fired up again. We will do whatever it takes to defeat these cowards. We will show them that God has his eye on us and will always protect us if we are just. They will pay for killing thousands of innocent people. America will make sure of it!

---

Yeah. I was actually scared stiff and try to convince myself it would be all right. It was terrifying. I half-expected the planes to come into San Francisco, to have a plume of smoke surrounding our area.

That whole day was sort of dead. I can't imagine why anybody would do such a thing... there were BABIES on some of the planes, for God's sake! And I dunno. It seems strange now. Something's totally messed up with it.

It's been stated before, but it's really true: 9/11 is this generation's JFK assassination. Everyone who was alive during JFK's assiniation remembers exactly what they were doing when they found out... everyone now remembers exactly what they were doing when they heard about the World Trade Centers.

I was home alone. My neighbor called and left a message on our machine that said, "Hey... I think this might be it... This might be the end..." Being a eleven and home alone and have a person tell you that the apocoplyse was coming... yeah...

And finding out the reality of things when my dad called a few minutes later wasn't much better. The first thing that I saw when I turned on the television was seeing people jump out of the top stories of the second tower. Like Grif, the image has stayed with me.

One of the men on Flight 93 was the son of a member of our church. I think that was one of the hardest parts for me... I hurts to know that 3,000 people died... but it really hurts to know that somebody you KNEW died. My heart goes out to anyone who had an even closer relation than I did to someone who died in the attacks.

Never Forget.

Excerpt from my journal ( I apologize if this offends anyone, but the mind works in mysterious ways, after all):

Today, I have seen hate manifested.

Today, the sky came crashing down.

Today, a cry for vengence will not go unanswered.

It is said that the evil which one puts into the universe comes back upon one three fold. An' ye harm none. It is our greatest law. An' ye harm none. And which side of the law of three has been played out on today's stage? Is there vengence that can bring down three fold what an angry peoples have chosen to do to us? Or is this our reckoning? What evils have we place into the universe, that this must balance them?

I'm confused. Dearest lady, I am.

Words I can't understand bounce around in an empty brain. Words I fear will be the end to us all. The rules have changed, and for some reason we failed to take notice.

Do we point to corpses and say "them!"? Do we chase ghosts? Do we even know what to do now? How do we proceed? How can anyone go on, knowing the magnitude of hate this earth contains?

One thing is absolutely certain--we, the human race, shall never be the same again.

A little while ago, I was reading about the sociological theory of generations: how "Generation X" and "Generation Y" are separated not by regimented age gaps, but by the type and atmosphere of the world they are born into. For the last generation, the defining moment was the falling of the Berlin Wall: those who remember it and - more importantly - how it changed the world are one generation, those who do not are another, forever divided by one of the world's turning points.

For the current generation and the next, 9/11 may well be that moment. Looking back - hindsight is, as always, a painful operation - we can clearly see the Before and After picture of the world: the 90s and their briefly kindled hope, we were to learn, were gone, and a new age of cynicism and fear was dawning.

In their theory, Howe and Strauss also indicate that Generations are cyclical, and that the coming generation will likely be the next "silent generation"; the withdrawn, cautious and fearful repeat of the Depression Era gang of the 20s and 30s. For people bringing their children into this post-9/11 world of Orwell's "constant war", the fear of simply being afraid must be overwhelming. How can one make the right choices for oneself or family when everything seems so unsure? When the standpoints of politics, religion and economy are fluctuating dangerously, how can anyone take a firm stand?

It is important to remember that every generation stands on a crossroads: a fulcrum point of history, where it has one opportunity to change the world for better or for worse. In the aftermath of 9/11, it is important to try and understand how we made our choice: with events past and still in motion, can we honestly say that we made the right decisions? That the world today is a better place because of how we reacted to the most important world event of our generation?

Before much more time has passed, we will have come and gone: we "won't be the young ones very long", as the old song goes. Our legacy, such as it is, will be twofold: the one is already gone, and we will be judged according to it, but the other is yet to be, for most of us.
There's a famous Crosby, Stills and Nash song that says "raise your children well". In a world where we have the choice of sitting around and moaning about what we could have done, we might just forget that the next generation will have problems of its own to deal with. If we couldn't deliver them a world of peace to grow up in, perhaps - perhaps! - we can teach them to do it for themselves.

9/11 was a turning point in the world, there can be no doubting that. All that remains to be seen is the future.

Just like always.

Being Irish, it's strange that I would be so effected by September the 11th. I was in French class when I found out. Our teacher asked if we knew anybody in or going to New York at the time. Almost everybody knew somebody, I guess New York is that kind of city. Although he knew how it would effect his class of eleven- and twelve- year olds, he turned on the news in time for us to see the second attack. I suppose he had to, it would have been worse not to know.

I didn't cry then. I was far to shocked to even contemplate what was happening at the time. Later the tears came, later the anger, later the fear.

Now, however, what shocks me almost more than the horror of that day, is the subsequent horror that has been unleashed upon the world in its wake. The war on terror is the most terrifying phenomenon I have witnessed, albeit in a short time on this earth. I don't mean to offend anybody, I understand the need for revenge, the need for action. But it seems to me that the response to those hideous attacks is something which will be looked back upon in disbelief and disgust by future generations.

Saddam Hussein? Iraq? Where is the Al Quaeda in all of this? Where are those truly responsible for the tragedy of that day? And if there are people responsible for the September 11th attacks being held, we have to ask: under what conditions? Is it right that they be subjected to torture? To internment without trial?

I have no pity for them, I do not support them in any way, but the most fundamental element of civilisation is that EVERYONE be treated according to basic human rights, no matter what they have done. Not because we have any compassion for them, but because it is necessary to keep the fabric of society, of civilisation together.

And so I say, never forget. Mourn those who lost their lives. Mourn for those who have lost their loved ones. Mourn for those who have lost their God-given right to feel secure in their own country. But do not allow such an ineffective and brutal war to be carried out in their name, and the name of our generation.

With Justice For All

Rosie Plunkett

It was so terrible. I remember I was only eleven. And I woke up, so excited to go to school. And then my parents stopped me and told me to sit down. We sat there and watched the news for almost an hour. I thought, "Oh well, it's just a stupid building." Then, I got ready and went to school. My teachers and friends were all sad. Many were crying and many weren't even talking. I remember we sat in EVERY class and watched those towers fall again and again. And then I saw those people. They held hands with their friends and jumped. They were so innocent, God Bless America. We will never forget. The ones we lost, the ones that left, are still with us in our hearts. These colors don't run, they never will.
Dani