September 11, 2001

It’s a day that no American will soon, if ever, forget. It started out as just another Tuesday, a school day, a work day. Several people were already at their desks working and many more were still on their way to the office, a few just running late. At 8:46 on that ordinary Tuesday morning, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Those on the street and in near by buildings standing in horrified awe at the sight they could make no sense of. First reports were of a tragic accident in Lower Manhattan. Traffic control reports advised motorists to find alternate routes around the accident site. The accident theory was short lived when just seventeen short minutes later United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. Some reporters speculated that it could still have been an accident, a malfunction in the equipment used by the air traffic controllers.

Surely, that was the only explanation, anything more dire was inconceivable. But even that slight possibility was dismissed immediately as reports of a third plane crash surfaced. American Airlines Flight 77 had crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., just 34 minutes after the South Tower was hit. America, land of the free, home of the brave, was under attack. A fourth plane, United Airlines flight 93, was heading towards our nation’s capital. No one will ever know what that intended target would have been, but speculation is probably right; the fourth target most likely would have been the United States Capitol, or the White House.

A total of 2,993 deaths were accounted for in the aftermath of that day. On the planes were 19 hijackers responsible for rocking the world. In addition, there were 24 people listed as missing. Those dead came from 90 countries around the world. There were 55 military personnel killed at the pentagon, the rest were civilians. Some of the dead were those who rushed to help with the rescue, fire fighters, policemen, civilians. There were no survivors from any of the four hijacked planes that had caused such destruction, not only in New York City, not only in the United States of America, but in the minds and hearts and souls of people around the world. It was an American tragedy no doubt, but it served as a warning to the rest of the world, no one country is immune to a terrorist attack. Even 8 years later, the effects of 9-11 can still be felt today.