My Life Is A Jaw-Dropping Moment

Not a word was spoken as an array of people, including myself, studied the pictures of that horrific day that aligned the wall of the dimmed entrance to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The silence was an eerie and somber stillness that invoked grief into the hearts of all, even those such as myself who were too young to even remember the terror that took place nearby. Projected on the pillars were the stories of people and their reactions to the attack as it was happening, adding to the solemn mood. Already, even before I had reached the part that was the museum, a heavy grief for people that I never even knew swelled in my heart.

Fourteen years ago, our country appeared to come to a halt at 8:46 am. As the first hijacked plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center, Americans were filled with fear and melancholy. And as they held their breath, awaiting some sense of hope, you did what most people could never imagine doing. You went into the buildings while people were going out, holding your own, in the midst of the immense heat and disintegrating steel.

If there is one day I dread most upon its arrival, it would be 9/11. Sure there was an immense amount of strength as a nation represented, following the terrorists attacks, but it also brought a great amount of grief and sorrow. I remember watching videos of innocent people jumping from windows in the twin towers hoping to escape the terror. These people believed there was no one to help and no one to help them. They lost hope. In “Remembering a Hero, 15 Years After 9/11” written by Peggy Noonan, published in The Wall Street Journal on September 11th 2016, Alison Crowther—Welles Crowther’s mom—recalls the courageous actions to save the lives of others, made by her son on this horrific day. Noonan utilizes pathos, ethos, asyndeton, and

September 11, 2001 is a day that shook the United States to its core. Millions of Americans felt the pain, the loss, and the anger that came with the attack on their nation. It was a day of mourning, and when it comes to days of mourning it is difficult putting one’s pain into words. However, Leonard Pitts Jr. was able to move past the emotion. He put into his words, not only his own feelings, but the feelings of an entire nation. Pitts conveys the emotion felt after the terror attacks in his essay “Sept. 12, 2001: We’ll go forward from this moment” through his mournful, angry, and righteous tone.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 millions of people were in shock the moment they received news that the World Trade Center was hit. The images from this horrific day flooded the media’s television screens and newspaper articles. Perhaps the most gruesome images shown were those of people jumping out of the building as they were collapsing. Tom Junod, a writer for the Esquire magazine, illustrates his perspective of this shocking incident through pictures, media coverage, and depicting people’s reactions in his article The Falling Man. Tom Junod’s article should be read by anyone who believes they have felt all there is to feel from the 9/11 attack. He will prove otherwise that there is indeed still much emotion to

While I listened to their stories of events that took place, I found myself shaking my head, saying “oh my god” at one point I even asked a person if you were okay; She laughed and said “yea that was a long time ago.” For the victims, these events may have happened a while back but in that moment the actions the emotions were fresh to me. Having these conversations triggered my feeling sadness, hurt, sacred and disgusted, but at the end I also felt happy and relieved.

Two airplanes crashed into the two twin towers in New York City, one slammed into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters, and the last one crashed into a rural field in Pennsylvania. It was believed that the fourth plane’s intended target was the White House or the Capitol. At 8:45 a.m. the first plane hit the North Tower, instantly killing hundreds and trapping hundreds and trapping hundreds on higher floors. At 9:03 a.m. a second plane struck the South Tower. Minutes later, the buildings collapsed, one after another, leaving heat and debris to billow throughout the city. The temperature could be felt miles away and the suffocating debris was impossible to withstand. People were covered from head to toe with ashes and dying from its effects to the body. It was our darkest hour and we could only turn towards each other for a helping hand and shoulder to cry on. The steady, serene debris continued to fall and darkness filled the sky. Time seemed to slow down, and we felt hopeless, for there was nothing we could do to bring back the thousands of lives taken

I remember waking up that day and that feeling in my stomach, knowing what was about to happen. Growing up I knew about my father's sickness. My family, I recall, was always supportive. No one ever thinks about how one day, everyone you’re around for years, can just vanish. I cherished my friends as I was growing up. I lived there for a majority of my life, up until fourth grade. I remember sitting at a neighbor's house and having the mother come into the room and inform me that I need to be home swiftly. As I ran home, my head was crowded with thoughts to the point where I could not even think about why I was supposed to be home quickly. That day marked the transition of what would be the biggest change in my life. As by dad became sicker,

Less than fifteen minutes after the attack on the Pentagon; things became much worse in New York. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed bringing a huge cloud of smoke and dust. The building that could withstand 200 miles per hour winds, could not withstand the heat of the burning jet fuel and eventually the structural steel buckled and collapsed. Within minutes the North tower fell to the same fate. Approximately 3,000 people were killed, both inside the buildings as well as people in the vicinity. An extremely large number of firefighters and paramedics (343), police officers (23), and Port Authority police officers (37) were

2,600 in the World Trade Center, 125 at the Pentagon, 256 on airplanes, 37 New York Port Authority officers, 342 firefighters, 23 police officers. Over 2,900 lives were taken from this world and over 6,000 individuals were wounded on September 11, 2001. Often referred to as the tragedy on 9/11, is considered one of the darkest days American history. On this day, immeasurable pain was inflicted on the lives of innocent American citizens as a result of a terrorist attack. Americans were left wondering how and why a plan so precise, destructive, and extremely elaborate was able to occur on their soil. Americans were foreigners to blood being spilled on their land, leaving them in the dark of what was next.

It took me a while to decide which place to go for my museum paper. I honestly didn’t care about my interest at first and depended on the convenience to get to the place. I thought of going to the Grand Central or Louis Armstrong’s house just because I have been there for multiple times and the museum was close to where I stayed. However, after I did some research for other places to visit and unintentionally happened to watch a documentary called, ‘102 Minutes That Changed America’ on YouTube, I changed my mind right away to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I was in extreme shock for few hours from virtually experiencing the horrific event of 9/11. I lost my words when I saw the scene of people jumping out from the building. My heart was beating and my eyes started to tear from seeing all those horrific events that happened on that day. As I have never learned about this case in detail, everything in the film was too extreme for me to comprehend the situation that was being played in front of my eyes. Therefore, after finishing watching the film, I felt an urge to visit the Memorial and Museum to have a better understanding about the incident.

Our nation is built around the drastic events that we have had to endure. These events shape our laws and sometimes force us to reexamine our constitution. When the laws are made with the stem of fear the laws can become destructive. We often see this when traumatic events unfold in our nation. 9/11 is one of those events. Not only did the historically traumatic event of 9/11 shape our nation, it shaped all of the world. The Twin Towers were the major buildings of the entire complex that made the World Trade Center. The Twin Towers themselves were the tallest buildings in New York City. They each had 110 stories. Together they provided the room needed to accommodate about 35,000 people for 430 companies. In addition to this, they attracted people from all around the world. A rough estimate would say they attracted roughly 70,000 New Yorker’s and tourists daily. (1)

On the morning of Tuesday, October 11, I attended the 9/11 Memorial Museum. I had never previously visited the Museum before, so expectations of what it would be like were pretty general. Like most museums, it was assumable that there would be some artifacts on display, and plaques with detailed information on the events. Though, unlike other museums, it was also expected that this 9/11 Memorial Museum would have a lot more emotion in it than others, being the tragedy was as recent as 15 years and 1 month ago to the T. That expectation was definitely confirmed from the second I reached the World Trade Center site.

One of the most traumatic events in American history took place on September 11th, 2016. Millions of lives were affected both directly and indirectly by the evil acts of a terrorist group on American soil. While the physical damage done by the days’ events were very clear, the emotional wreckage was a little bit harder to see. The ruble of the twin towers has been cleaned up, and a new building has taken its place but the mental hardships and consequences of the fateful days’ events are still being felt. Paul, a 5 year old in 2001, was a victim of the attack, and encountered unthinkable loss as a result of the inhume actions. The trauma that he was subjected to on 9/11 left a lasting impact on him, and has severely altered his mental health.

I lolled around still thinking about the decision I had made. The vicissitudes were just piling up, on after another. The only things I heard were buildings crumble, guns being fired, and bombs dropping. I missed the sound of my car starting, I missed the sound of the music playing, but most of all, I missed the sound of my children laughing and playing. The kind of chastisement I was living through was just unbearable and I was ready to leave. No one was stabbing me, no one was shooting me, just thinking about what I have lost is the most painful thing. I heard gunshots getting closer. I needed to leave.