Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Area students reflect on the lives lost in the 2001 attacks
Related
Ways to remember
- Whether it is sending a care package to the troops overseas or donating to the Red Cross, www.911DayofService.org encourages you to honor the victims of Sept. 11 through acts of service.
- Young America’s Foundation encourages students to host a "9/11 Never Forget Project" on their school campus. For ideas on how to bring your classmates together to memorialize the anniversary, visit www.yaf.org.
- "9/11 - The Filmmakers' Commemorative Edition" (2002). This film is a powerful story filmed by two brothers who were coincidentally shooting a documentary about New York firemen in September 2001, the same time that the World Trade Center was struck. The film captures an image of the first plane striking the center's first tower, and has the only footage from within the tower as it collapsed. The film also documents the men and women who ran into crumbling buildings to save others.
A student reflection
I remember it like it was just yesterday. That day in the third grade seemed as normal as could be. My teacher was particularly happy in the morning because it was her birthday. However, that quickly changed. After my teacher found out that our country had been attacked, she was very quiet and unwilling to speak.
She just told us to ask our parents, and that it wouldn't be appropriate for her to tell us. My third-grade class had no idea why all the teachers were so sad, or why no one would tell us what was going on.
Later that day, when I came home, I was surprised to find the door to my house unlocked. Usually when I came home, my mother was on the door step and waiting to greet me. As I came into my house and closed the door, I heard the distant noise of a TV. I arrived in the family room to find my mother sitting on the couch, with her eyes glued to the TV screen. I looked to the TV to see what had captivated her. That sight, the sight of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center has been burned into my mind.
I'll never forget that day. I'll never forget the look I saw in my teacher's eyes and the thought that her birthday will forever be a day of mourning. I'll never forget the grave look on my mother's face as she stared at the TV screen. And I will never forget the devastating image of terrorism that has eternally been imprinted in my mind.
-- Madhura Chitnavis, Hidden Valley High School
Eight years ago, Bernard Brown II was boarding
American Airlines Flight 77 in his brand-new Air Jordan basketball shoes. That
same day, the 11-year-old was murdered,
along with 2,977 people by Al Qaeda terrorists.
Today, Bernard would be 18 years old and maybe entering his freshman year of college. Zoe Falkenberg, then 8, would have been 16 now and in high school. Her 3-year-old sister, Dana, would now be 11, according to online biographies on www.cnn.com.
But their future ended abruptly on September 11, 2001, when the planes they were passengers in were hijacked and crashed.
Although the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks were primarily older than 25, young people also were among those who were killed, such as children like Bernard, Zoe and Dana, as well as 18-year-old Richard Pearlman.
Pearlman was a volunteer medic who sacrificed his life by running into the World Trade Center to rescue victims trapped inside, according to a tribute on www.legacy.com.
This Sept. 11, people from across the country are finding ways to remember those who died in the attacks. For some, it’s through prayer, while others use the day to do something nice for others.
Area students say they vividly remember that tragic day eight years ago.
Emily Thompson, 17, a student at Virginia Western Community College, recalls being in fourth grade when she heard the principal announce the attacks over the intercom.
“I’d never even heard the word ‘terrorism,’ much less have any idea what was going on,” she said.
Charles Dudley, 19, also a Virginia Western student, remembers a similar experience. “I just watched it on TV over and over. But all I saw was a plane running into a building. I couldn’t comprehend individual people dying.”
Megan Ward, 20, a Virginia Western student, said, “9/11 opened my mind to things I never knew. I just don’t know what would possess someone to do what those terrorists did.”
The attacks “called young people to a greater task,” said Patrick Coyle, vice president of Young America’s Foundation.
The foundation is an organization “committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values,” according to the group’s Web site, www.yaf.org.
The foundation provides conferences, seminars, educational materials, internships and speakers to young people across the country, according to the Web site.
Today, Bernard would be 18 years old and maybe entering his freshman year of college. Zoe Falkenberg, then 8, would have been 16 now and in high school. Her 3-year-old sister, Dana, would now be 11, according to online biographies on www.cnn.com.
But their future ended abruptly on September 11, 2001, when the planes they were passengers in were hijacked and crashed.
Although the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks were primarily older than 25, young people also were among those who were killed, such as children like Bernard, Zoe and Dana, as well as 18-year-old Richard Pearlman.
Pearlman was a volunteer medic who sacrificed his life by running into the World Trade Center to rescue victims trapped inside, according to a tribute on www.legacy.com.
This Sept. 11, people from across the country are finding ways to remember those who died in the attacks. For some, it’s through prayer, while others use the day to do something nice for others.
Area students say they vividly remember that tragic day eight years ago.
Emily Thompson, 17, a student at Virginia Western Community College, recalls being in fourth grade when she heard the principal announce the attacks over the intercom.
“I’d never even heard the word ‘terrorism,’ much less have any idea what was going on,” she said.
Charles Dudley, 19, also a Virginia Western student, remembers a similar experience. “I just watched it on TV over and over. But all I saw was a plane running into a building. I couldn’t comprehend individual people dying.”
Megan Ward, 20, a Virginia Western student, said, “9/11 opened my mind to things I never knew. I just don’t know what would possess someone to do what those terrorists did.”
The attacks “called young people to a greater task,” said Patrick Coyle, vice president of Young America’s Foundation.
The foundation is an organization “committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values,” according to the group’s Web site, www.yaf.org.
The foundation provides conferences, seminars, educational materials, internships and speakers to young people across the country, according to the Web site.
Coyle said, “9/11 woke us up to the fact that there
are people out there that don’t like America."
Coyle also said there are still extremists who are a threat to the country, which is why
we still need to remember the events of Sept.
11.
While the attacks are a painful memory, students and adults from
across the country have organized events or acts of service to help remember the
lives that were lost in the attacks.
When asked what she was going to do to remember the events of Sept. 11, Ward said, “There’s nothing I can really do but pray.”
When asked what she was going to do to remember the events of Sept. 11, Ward said, “There’s nothing I can really do but pray.”
The Web sites www.legacy.com and www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-age/
contributed to this article.
