Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11: Where were you?

Whenever something big happens in our history, people ask where you were. Where were you when JFK was shot? Where were you on Pearl Harbor? Where were you on 9/11? 

I was in ninth grade when the twin towers were hit. We had been reading To Kill A Mockingbird in class. We all had to do little presentations on the novel, and I had gotten my friends to be in a skit for mine. We were practicing before school in Mrs J's room. I'm not sure who turned on the tv or why -- probably Mrs J heard the news first. And we watched the footage of the planes hitting the towers. 

I didn't really understand what was happening. I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. I was so innocent for a 14-year-old. And I didn't understand the political ramifications of this at all. 

Everyone started talking about war. I was worried there would be a draft. I had read lots of books on wars - Revolutionary, Civil, World - and had a misconception about the way war is waged today. I thought my dad would go to war, Mom would have to go back to work. My friends would finish high school and leave, maybe leave early. I knew people used to lie about their ages. I thought I'd never get married. Or if I did, my husband would be gone for the war, maybe die. 

I was a little paranoid. And thought it was the early 1900s. But I worried. All I have to say is that I'm glad things didn't go as I imagined. But that is where I was.

Where were you?

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