That was sure one crazy day. I remember our principal comes over the loudspeakers:
"Now I just want to say that nothing has happened...
Here ... But two planes have crashed into the Twin Towers..."
So, yeah, I'd imagine much like when Kennedy was shot, the rest of the classes was spent glued to the TV. We "got" to see the Towers fall, and the gasp in that classroom is going to stick with me for a long while. I didn't personally lose anyone, but there were certainly kids in that class who thought they probably had (wasn't close enough to find out after if they did... It's generally not the type of thing to ask).
You have to remember at first we thought the casualties were in the tens of thousands. Thank God it happened when it did (before the buildings filled up).
Then of course being the little **** stain in high school that I was, I decided to take off and drive around the area meeting up with my friends. Of course NO ONE was paying ANY attention to the road that day, there were car crashes and close calls all over the place, but I did eventually make it to the gas station my buddy worked at. A few of the cops in town were there and basically were pretty shaken "We have no idea how to handle something like that" was a pretty common remark.
The next few days were also crazy. People didn't know what was going to happen, one of my bosses was stuck in France for another week or so, and everyone was just a *wee* bit paranoid. It really reminded me of that Spielberg film, 1941.
But something "great," if that's the right word, soon happened. Outpourings of emotion and support came in from the entire world. "AMERICA, WE ARE WITH YOU" was the message. School kids raised money and supplies. My friends and I had a running goon convoy to the Stop & Shop. We must have spent a small fortune for a high school kid there, buying supplies and running them back to the drop off point at the High School. Flags were everywhere. There were vigils. People swore to "never forget" and we all set down to do the task at hand. GWB, as much as I dislike the guy, even had a good speach "Well I can hear YOU..."
Yeah, it was almost an interesting, proud time to be alive in a weird, tragic way.
Of course, nearly five years later no one could give a rats bellybutton anymore, if you talk about staying the course of taking the fight away from our shores you're a fascist, and high school kids everywhere are more concerned with what happens on Laguna Beach then in Lebanon. Right back to normal as if absolutely nothing has happened. Oh woe is me, a whole 2 hour flight to Florida without my iPod
