Ninth grade had just started a few weeks prior and I was getting back into the routine of waking up extra early to take care of my horse before zero period. After showering I turned on the local radio station, but there was no music playing and the usually comical dj had a different tone to his voice. He was repeating the phrase, the twin towers have been hit. Being a west coast girl, I thought twin towers? I wasn't sure what to do with the information. I continued to listen to the broadcast and soon realized the weight of what had happened. I found my parents and relayed my findings. The news was turned on and my dad began to talk about terrorists. Terrorists? In my sheltered fourteen years of life, I had never heard that word and had it relate to me.
We didn't make it to zero period that day. Classes did not teach the planned material because our eyes were glued to the television screens that played in each classroom. At home, we awaited the President's Address to the Nation. We had all heard predictions of what the response would be, but couldn't believe or begin to deal with it until we heard it from his mouth.
We all knew our lives would change. My mind was overwhelmed with images and thoughts of what humans were capable of. My heart was going out to loved ones and family who lived so close to ground zero. My prayers going out to our friends and their families who were currently enlisted.
Many of us grew up from that day forward. Some of us felt terrorism on a whole new level, experiencing it for the first time. We have lost loved ones who were fighting for OUR freedom and the freedom of OTHERS.
Ten years later, our troops are still have still fighting for that same cause and representing what this country believes. I am so honored and proud to be a country who stands for freedom.
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