Our Historical, Universal Selves pg. 98 #1

The events of September 11 are still vivid in my mind. I remember waking up and getting ready for school and going to my first class of the day, oblivious to the terror that thousands were facing by that time.

Having finished our assignment, most of the class was chattering away or staring at the clock, anxiously waiting for the bell to end our boredom, when another teacher suddenly burst in the classroom and told my teacher to turn on the tv. My teacher turned on the tv and immediately the room fell silent, every eye glued to the tv screen, watching as the first tower bellowed black smoke that seemed to nearly blot out the pale blue morning sky. We watched in horror even as the bell rang, not bothering to go to our next class until our teacher sent us out.

Every eye remained glued to the tv that day. No lessons were taught, at least not from a book, and no tests were taken. A somber silence hung heavily in the air as people looked on in horror or reached for the comfort of a friend.

The events of my own life that had seemed so terrible before, now seemed trivial and unimportant. It was that day that I realized how much bigger the world is than myself and how in a single instant, and even without immediately realizing it, the entire world can change around us.