Never Forget
20 Years. Today is 20 years since the world changed forever. Today is 20 years since 9/11 happened and like many, it’s a day I will never forget.
I was in my second week of the 6th Grade when 9/11 happened, I remember it like any other day when I got to school meeting up with friends before class, standing for O-Canada, whatever 6th Grade match problem we were learning at the time, and then the bell rang for recess. Once we all go back in from recess. I remember our teacher Mrs. Boyd telling us that an accident had happened at the World Trade Center in New York.
I didn’t think too much of it as like she said it had to be an accident. Being in the 6th grade at the time they didn’t let us watch the news which I still don’t understand as the 7th & 8th graders got to but as I look back maybe they were still trying to keep our 12-year-old innocence as the teachers & staff knew things would never be the same.
When I got home I remember when I got home from school meeting my Dad on our driveway and him asking if I had heard about the events at the World Trade Center, I told him yes but hadn’t seen the footage. We then went downstairs where CNN was on and it looked like a movie of people running for their lives as the Towers had gone down. This couldn’t be real and finally, panic swept in are there going to be more attacks? Are they thinking of attacking the CN Tower? My Mom, who worked in Toronto is she ok?
Once my mother made it home safe I hugged her, told her I loved her but then went back to watching the TV, I was glued to it as those pictures were both mesmerizing and horrifying, the world I woke up to was gone and nothing would be the same again.
The next day on the bus to school I remember all of us in the 6th Grade having the most thoughtful and engaging discussions as we could about what had happened the previous day and how things would impact us. There was still fear in the air for the next couple of days but watching how the United States & its citizens came together was truly something to be inspired by and something that will always stay with me.
Back in 2019 I went to the World Trade Center Musem and those pictures that I saw on TV just became so real and all the memories I had from 9/11 flooded back to me but as more my thoughts were what it must have been like to be in NYC on that day.
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was impacted by this tragedy. Thank You to the first responders who risked and those that lost their lives trying to save everyone.
20 years is a long time ago but on this day September 11th it’s the perfect time to reflect back and never forget.