A Day We'll Never Forget

By Kyle Mayer

It is a day that every US citizen will remember, a day that changed the lives of nearly 300 million people: September 11, 2001.

“I remember exactly where I was, sitting in my sixth grade English class, going over the vocabulary words from the day before, when my teacher got called outside,” said Kaylie Jacinto, a junior at Stonehill College. “Nobody really knew what to do in the class, but we knew something was wrong when my teacher came back into the room and said we all need to go home.”

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center North Tower, creating mass confusion in Manhattan. Then at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 flew directly into the South Tower.

“That is when I knew something was wrong, knew that I had to get out of here,” said Kathy McLaughlin, a resident of Manhattan. “When the first plane hit the North Tower, everyone thought it was a little plane, and some beginner pilot flew it into the building by accident. But than the second plane hit the South Tower, and nobody had any idea what to do.”

The South Tower collapsed approximately at 9:59 a.m., and the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., after both buildings had been burning for at least an hour.

“I remember watching the South Tower collapse from my living room TV and thinking to myself, ‘is this actually happening? Are we in serious danger?’” said Edward Kelly of Sea Girt, N.J. “For the next week or two, I did not leave my family, and was glued to NBC News. It was a scary time for all Americans, as we did not know what the outcome of this was going to be.”

For the next few weeks, the United States was under heightened security, not just for airlines and airports, but all throughout the nation.

“With all the heightened security, it took me a few hours to get into work from Ridgewood,” said John Donovan of Ridgewood, N.J. “I guess it was a good thing, because of how easily something like this can happen, but it was a bit of a hassle.”

Now, years later, the memory is still affecting many people all over the nation.

“I can still see the towers collapsing whenever I close my eyes,” says Terence McGinley, of Ridgewood, N.J. whose father died in the attacks. “It is going to take a while to clean up the mental affects of the attacks, but only time will ease it all,” exclaimed McGinley, the oldest of five siblings, who was 11-years-old during September 11, 2001.

It is a day in American history that nobody will ever forget.