5 years

I’ll save some of the stories/updates/etc. for tomorrow as I quickly remembered that today is the 5th anniversary of 9/11. I’m sure we can all remember exactly where we were and what we were doing that day…If you’re interested, I’ll re-tell my experience:

 I was a sophmore in UGa. On 9/11/01, I had a 9:30 business law class at Sanford Hall. When I got to the lecture hall there was a hand-written note stating “all classes cancelled .” I quickly turned around and left the building to head over to Anita’s economics class. I sat in the back of the room looking for her but only a few students and a disheveled teacher at the front of the room. I remember overhearing one student say to another “I heard that a plane hit the white house.” The professor excused himself withouth saying a word. I left and tried Anita on her cell phone but didn’t get an answer. I headed over to the Coke room in Sanford and managed to squeeze my way up towards one of the TV’s. At that moment, I saw the looping footage of the second plane hitting the tower. A half hour or so passed when I realized I still haven’t heard from Anita. On the bus-ride home dozens of students were crying on the bus and trying to get a hold of people on their cell phones…

I finally managed to get through to Anita- she had stayed at her dorm that morning because she felt rather ill. I tried to explain to her what was happening- it went something like this…[Me] “Something’s happened. I’m not sure what but it looks like the beginning of a war. All classes have been cancelled. Everyone is either scared, confused, angry, or all three.” [Anita] “What are you talking about?” [Me] “Turn on the tv.” [Anita] “Which channel?” [Me] “Doesn’t matter.”

 Later that day, I remember getting a hold of just about every friend and family member I could. We (the resident assistants) had late night emergency meetings as university housing was trying to instruct us on how to handle these things and to watch for any racial backlash amongst anyone.

From that moment on all I think I did was watch the news. I was glued to the TV and couldn’t look away. I talked with a fellow RA and friend Moustafa who told me that the Muslim population that took responsibility for these attacks were a group of very disturbed, radical people and tried to reassure me that the Muslim faith in general would never condone this. I believed him then (and still do) but I am still very confused.

5 years later it still stings to think about it. So for today no computer updates, no strange stories of pythons eating sheep, just some simple reflection.