story7960.xml

story7960.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-19

It was just a regular day like any other. My alarm went off and I really didn't want to get up and go to work. I did though. I stumbled to the bathroom, showered, got dressed, made my lunch and went. I work at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rome, New York. I work in Jewelry, but at the time I was a cashier. I had to be to work at 8:00am. I usually get there 2 or 3 minutes before I have to punch in. I got on my register still yawning and still wishing that I was in bed sleeping. I had a few customers, not too busy at that time of morning during the week. A guy came up to my line in such a rush. He was fumbling around and mumbling and he looked really nervous and shook up. He asked me to kindly cash him out as fast as I could. I said okay and cashed him out very quickly. I must have had a weird look on my face because he asked me if I heard what had happened. I said no and informed him that I had just gotten to work. He then told me how a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I was very shocked and puzzled and angry. Shocked because how could a plane not see the Trade Center? Puzzled because it didn't make any sense, and angry because I thought this guy must have been joking. Nope, about 5 minutes after I finished with him, all of our tv's turned on to the news channel. I seen the Trade Center on fire, and I was suddenly very confused. What was going on? How did this happen? I'm only 20 years old, so I've never expierienced a war. I only know what I learned in school. Customers and assocoiates in the store were all focused on the tv's. No one said a word. Just shook their heads in silence and shed a tear. When someone finally explained to me that it was terrorists that did this I didn't know what to say or do.I wanted to call my uncle Howard who's in the Navy and works in D.C. I wanted to go home and see my mom and have her tell me that it would be okay.I wanted to call my dad that lives in Texas who I haven't heard from in years. I wanted to get back into bed and hear the annoying sound of my alarm waking me up from a nightmare.Why? Why would anyone do this to us? To all of those innocent people and their families? Why? What did we do that was so worng to have this happen? The rest of the day at work was sad and really slow. Everyone was upset and worrying about relatives that were flying or lived in New York or D.C. No one could believe what happened. When I finally got out of work and into my car every station was talk. Talking about what was going on and the latest news. I got home and hugged my mom and just starting crying. I cried for myself because I was worried. I laid in my room with my boyfriend watching the news. I cried again, but this time it was for all those innocent people. It was a very horrific tragedy. The next day I went out and bought as many flags as I could. I bought red, white and blue candles. On my way home that night I passed by the Fort(Fort Stanwix). I couldn't believe how many people were standing around with lighted candles.It was sad and happy at the same time. It gave me chills to see everyone together. I got home and lit my candles and stood on my front porch with my flag in my handed and prayed. I felt so helpless because there was not much else that I could do. On November 10th I went with my mom on her yearly bus trip to NYC. The company that she works for goes every year around the same time. It was my very first year that I got to go. Our first stop when we got there was to take the subway down to Ground Zero. When we arrived there it was 10 times worse than what it looked like on tv. There was a horrible smell in the air, so horrible I can't even explain how bad it was. There was also a lot of people. We got as close as we could. I stood up on a fence to get a better look. I seen guys still hosing it down and workers trying to get it cleaned up. I didn't really want to go down there, but I did. I felt that it was my way of paying my respects. I was very scared. I don't think that there has ever been a time when I felt the way I did that September 11th. And I think that everyone else in this country can say the same. I just want to say that even though this was the most terrible day it brought us all together and showed everyone how strong we are. My prayers go out to everyone on those planes and in those buldings. My deepest prayers go out to all of the people who did this to us because their going to need it the most. May they suffer for a very, very long time. GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!