9/11 (9/20/01 Journal 4, Page insert between 65/66)

Anyone that remembers 9/11 refers to it as 9/11. The year was 2011. It seems like it was yesterday but none of students were even born yet. I was a sophomore in college. I woke up the morning of 9/11 and on the TV was the news showing a plane that hit one of the twin towers. I immediately called my mother because she was always watching the news and I knew she’d be shocked to hear about it! I walked down the hall to the suite next door and we watched the news together. Then another plane hit the other tower! I don’t remember my initial thoughts when the second plane hit. I just remember not realizing the severity of the situation. I proceeded to get ready and leave for class.

dear Journal,
hey. I haven’t wrote in awhile. I’m on my way home now from Cortland for the weekend. Something big has happened last week on 9/11/01. Terrorist bombed the World Trade Center. They highjacked 4 planes. They flew 2 into the towers + 1 into the pentagon, + one crashed. Both towers collapsed. Classes after one were cancelled, and on Friday was a National Remembrance and classes were cancelled after 11. It was sooo scary. So many people died, I’m just scared. I didn’t know anybody! I can’t believe it happened so close to where I live. They said this was bigger than Pearl Harbor! It’s so crazy!

New York State lost 2,753 lives at the World Trade Center on that day. The realization didn’t set in until I went to class and everyone was talking about it and classes were cancelled. I started panicking not understanding what exactly was happening. On my walk back to my dorm, I stopped at Health Services and expressed my concern to the Physicians assistant. She prescribed me anti-anxiety medication which I was terrified to take (and never did take) and walked me across the hall to the counseling center. It was on that day that I met my college counselor. I would see him periodically, usually weekly, for the next three years.