9-11 from the student perspective years ago
Students in Chris Young's current events class at Peabody-Burns High School shared their memories of the Sept. 11 attacks, and their views one year later. All essays have been edited for length.
. . .Sept. 11 was the biggest nightmare for the whole American nation. But you have to know that the whole world was shocked. I saw it on TV at home in Slovakia, which is a little country in the middle of Europe.
. . .When this happened it was afternoon by us and later in the evening when I went out to have a coffee with my friends, nobody was talking. Everyone was so scared. . .
I hope once people who think the wrong way and who think that killing is the right thing will change their minds and try to live in peace. But deep inside I know this will never happen, because this is the human kind from its beginning.
Eva Benyusova, Slovakia
. . .It had to be horrible up there that people would rather jump than try to escape. . .
The terrorists have some demented thoughts. I don't know how someone could do such a crime. Killing 3,000 innocent people isn't justice. There are many other ways to deal with anger, why kill all those innocent people? I hope there is a draft so I can get back at the country that is at fault.
Matt Kangas
On Sept. 11, 2001, the world came to a stop. The people were wondering what had just happened to our country. They also were wondering why all the people were dying for nothing. . .
Mike Philpott
. . .It happened not in my country but that is no reason that I could not feel the same pain as the American people. It happened in our world, on our earth, to people from all over the world. We never had before talked about terrorist but that changed.
Everywhere you went, you heard people talking about what happened. It was not only an attack to the USA. No, it was an attack to our whole world. We had a lot of "moments of silence" and we all feel with you and with all the people who lost their relatives. We have to help each other so something like this will never happen again.
Karolin Wieting, exchange student from Germany
As the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York fell, I had to wonder how much my life would change. . . I am a pacifist and everything that has happened goes against what I believe. . .
Terrorism is a big problem in the world today I do confess. However I feel that the U.S. is terrorizing the Middle East. . .Bombs go off, guns are fired, and people are killed. What has all this gained? That's right, nothing. Nothing, that is, except the deaths of many innocent people and a minuscule amount of the so-called bad guys. . .
Imagine if we would have showed just love to our enemies. We could send support money, education, and food supplies. They would not know what to do. . .
Some people may think I do not appreciate the country I live in, but I do. . . I like all the patriotism I have seen in the last year. The only thing wrong is that it took something like Sept. 11 to inspire it. Where was it before that day?. . .
Philip Unruh
. . .Firefighters and police officers worked day and night for weeks to see if they could find any survivors. These people gave some home to those whose family members did not come home that night. To me, these people are heroes. They didn't have to do what they did, but they saved people who they have never met. This changed my view of firefighters and policemen everywhere. I have more respect for them and for what they do. . .
Jessica Milstead
. . .I think the terrorists thought that they were showing how big they are but what they were really doing was showing that they could catch us off guard and kill thousands of innocent civilians and destroy families. The only thing that is worse than seeing what the terrorists did was seeing everybody exploit it. . .
Cody Horting
. . .I am hoping that the people slowly but surely become more restful. I do not feel safe and peaceful at the moment. People do not trust each other so much anymore. They have prejudices and this destroys every good friendship which existed before the attacks.
People have to share their thoughts and have to sit at one table to think together about the next steps of action. I guess if we work together and see the 11th of September as a milestone in our history we can make the world a little bit more peaceful and enjoyable.
Maximiliane Sammet, exchange student from Germany
. . .How come the terrorists did attack the US even though we are very powerful? One conclusion I can come up with is that they are very stupid. . .
Wes Brewer
. . .I think one of the reasons Sept. 11 happened is because we act like our country is the best and we don't have any problems. This is a mistake on our part. We always try to correct everyone else's problems before we correct our own. . .
Christina Newfield
. . .Still to this day I can honestly say that I don't understand quite well what went on. . .
Serina Fisher
. . .There was so much confusion. After the second plane hit the confusion got worse. Could things get even worse? In fact they did. . .
Novie Davis
Although no one wants to think about it, there is still a threat of terrorism in the United States. But we have to face the fact that the ordinary American citizen can't do anything about it. . .
Andy Nellans
. . .If we keep fighting we will have lost because this is just what the terrorists want. . .
Dusty Koop
. . .Why would you attack innocent civilians because our military was "on their land?" According to (Osama bin Laden), because civilians are the heart of America. . .
Justin Mayfield
. . .The bad thing is that no one knew it was going to happen and no one could do anything about it. . .
Todd Litton
. . .Because of the terrorists, Americans turn their suspicious eyes on anyone who even looks that way. I went to Towne East just a few months after the attacks, and a little boy came up to me. He looked no older than five, yet he asked me if I was a terrorist. A five-year-old boy. . .
Amber Spechtenhauser
. . .We shouldn't build more buildings there. It needs to be a place where people can remember it, so people can go and see what it was like. They should let it be a peace place for the people that died. . .
Jamie Estep
