Sept. 11 remembered

With the anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy having recently passed, I could not help but recall where I was during the moment the first plane bombed the World Trade Center in New York City.  I had always heard people older than me talking vividly about their memories of where they were when they heard of a national tragedy such as the assassination of President Kennedy or even the moment when the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor.  For some reason, I never thought that I would be the person who would tell a story to someone else involving my own personal memories of a national calamity of unspeakable terrorism such as the one that occurred on the very soil of our nation six years ago.
I had just begun my junior year at George Wythe High School.  On that particular morning, I sat in Ricky Skeens’s marketing classroom during my study hall period.  I was finishing a worksheet for U.S. history while having one of my usually hilarious conversations with Jane Smelser, who served as my aide during my last two years of high school.  I was sitting at the back table on the left side of the room while Jane sat at the computer beside me playing solitaire.  The last thing I remember before hearing the news was looking down at my red three-ring binder where I placed my finished worksheet.
It was just before 8:50 a.m. when Ricky Skeens came into the room with Bobby Bandrimer and informed us of what had happened.  No one realized it was a terrorist attack at the time.  However, when Ricky turned the TV on to NBC news and we saw the second plane hit, followed by the falling of those majestic twin towers, I knew a war had been started.  For the rest of the day, all of my classes had TVs on and tuned to the news, even though some kept them muted.
When I got home that day, I walked through the door and sitting at the table at which I always stop upon coming home, was one of my mother’s photo albums opened to her pictures of the World Trade Center, which she had taken during one of her trips to New York from previous years.  Granny Rose was also at my house that day and was seated on the couch glued to the television as the events of the day continued to unfold before our eyes.  For the rest of that day and many days thereafter, we all were glued to the television waiting in fear to see what was going to happen next.  For me and every other American, Sept. 11, 2001 was a day never to be forgotten.
As I look back on that day now, it is hard to believe that six years has passed.  From that moment forward, I began to understand what it felt like to be a part of a nation at war.  I can remember being blown away by the fact that something of such a horrible magnitude could have occurred in the United States.  I had heard of such things happening in foreign countries such as Kosovo or Yugoslavia when watching the news on television, but never expected anything like that to happen so close to home.  Like everyone else, I was overwhelmed with a huge sense of shock and disbelief, as that was the closest I had ever been to such a massive attack.  That is, of course, until the shooting at Virginia Tech happened.  Nowadays, it sadly seems to be more commonplace. 
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, we’ve grown more accustomed to seeing such devastating acts of violence occur every day.  The events of that day forever changed my way of thinking. Until then, I never realized that safety in our country and our world could be compromised so easily.  I realized just how precious life really is.  I pray for the safety of our nation’s people daily and hope that God will continue to be with the military, who are currently working so hard to protect us.  We need that security now more than ever.
A graduate of Wytheville Community College, Zach Cooley lives in Wytheville with his parents. Contact him at .