We all remember where we were 10 years ago when we heard the news 2 planes had flown through the Twin Towers and another plane had hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. I was at home getting ready for work during my college summer and as I was ready to walk out the door my brother grabbed me and we sat on his bed watching the news. On his wall still hung a picture of our family when we visited the Twin Towers in New York City. I remember sitting there looking at that picture and trying to grasp the reality that those two massive building no longer were standing. In a very unusual morning where our country was going through a horrible attack I remember thinking, "What should I do? I'm late for work! What is happening?" I went to work that day and we all listened to the TV and the radio in disbelief. I was a bookkeeper for the company and I was faxing an invoice to another company that day and I found myself extremely frustrated that the fax machine was just beeping at me when the fax before had just worked. Then I realized the area code I was dialing was in NYC. I stood there staring at the fax wondering if this company was located in the Twin Towers and if the fax machine still existed. It was horrible. All our lives were forever changed on 9/11. Our kids are too young to understand the significance of this day and the pain our country and millions of families experienced and still may be processing. The lesson we learned from this event is: life is short, the future is uncertain, we better enjoy every moment and treasure our loved ones & children NOW.
How do you explain this event to your kids? I've been thinking all day about it. I finally found a GREAT children's website that has a simple explanation below for them to understand.
Thank you "Class Brain!"
What Happened on 9/11?
The September 11th Attack on America
On September 11, 2001, there was an attack on America. There are some men that decided that they didn’t like what America stands for: freedom, liberty, and the rights of men and women of all races, backgrounds, and beliefs. So on the morning of September 11, 2001, they hijacked four planes and attacked America in a terrible way.
Two of the airplanes were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The last plane was going to crash into another building in Washington, D.C., but the passengers stopped the hijackers, and the plane crashed into a field instead.
Thousands of people lost their lives through these attacks. Hundreds of people were on the planes. Thousands died in the buildings that were hit by those planes.
The men that arranged this terrible attack want Americans to feel afraid and disorganized. They want to make people who live in this country do what they say by threatening us. Basically they’re big bullies.
The people of the United States are a strong group of people. Keep faith in who you are and what our country stands for and we will become even stronger than before.
