September 11, 2001, was a day this country will never forget - Essay Example

Suddenly, my grandpa emerged from the drawing room and cried out, “Hey, come inside and see what’s happening on the TV … An aircraft has collided with one of the Twin Towers in New York!” Hearing this, we went running to the drawing room to see the television. And that is how I witnessed the September 11 attacks. At first, we thought that it was an accident. But as soon as another jet airliner collided with the South Tower, we understood that our country had been attacked. The September 11 attacks had profound immediate effects like anger, fear, and astonishment, which loomed over each and every citizen of the United States.

The wave of anger and urge to serve Soon after the hijacked airplanes collided with the Twin towers, the structure began to collapse. I saw the horrible footage of the towers going down in smoke through the live telecast by CNN on the television. I was just trying to understand that what could have happened to the innocent people who were trapped inside. The immediate effect on me was anger. I was angry to see so many of my own people being killed in that atrocious way. I decided at once that I would take part in the rescue and relief operation.

Later, I participated in the blood donation camps. Moreover, I made monetary contributions to the families of the victims of the attack through the organizations like Coalition of 9/11 Families. The fear about air travel Also, there was a short lived feeling of fear in me after I witnessed the September 11 attacks. Although this was not a sign of having strong character, I was frightened as I thought about hijackers. At the night, I had a nightmare that I was trapped in an airplane, which had been hijacked by terrorists.

Since we frequently take flights to go to different cities and places, the specter of hijacking was really appalling. In the weeks following the September 11 attacks, I was shocked as I came to know that an ATC Zero condition had been established right after the terrorist attacks. Immediately after those attacks, all the airspace of North America had been closed and thousands of air passengers had been stranded in the different airports. I had never heard of such things happening before. Astonishment due to government response Besides anger and fear, another effect of the September 11 attacks on me was astonishment.

I was bewildered to know that how the Bush administration had initially responded to the event. In March 2002, an article written by Francie Grace had been published via the CBS News website. In the article, Grace wrote, “President Bush had established a ‘shadow government’, moving dozens of senior civilian managers to secret underground locations outside Washington to ensure that the federal government could survive a devastating terrorist attack on the nation’s capital”. President Bush had taken this step in September, 2001 just after the terrorist attacks took place.

However, the nation, including the powerful US Congress, came to know about it only after a period of almost half a year! I was filled with astonishment as I reflected on the practice of secrecy by the government. It was so strange indeed that such a secretive and agile machinery had actually failed to prevent the September 11 attacks. Conclusion In conclusion, I would like to state that the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon changed the lives of each and every American. The effects of the attacks manifested as feelings of anger, fear, and