Five Years Ago...

The following was a post of mine from five years ago today, posted on an old website of mine. The writing is crude at best in many places, but it was a genuine reaction from me that day, and it remains just as genuine today.

Tragedy

As I walked through the Ryerson bookstore, I noticed a group of people gathered around a television set. It was just after 12pm, September 11th, 2001. I had no idea what they were watching. As I ate lunch at Pizza Pizza, I could scarcely hear the news over the radio. Something about a plane crash, but I didn't know what. Sitting in the student lounge, my cell phone rang. A friend asked me if I knew what had happened. I was then told that two airplanes had hit the World Trade Center in New York. Many classes had been cancelled, but before I could ask anymore questions, my friend said he had to go, and that he would meet me soon. I wasn't quite sure what had happened, but I waited for him. As I waited, another friend sat beside me and said "We have to find a TV." As I asked why I was told an answer that would make me truly understand what had happened.

"You know the World Trade Center in New York? The twin towers?" "Yeah." "They're not there anymore."

No there anymore!? How can buildings not be there anymore!? We met up with other friends and headed to the bookstore to watch the TV there. As we watched, it still didn't sink in to me. I was trying to fully comprehend what had happened.

Later on, I was standing in the Rogers Communication Centre, with around 30 other students, watching nine televisions on the wall, all showing different news networks. It felt like a movie. People huddled together, watching buildings explode on television sets. People crying. No one really knowing for sure what was going on. The President giving an address to the nation. Not unlike Independence Day or any Arnold Swartzenegger movie. It didn't seem real.

"This is North America! This doesn't happen in North America!" I said as I waited for my television broadcast class to begin. I still don't think I believed it.

Watching the news and reading the newswires, I started to understand. It was real. There would be no Arnold to swoop in and stop the destruction. Everyone would not be saved. Thousands had died. Now I understood, and I was afraid.

I watched the news all night. I now knew that this was real, but it didn't seem real. This only happens on the big screen. There can't be a war. Even if this isn't an official war, it's VERY war-like.

As much as I don't like the United States at times, this shouldn't have happened. And as bad as this sounds, I have a sick feeling that this isn't over. Either more terrorist attacks will take place, or the US will find who did this, and they will pay with their lives.

The credits will not roll on this situation. This is not a film. This is life, and truth is scarier than fiction.

- Rick