09/11/2026
I will never forget where I was on 9/11.
It was 6 a.m. I was in the shower getting ready for school as a freshman when my mom knocked and said a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. I turned on the little TV by my bed and both towers were on fire. At school every classroom had the news on. We sat in shock. For the first time ever, American airspace was closed.
To me, that was my Pearl Harbor. There are teachers now who weren’t even born yet and will never fully understand what that day felt like.
One good thing that came from it was the surge of patriotism. I love this country and everyone who serves. The real heroes were the firefighters and officers who ran into those buildings—over 300 or more never came home. And the passengers on Flight 93 who fought back. One of them said the words that still give me chills: “Let’s roll.”
That day was also my grandfather’s last birthday. He passed two months later. I can still see him sitting in his chair with tears in his eyes as I told him happy birthday and apologized that his day was tied to this tragedy.
In 2016 I visited the museum at Ground Zero, said a prayer for everyone lost, and got a 9/11 donation bracelet. I wear it every September 11 to honor them.
If you think we “deserved it,” go f**k yourselves. Real people died. They didn’t deserve it.
One of them was my foreign language teacher, Barbara Edwards from Palo Verde High School. She was on the plane that hit the Pentagon.
I will always remember them all. God Bless you all and most of all, God bless America. 🇺🇸
