A Look into a 9/11 Experience: Re-Examining September 11th

September 11, 2001, was the day of the deadliest terrorist attack on United States Soil. The group that orchestrated the attacks was called Al-Qaeda, and they hijacked 4 planes. Their goal was to send two planes to the Twin Towers, one to the Pentagon, and the last plane to the White House. The first strike occurred at 8:46 AM at the North Tower. Next followed the South Tower and the Pentagon. The plane heading towards the White House was overtaken by passengers and landed in a nearby field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. All of the passengers on each of these flights sadly passed, and many others were injured.

The person I chose to interview was my grandfather, Daniel Sesti. At the time of 9/11, he was 54 years old. He worked on 8th Avenue in downtown Manhattan at the World Wide Plaza. He had been working for 45 minutes before the first tower was hit. Suddenly, he received a phone call from his colleague’s son about what was happening. He ran to the cafeteria a few floors up and was looking out the window at the North Tower. He was standing with his co-worker, and they were both in a state of shock and confusion. Everybody was gathered around the window when the South Tower was struck. Once he realized what was actually happening, he ran down to the train station and caught the first train out of Manhattan. When he was on the train, he said that everybody was quiet and nobody said anything the entire train ride. He said that he and everybody else were very unsure of what was going to happen next, whether there were going to be another attack, and unsure of how long this would last. After the attacks, he thought that the sense of patriotism was stronger because it brought people together for the same reason. People were sad, grieving over the loss of thousands of people and first responders. Things were very chaotic for the next few days, with people trying to figure out what to do, where to go, and what their futures may look like, and how those were affected.

9/11 was a very emotional time for people. It makes me very emotional today. I picture the tumultuous times people had to go through on that day, like trying to leave the city but not knowing where their family was, what their future was, etc... I do agree that this strengthened America’s patriotism by bringing everyone together, but we all wish it wouldn’t happen that specific way. While 9/11 is very emotional for people, I believe it is still very important to teach because we should know about our history and the importance of it. I would say my feelings changed after this interview. It made me put things into perspective more and realize the hardships people were facing. It made me realize how people are traumatized; I could not even imagine what it was like for my grandfather to be watching 9/11 through the window. I got to hear from him what it was like being in Manhattan, which made me more emotional, seeing how difficult this was for so many families.