September 11th, 2001. That day is, was, and always will be remembered as the day everything in our country changed. Everybody on 9/11 thought that it would just be another ordinary day. Kids would go to school, the adults would go to work and everything would be fine. Even for some, it felt like that day was going to be a great one. And for others, just another boring day at school or work. That was…until a loud explosion was heard throughout New York City at 8:46 AM, and everyone on the streets below turned their heads around and saw what happened.

The North Tower of the World Trade Center was on fire. At that moment, everyone was nervously scratching their heads, wondering what on Earth just happened. Some could tell that a plane crashed into the building, but whether or not it was an accident nobody really knew. Some thought it was an accident, that one of the pilots must have dozed off or something and didn’t see where he was going, and many nervously kept their hopes up that the problem would be dealt with by the authorities and that everything would go back to normal. Unfortunately, the carnage didn’t stop there.

Suddenly, at 9:03 AM, people began to notice another plane flying dangerously low towards the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and what followed was another horrific crash and explosion. Both towers of the World Trade Center were now on fire, confirmed to be hit by planes, and everybody now knew that the events that had just occurred were acts of terrorism. By that point, every major media outlet began to report on the whole situation. Firefighters and police officers were doing their best to control the situation, even when it seemed utterly hopeless, and those who went into the buildings to try to get as many people out of there put their lives on the line to do the right thing.

Everyone thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, that there was no way anything else could happen to the towers. But sadly, they were wrong; at around 9:59 AM, merely less than an hour after the second plane’s impact, the South Tower began to collapse, with any hope of survival for those who were still inside of the building now torn away. Then, at 10:28 AM, the North Tower collapsed as well. Media outlets also began to report that two more plane crashes occurred; one crashed into the Pentagon, and the other crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It took almost a year for the World Trade Center site to be cleaned up, with less than 3,000 people killed and 6,000 injured in the attacks, not to mention the $40 billion in insurance losses.

The effects of the September 11th attacks were disastrous, as many lives were lost and many families were left in ruin. The attacks serve as a reminder that, even in the darkest of times, we are capable of standing tall and proud in unison in the face of pure evil.