9/11 Remembered by a Member of the 9/11 Generation (Robert Roll Column)

Robert Roll, a sophomore majoring in Finance at Ohio Northern University, wrote this column.

I will try to remember to keep this at the top for most of the rest of the day. — Tom

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This past Sunday the nation remembered the 10th anniversary of 9/11. While the entire country took the time to remember the events of that horrific day, I believe that this day has more significance to us, the members of the generation that have lived a majority of their lives in the post-9/11 world. It was our generation whose childhood innocence was shattered on that fateful day ten years ago.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that America had been attacked. I was in the fourth grade and we were on our way back from gym class. When we got back to the classroom, our teacher was watching the live coverage of the first attack on the World Trade Center. As soon as we had sat down, she got up and was about to turn the TV off so that she could begin teaching again. That is when my whole world changed. The teacher was about halfway to the TV when the second plane crashed into the South Tower. Like so many others did that day, we watched the attack happen in real time. I cannot help but think about how, in such a short amount of time, I went from being an innocent fourth grader playing dodge ball in the gym of an elementary school, to watching an act of indescribable evil happen right in front of my eyes. I can imagine that many of you had similar experiences. The moment that we watched the second plane hit, our world was turned upside down. We went from thinking that the most evil person in the world was Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants, to realizing that there were people who would actually fly commercial jet liners into buildings, just to kill Americans. Our innocence was taken from us by the attacks of 9/11.

In remembering how I felt at the moment, I cannot help but think of how the first responders must have felt. There were probably even more frightened than I was; they were there, watching this event in person. But somehow, they were able to overcome the fear that would have paralyzed lesser men. They picked up their equipment and ran into the burning buildings. They ran into the fire. They did it for one simple reason: it was their job. Stories of heroism abound from that day. Firefighter Oreo Palmer arrived on the scene, shed is heavy equipment and sprinted up to the plane's impact point on the South Tower. As he radioed down for others to follow him up, the South Tower collapsed upon him. Another hero of that day was a firefighter whose name is still unknown. As survivors of the North Tower would later relate, this firefighter carried the injured from the smoke-filled lobby of the North Tower to safety, turned around and disappeared into the smoke to save more lives. This unnamed hero kept carrying others to safety until the tower collapsed on top of him.

Any discussion of the heroism of that fateful day would be incomplete without discussing the bravery of the passengers on Flight 93. It was on this plane that America's retaliation against evil began. The passengers of Flight 93 stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers for control of the plane. This struggle ended when the airliner, destined to destroy either the Capitol building or the White House, crashed into a field just outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

While the whole story of the bravery of Flight 93 would not be known for several days, the rest of the nation followed their example of unity and determination. That night, on the steps of the capitol, members of a divided congress held hands and sang “God Bless America” together. In the days that followed, every street in the United States was adorned with American Flags. Firehouses all over the country become impromptu shires to the victims of the attack. The evil men who attacked this country had hoped America would be too weak to recover from this sort of attack; they could not have been more wrong. The greatness of American lies in her people and their ability to come together in times of crisis.

My life changed that day, as did the lives of all Americans. As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 fades into the background, let us never cease to be inspired by the countless examples of heroism that day. Let us never forget that there is true evil in this world and, if given the chance, it will kill more innocent people. Finally, let us never forget the innocent lives that were ended at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvnia. May they rest in peace and may God continue to bless America.