9/11: Point of View of the Experience of The Tragic Experience

It is just a regular day and you are going to work at the World Trade Center. You greet your co-workers and get your morning coffee. All of a sudden, you hear a loud crash and you wake up from unconsciousness. You hear screaming and can barely see through all the smoke. This was what people were going through on 9/11. In this essay, I will be writing about 9/11. I have always been intrigued and wanted to research more about the tragic event of 9/11. I will be talking about where the airplanes hit, conspiracies, and the effects of 9/11. On September 11th, 2001, 19 men trained by al- Qaeda have been coordinating a terrorist attack for years. Four large planes were hijacked, planning to crash them into major landmarks of the United States. The first two planes hit the North and South towers, the third one hit the Pentagon right outside Washington D.C., while the fourth one crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This event, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed, will never be forgotten by America. (history.com) (Taylor, theatlantic.com)

The North Tower of the World Trade Center was hit by the first plane on a clear, Tuesday morning at 8:45 A.M. With 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, was an American Airlines Boeing plane. The crash left a huge, burning hole in the 80th floor, instantly killing and trapping hundreds of people. 18 minutes later, another plane appeared out of the sky, similar to the first one, and was heading towards the direction of the 60th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. People for were watching this horrible thing happen broadcasted pictures onto the web for the world to see and the debris and smoke from the crash spread throughout the city. (history.com) Before hitting the west side of the Pentagon at 9:45 A.M., the American Airlines Flight 77 circled around downtown Washington D.C. Before crashing and exploding the first floor, the plane crashed through 3 light poles in the Pentagon parking lot which killed 125 people inside and the 64 passengers with hijackers on the plane included at once. If some decisions were not made about 60 years ago, the Pentagon’s death toll could’ve been far worse. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to build the Pentagon to be the home base to impend military operations. Since steel was rationed because of war, the Pentagon was made of reinforced concrete with ramps instead of stairs. “Since the Pentagon needed to store heavy caches for the long haul, the U.S. Army of Carps of Engineers built in extra strength that saved thousands of lives on 9/11.” (Roos, history.com)

While most people considered 9/11 was real, others had many conspiracies on the event. One theory was that there were two holes after the Pentagon crash, one 75ft wide and another 16ft wide. “The Conspiracy Theorists claimed that the holes were far too small to be produced by the Boeing 767.” The plane had a wingspan of 124ft 10in which was way larger than the holes in the Pentagon. The wing of the plane had to hit the ground, while the other was sheared off in this case. I personally would consider this theory, but I do not fully believe it. (popularmechanics.com) Many peoples’ lives were changed because of the 9/11 attack. Nearly 3,000 people from 57 different countries died from this tragedy. About 400 of the 3,000 people killed were first responders, New York City firefighters, police officers, and EMTs. Many people realized that we needed to protect our country after the 9/11. This event has been one of the most covered events on the media of all time. After that day, the world was changed forever. People flew American flags on their porch or car, sports teams delayed their games, and celebrities coordinated benefit concerts. Those were just a few examples of what happened after 9/11. After the September 11th attacks, the New York Blood Center had 36,000 units of blood donated to the organization. (Taylor, theatlantic.com)

In conclusion, I feel that we must cherish our loved ones every day because we never know what could happen in a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds. I personally do not know anyone that was affected by 9/11 but for those who have, I strongly feel for them and I am very, very sorry for them. Writing this essay about where the planes hit and how it affected peoples’ lives really made me think about how lucky I was to be in a safe environment. I have learned so much writing this essay and I hope you do too. In this essay, I wrote about the locations of the crashes, conspiracies, and the effects of the 9/11. They all play an important part of 9/11 itself. Thank you for reading this paper.