The moment we all stopped

By Tyler Avis: Sept. 11, 2001, fell on a Tuesday. When I woke up that morning, everything seemed like it would be a normal day. School had been in session for almost a month, and my friends and I were all getting used to finally being in our first year of middle school. I was in my second class of the day, study hall, and was more or less being your average 11-year-old -- giving my study hall teacher a slightly rough time.

I remember she had told me to quiet down and get working on something, and then she got a phone call and quickly moved to the television set. The study hall that I was in had about 45 kids ranging from grades 6-8. I was sitting near a lot of my close friends when she turned on the TV right around 10 minutes before 10 o'clock here in Iowa.

The first picture that was shown on the screen was of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The teacher quickly turned around and asked everyone to be quiet because something horrible had happened. The station we were watching was ABC, and one of the first things I'd heard after our teacher turned up the volume was Diane Sawyer saying that it is possible that an airplane had stuck the tower.

I watched in confusion as the reporters were attempting to explain what was happening, when out of the righthand corner of the screen another airplane appeared and then struck the South Tower and exploded. As soon as I saw what had happened, I had an eerie cold chill run down my back. A girl I was sitting next to asked me what had happened, and I couldn't even respond. Then the replay of the South Tower was shown being struck and an urgent sense of fear, anger and bewilderment came upon me.

A few kids in the classroom asked the teacher what was going on, and the teacher was also unable to respond. We all just quietly watched this unfold for the next 10 minutes before going to our next class, only to watch the story about the Pentagon being hit and then hear the story of the plane that was heroically taken down in Pennsylvania.

School was released early that day because of the attacks. When my brother and I got home, we walked right into the living room and watched the news until our family went to church for a service to pray for what had happened earlier that day.

Being 11 when the attacks on Sept. 11 happened left a mark on me for the rest of my life. I will never forget that day, sitting in study hall being a kid and then watching in horror the events that ensued. I personally felt like I had been attacked, and this was also the moment I first realized the feeling of being a patriot.

Sept. 11, 2001 will be a day of remembrance for every citizen of this country for the unlimited years that will follow, and it is a day that I will always remember.