Innocence Crashing Down

 Abby Alldaffer and Breanna Behne

I was six at the time of the September 11th terrorist attacks. I don’t remember much about the day itself, only seeing the news after the attacks as I was about to leave for school and hearing my mom call my dad at work in worry. I didn’t fully understand the enormity of what had happened at the time (my representation of the event only included what my six year old brain could comprehend, such as the overwhelming chaos and fear.) This event occurred so early in my childhood that I didn’t have a chance to really see what the world was like before 9/11. Looking back on it however, I can see that the events on that fateful day have shaped my life in many, many ways. Right after the attack my parents made it a priority to see our extended family because of the shock of the event. When the investigations started into the attacks, I remember my parents having a conversation in the car about who would have done such a thing. That was the first time I had ever heard the name “Osama Bin Laden.” Little did I know I would continue to hear that name for the rest of my life.  After this day, the world was not as innocent as it used to be. Security tightened heavily at all airports and other large venues, a greater military dominance emerged, and a war was started. A sense of fear was instilled in many if not all Americans. The saying “freedom is not free” became woven into the thoughts of most U.S. citizens. As for my family, we carried on with our lives but we were all a little more cautious and scared. All of us realized our country was not the impenetrable force we had thought it to be.  

This was taken within a few weeks of the attacks. My parents wanted us to see my aunt and uncle because they lived so far away from us and we didn't know if the world was ever going to be the same. One of the most interesting things about this picture was that it was taken in an airport. I found it really scary at the time that my aunt and uncle would want to fly so shortly after the attacks, but family meant that much to them.

Here's my mom with my uncle and aunt after the attacks. A sense of patriotism was heightened after 9/11 drastically. This can be seen here with my mom and aunt wearing American flag pins and my mom wearing a very patriotic sweatshirt.

I was six years old when the Twin towers were hit on September 11th, 2001. It was a nice day outside. At the time I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening when I first heard about the incident. I was so young, a child typically only realizes the obvious. Based on my six year old representation of the event, there was a lot of chaos and buildings were on fire. My parents seemed frazzled. I remember seeing the tv screen after our family dinner that night, I was playing with my siblings in the living room and I will never forget the terrifying photo on the screen. There was a screen shot of Osama Bin Laden on the TV. That photo scarred me for the next several years of my life. I was terrified and thought that he would come to my home and take me in the dead of the night. I thought that he was going to continue to damage buildings and hurt people. He inflicted fear in me. I remember wanting to always know where my family was because I knew that there were some kids who didn’t know where their families went. Bin Laden instilled a fear into my young brain. I knew that this man was bad. In a sense I lost some of my innocence this day. The whole nation lost an innocence. We were all set in fear. I realized that the world isn’t as happy of a place that I always used to think it was. I began to fear things more often. I learned the cold truth about the beginnings of war.

This is a photo taken by my mother of my siblings and I playing together in our living room. We enjoyed the little things and were so innocent. This photo focuses on how young and carefree we once were. After the 9/11 devastation, of course we still played together, but there was always something there that didn’t always make it seem so carefree. I knew that there was threat and terror out in the world.

History is always formed by partial truths. This is obvious just from the difference in both of our memories and representations of the day of September 11th, 2001. We have a different view on what actually happened. Anyone who writes about history has a slightly different view on what happened and how it happened. If there were an adult who were to narrate their memories of the day it would be a completely different story. They were more knowledgeable at the time. We, as Americans, were all doing different things on this day. Yet, we can all connect to this history of this event because it affected us in someway. For most people it was a day of tragedy and loss. This is what we both focused on. We were both confused, young children. We were scared. All that we could really connect with was that something terrible had happened and we didn’t know why.

This was one of the pictures shown on T.V. the day the towers collapsed. All of America saw it. This image has shaped our lives forever.