9/11: A Bigger Perspective

As I write this blog I still have tears in my eyes. A half-hour ago I took Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor's advice and went on StoryCorps to hear some stories. I chose to hear the 9/11 stories first, seeing as it's so relevent with what we've been discussing in class. It took only one story to break me down, and by the end of the second I was sobbing an embarassing amount. I ended up listening to every single 9/11 account. The news coverage we watched in class of 9/11 was very moving, but I find the personal stories of the regular people who found themselves in a tragic situation a lot more compelling. It's one thing to watch the towers fall and think "this is horrible there must be so many people in there," but it is completely different to hear the stories of those effected. To hear about a 10-year-old boy's favorite things to do with his grandpa before he died in 9/11, to hear about what it was like to have your husband on the 100th floor and have a final conversation on the phone when you knew he was going to die, to hear real, normal, completely average people just like us sob. I can feel their pain. To me, hearing someone's story and feeling their pain along with them gives the event more gravity, makes it more devastating, and more important than watching it happen from the outside.