Out of the Ashes of Tragedy

2006 5th-6th Grade Prose Honorable Mention

On September 11, 2001, tragedy struck. For that day the world stood still, caring about one thing. For once the latest news from New York would be the only thing on people's minds. The World Trade Center fell so many years before its time because of two planes, which crashed and took the lives of so many. That day so many New Yorkers lost their homes, and lives were truly destroyed. I happened to be one of them.

On 9/11 I lived right next to the World Financial Center, which is only two blocks down from the World Trade Center. That day started out just like a normal day until I went to English class. My teacher asked what the big news of the day was, and one boy told us what had happened to the Twin Towers. It was so hard to believe that what he was saying was true because, after all, that was my home.

The one thing that convinced me that what he had said was true was that we got out of school early. Then I was scared. After awhile I realized how lucky I was that my home was the only thing I lost. Thank goodness that in a tragedy like this we had so many people willing to risk their lives and their time to save others and to help us.

One of the things that amazed me the most is that Hatzollah, a program made up only of volunteers, were the first ones on the scene. The Red Cross also really helped people who were affected by 9/11. People donated money to the Red Cross and they did all kinds of good things with it, such as making packages and sending them to people who were affected by 9/11. My brother and I got teddy bears from the Red Cross with signatures from schoolchildren.

The firemen and policemen were extremely helpful to the people affected during and after 9/11. Firemen risked their lives to save as many people as they could. The policemen helped greatly with security after 9/11 to make sure that New Yorkers were protected. Also rescue workers helped to save as many people as they could after the Twin Towers fell. I even met a dog that sniffed out a man buried under the rubble and saved his life.

A few weeks after the tragedy I went back to our home with my dad to get whatever we could. We saw policemen, firemen, and soldiers. It was like a military camp. There were still so many of them there. They were very nice to us and helped us get our belongings.

What 9/11 means to me is that we all have to work together to heal the wounds of the past, but the scars will still remain to remind us of what happened and of what all New Yorkers went through together.