I still don't get what happened. Why did those people do this to people who have no real power. They killed secretaries and tourists, not politicians. All that the terrorists accomplished in my opinion was making people mad and giving the average person in America a good reason to want to go to war. I still feel mad and war doesn't strike me as a bad plan at this point.
~ Caryn, 16
I cried when I saw the TV that day and today when I saw those pictures (pictures we looked at to facilitate the discussion) I cried again. The one with the bird that looks like an eagle really gets me. It is so symbolic because it is the U.S. bird. I am proud of the way the New Yorkers acted that day. It gave me faith in people that they can do the right thing when faced with the wrong thing. It is good to know that for most people we default to good when faced with evil.
~ Da-Waun, 17
I still sometimes cry when I think about the twin towers falling. I felt so sick when I first saw it and heard the news guy say that maybe 50,000 people were killed in the rubble. It was like, 50,000??? No way! I am relieved that it was less than 3,000 because that first number seemed so hard to take. I look back at how I felt that day and I still feel the same only less stunned. I still worry about what the future holds. I still worry about war. I worry about lots of stuff but I really worry about war.
~ Ted, 13
I thought I was still asleep when I heard some kid call out that the American's were being bombed. It is just such an unreal thing to hear that it had to be a dream. Who is stupid enough to bomb the U.S.A., right? I am ashamed to admit now that I was on drugs that night and still feeling it when I heard the news. We went to the mall and watched the news. The store people didn't even care that we were standing there, they just let us watch. The manager even gave us coffee. I watched the news and thought to myself that I was very selfish. I saw the good people in New York working so hard to save just a person and I felt ahsamed at myself. I went home that night and have stayed away from drugs for one year. 9/11 saved me in a way. It woke me up. I am sad at the loss and mad at what happened, but I also learned from what I saw that day. People are not all bad. We need to remember the good.
~ Aaron, 16
It sucked then and it still sucks now. Osama is still alive and out there plotting bad things. I hate him. I feel like it is just going to happen again unless the American's do something. They need to take him out and also the people who support him. It is the only way there will be any rest again.
~ Damien, 15
Stupid is all I can think about. It was just stupid. You don't attack the biggest kid on the block without expecting to take a hard punch back. We talk about that a lot when we meet, how you don't go looking for trouble. The guys who attacked the towers went looking for trouble. I wonder when the Americans are going to give them what they asked for. I hope soon. It is too much to think that this will happen again.
~ Anne-Marie, 17
9/11 put things in perspective for me as well. I went home a week later. My Mom was happy to see me and she cried. It was weird for me because I always convinced myself that my parents didn't care about me and I was wrong. I see that now. I wanted to feel safe after 9/11 and going home helped. Like Aaron, I came to see things different. I wish 9/11 had never happenend. I wish that nobody had died that way. I am not glad that it made me go home. I am upset that it took something awful for me to get real perspective. I am embarassed. How do I feel now, on the anniversary? I feel mad. I feel sorry about the lost lives. I feel ready to go to war. I still feel frightened. I still want revenge. But I am grateful to be off the street and feeling those things. Those emmotions don't go well with life on the street.
~ Tomas, 17
Really, I feel just as mad as I did one year ago. I don't understand what happenend and I don't want to. I just want to know that the maniacs behind it all are out of the gene pool if you know what I mean. I wish they were made to pay.
~ DeeMand, 14
You can't look back at an event that stopped the world and feel nothing but honestly, I have bigger worries. I worry about myself and where my life is going and how I am going to eat tomorrow. Sure I cried last year, who didn't? But now my life is back to normal except I want to go home now and I didn't last year. I am working hard to be able to go home. I don't worry about the future and war and stuff because I worry about going home and getting a life. Does that make me a loser? I feel bad, but I have problems to fix that really impact MY life. OK, I know that sounds bad, but it is real.
~ Jaime, 16
About these 9 Teens
** Only first names have been used to protect the identity of the teens.