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KCTCS - Elizabethtown |
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Two short days after September 11, my family and I had a preplanned vacation in a Destin, Fl. We made a quick decision that we would still go so that we could see relatives that we haven’t seen in a while. We thankfully did not have plans to fly that trip, but it was a very long twelve hour ride. When we arrived at our destination I discovered that things were not much different here than they were in the car. I felt as though I was living in a horror movie. Every morning when I got up to get that continental breakfast that was “supposed” to start your day out good; I was so turned down by all the puzzled faces and blaring news stations that I could hardly eat. When my cousins and I went to the beach in hopes of civilization, we found ourselves to be very disappointed. There were maybe 30 people on the entire beach as far as I could see. We weren’t giving up yet though. We were determined to find something fun to do. We set off to the pool because we never fail to have fun there. When we saw the pool, it seemed as everyone had the same idea. The area was packed, but just as we were walking up a plane was flying over. At that moment it was silent. Every person there looked up in fear. Although the plane was clearly flying far above our heads and looked to be very innocent, I don’t think anyone was thinking that way. After I was recovering from my stomach rising to my jaw, I started thinking about how sad it is that here I am, a 12 year old, scared to death when a plane flies over head. The September 11 attacks definitely made me feel very insecure and unsafe. When we returned home from our week long “vacation”, the feelings didn’t go away as I hoped they would. I found myself being scared to sleep in my room alone and not wanting to leave the house. Although I have gotten past my fear of sleeping alone and leaving the house, there is still a lot of fear and distrust in people that sticks with me. Along with having the feelings of being insecure and unsafe, I discovered another change in myself that I never thought would happen. One Saturday morning my friend and I went to get our monthly pedicures. After about ten minutes of relaxation a women walked in with a full burka on. At first I didn’t think much of it but then things got a little weird. She stood at the counter for a |
