"It Could Have Been Anyone" by Kaitlynn

Never in my life have I ever been so affected by a memorial. The 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon was the most emotional part of the trip so far. As we stood at the gate everyone was preoccupied by their own drama and 8th grade thoughts but the moment we heard the first speaker speak you could see in the eyes of everyone (from the jocks, to the popular kids, to the nerds, to the loners) that they had forgotten the world outside that gate and were entirely affected by something they were barely alive for.  After we heard the first man tell his story of flying the President to the White House that day we heard a speech read by our bus leader. This speech was given on the day the memorial was dedicated. The memorial is a collection of benches for each person who passed away in the tragedy.

            About mid-letter was when I lost my own composure along with most. I decided that since I was encouraged by my parents to take lots of pictures that I would take pictures of the rows of the people who had been born the same year as both my parents. I personally don't understand how someone could do something so terrible. The sheer number of people killed and number of benches got to most people. After about 15 minutes people began to call their parents greeting them with "I love you."  I was one of these. I borrowed a friends phone and dialed my mum's number attempting to keep calm enough for her to understand what I'm saying. The reason I write you this is because this has shown the kids that there is no better time than now to tell your family and friends you love them because it could be too late. Another thing that brought this same topic to light was the amount of benches in each year. The youngest victim was born the same year as one of my best friends. There were many from both my mum and dad's birth years. This hits home because any one of those people could have been a parent, a friend, a family member, or just someone from near you at all. Visiting this memorial has not only brought us closer to our families but to each other as well.