SAN ANTONIO – As many reflect on the 20th anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, some San Antonians remembered what they were doing on that tragic day in history.
“I was born in 1998,” said Sarah Taylor. “I briefly remember some things here and there. I know I was watching SpongeBob when my mom was freaking out in the kitchen. I guess she was listening to something on the radio but then she came in and turned the channel and I remember seeing helicopters in the air on the news. The phone was ringing non-stop and neighbors were knocking on the door trying to figure out what happened. The next thing I know, I was in a stroller and we were going to pick my sister up from school. People in the hallways were frantic.”
“When 9/11 happened, I was six years old,” said Isaiah Cosey. “I was living in Hawaii at the time because my dad was in the military and we were on a military base. I was at school and my mom came and picked me up. The entire island basically shut down. People who were on the base couldn’t leave and people outside of the base could not get in. At first, I didn’t understand but my Mom was careful to explain what was going on. She really just held us close and told us to cherish each other. I was sad and confused because I had a pretty acute understanding about what war was but to me, this was not a war. Nobody was fighting each other but violence was still taking place. I was sad and confused that people would want to hurt people like this.”
To this day, many say they can’t believe it has been 20 years.
“Watching the documentaries and hearing stories of people and what they went through at the World Trade Center,” Taylor said. “I just can’t believe it has been 20 years. I feel like it is still fresh in a lot of people’s minds and the trauma they must have gone through and the people who were lost.”
“I do remember, and a lot of people do remember a kind of global unity around hey this isn’t something we want to continue,” Cosey said. “It was something at the time we knew we could fight against. Does it really take tragedy or something terrible to happen for us to get together on something? Why does it take that? Why is it that when things are good, we just get more petty and then when something terrible happens we want to come together. Sometimes I lament that that’s how things seem to go and there is a pattern of that over our nation’s history. It really sticks with me and it changes how I look at things. I know things are complicated. I think I just try to remember to hold people close.”
