Thread by @realBradBrewer

I remember exactly where I was 18 years ago - #NeverForget THREAD

I sat in my 7th grade science class at Fayetteville Street Christian School in Asheboro, NC, like every other Tuesday morning. Nothing remarkable had happened, when the door to the classroom opened...

It was Miss Duty, my history teacher... “A plane just hit the World Trade Center,” she told us. She didn’t have much information and didn’t seem too distraught so we just figured that it was a small biplane that had lost course or control and crashed.

Sad, but nothing to change our entire day (much less lives over). That was the last moment of naïveté I can recall in my life - the last moment not understanding what terrorists, radical Islam, and fears of war were. Everything changed from that moment. Everything...

As the next few moments rushed by, we quickly realized that this was more than any biplane. It was a jet liner. About the time we heard the news, we switched classes. I headed for Bible class with Mr. Patterson. We didn’t do class that day, but opened with a word of prayer..

After praying for what seemed like an eternity (and not in the negative sense) we rolled out the tv cart and began to watch the coverage. It was at that moment that the second plane struck. What did it all mean? Watching the snuffing out of large swaths of humanity was numbing..

We sat there and no one said a word. We were transfixed on the television, hanging on every word and every image - as scary as it may have been. The time passed slowly and quickly, all at the same time - then the most horrific portion of the day began - the towers began to fall..

As I watched the very real display of evil in this world play out in front of me, it almost didn’t seem real - like it was a bad dream that I just couldn’t shake from....

The rest of the day/evening is a blur to me... I couldn’t tell you what I did, other than watch the news broadcasts. As I layed in bed, I turned on the radio, to hear what was going on at ground zero. I had to keep some noise on, I just couldn’t lay there in the silence...

It seemed too quiet without it. The silence was almost worse. The scary thoughts of what this would mean for me, my family, and our country were enough to keep me sleepless.

The rest of the week, I have no distinct memories (outside of watching President Bush speak at ground zero). That still gives me goose bumps thinking about.

That Thursday evening, just 2 days after 9/11, we had a soccer game in Lexington, NC at Sheets Memorial Christian School..

I remember distinctly, every time we heard a plane fly overhead, the entire game would stop and look up. It was a defense mechanism... the fear of another attack was still too fresh of a wound....

I tell this story to remind everyone to think back on where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt. Tell the young ones who don’t “remember.” It’s our duty to #NeverForget. ❤️