On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was in bed when my roommate called me on our apartment's landline.
I was working for a newspaper in the mountains of North Carolina and had been writing a story late the night before. With a strange tone that I didn't quite recognize, my roommate said, "Well, I guess it's going to be a slow news day."
"Uh. What do you mean?" I said.
"You haven't heard?" he said. "Go turn on the radio." (We didn't have a TV or internet in our West Asheville apartment.)
The coverage was at first confusing and I didn't understand what I was hearing, until the National Public Radio broadcaster explained to those just tuning in that two planes had struck the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. It was terrible.
Moments later it got worse
as the towers started to collapse.
By the time I got dressed and picked up the phone to call work, it had become clear this wasn't an accident. My editor told me to come in. But as reporters for a small newspaper far from New York, we didn't know what to do. Besides watch the television replay the horror.
What was your experience with 9/11? Tell us below.
Nearly 3,000 people died in those attacks – including a plane that hit the Pentagon and one that crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought the hijackers.
Now, facing the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I remember it as the day when so much changed. Along with the immediate deaths, the center of the world's financial capital was forever altered, we sent people to war and our sense of ourselves as Americans was different. More patriotic, at first, it seemed. And angry, and maybe more scared.
What do you, our USA TODAY readers, remember about 9/11? Where were you? What were you doing? How did you feel? How do you think the attacks changed things? If you weren't yet alive then or were too young to remember, what is your perception of 9/11 and how it changed our country and the world?
Scroll down to submit your answers, or send us an email at forum@usatoday.com using the subject line “Forum 9/11.” You can also leave us a voicemail at (202) 655-3923. We’ll publish a collection of your responses, so we may reach out to you about yours.
Joel Burgess is a Voices editor for USA TODAY Opinion.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 9/11 attacks changed everything. How should we remember it? | Opinion
