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LIVED THROUGH THIS
The Curse of September 11, 2001
20 years later, the aftereffects still linger in my life and the lives of others
I was hungover when the phone rang.
The night before, I’d been partying with my fraternity brothers, so I answered and immediately hung up. Despite hanging up the call, the rings came once more, so I answered.
“Hello?”
“Benjamin!” The voice was frantic on the other end. “Turn on the TV now!”
“Mooooommmmm,” I groaned. “It’s, like, super early. What do you want?”
My roommate echoed my sentiments from his bed, but my mother’s frenzied voice continued to climb in pitch. “Turn on the TV!”
I climbed down from my loft after throwing my old Nokia phone into a recliner. My mom continued to ask if I’d turned on the TV, her voice muffled in the recliner cushion. Grabbing the remote, I turned on the TV and moved the phone to my ear. I said something but stopped. One of the World Trade Centers in New York was smoking and on fire.
I read the scrolling news feed quickly, then said, “Looks like a plane accidentally ran into a tower in New York. What’s the big deal?”
