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A Test of Our Own

By Matt Margolis | September 11, 2003

The following post is an editorial I wrote for my school paper, The Informer, after September 11, 2001. Before I write a reflection on these past two years, I thought it would be appropriate to look at my words from two years ago, to see just how much (or how little) things have changed. I shall post my thoughts on the two-year anniversary of 9-11 in the next couple days.

A Test of our Own
Matt Margolis
Informer Columnist

8:45 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, Tuesday, September 11, I was asleep. Eighteen minutes later, I was still asleep, unaware of what was taking place a couple hundred miles away. 9:30 a.m., President George W. Bush declared: “We have had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”

I have never been to the World Trade Center. I almost visited it this past summer. I saw the towers from the Brooklyn Bridge, and that was as close as I ever got to it. The two buildings meant very little to me before that Tuesday morning when one of my roommates woke me up shouting �The World Trade Center just collapsed!� I got to the TV shortly before the second tower collapsed, it was a moment that I feel will stick with me for the rest of my life. My roommates and I gathered in front of the TV, and watched on.

1:04 p.m., Bush vows to hunt down and punish those responsible for the attacks� �Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.� We heard what we had been waiting to hear: the leadership we had hoped for. We watched on.

1:27 p.m., A state of emergency is declared by Washington. By now, all the images of World Trade Center collapsing and the Pentagon attack are burned into our memories. Who knew what was going to happen next? Was another target going to be hit? There were no answers. We barely knew what all the questions were.

I have been thinking about the words of our President, George W. Bush, �The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But make no mistake: We will show the world that we will pass this test.� These words reinforced my confidence in Bush�s leadership.

7:00 p.m. I was one of about two thousand students who assembled at the Sports Center. I wanted to see how my fellow students reacted to the day�s events. I did not come for answers, or for comfort. I came to see how my community here was going to bond. The vigil that was held was only the beginning of a new kind of unity on this campus. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring us together. However, it takes a lot more for us to remain united.

8:30 p.m., Bush spoke again: �Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America.� I have seen people on TV, tirelessly working to save lives at the site of the tragedy. Here, I have seen students expressing their concerns, comforting others, and wanting to donate blood. I hope we are responding with the best of the University of Hartford.

I said last week in my editorial that I felt good about this upcoming year. I wrote and submitted that editorial the day before the attacks. Yet, I still feel the same way, even with the events of last week, because I see an opportunity. I see the opportunity for this campus to come together. That is how the University of Hartford is being tested.

Will we learn from this experience that we all can be one community instead of a bunch of cliques? I think if there is ever a time for us to unite, now is the time. I do not mean the kind of spirit that occurs at a sports game on campus, when crowds of students cheer on our teams. I am referring to a unity of a higher, deeper, and more genuine kind. I hope our University will pass this test, because what happened September 11, 2001 is only the beginning. We need to stand together for everything that follows.

We need to stand behind our President and our government. Our country will fight back, and we will win. We are all victims of this act of war. We will all remember this for the rest of our lives. When we look back on this in future years, we will remember that when this happened we were students at the University of Hartford. That is why our actions here, from 8:45 a.m. last Tuesday through the rest of this school year are so important. That is why we are being tested.

One of the most incredible moments I can remember from the past week and half was during President Bush�s visit to the rubble where the World Trade Center towers once stood. He spoke to a crowd of people with a bullhorn; someone shouted that he could not hear him, to which the President replied “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon…” The crowd cheered and began chanting �USA! USA! USA! USA��

My roommates and I cheered. That was an incredible scene. I believe all of us watching were surged with a new sense of patriotism for our country from watching that.

In the course of a few days, a country that seemed generally indifferent to each other and to the nation became unified and patriotic. American flag sales have jumped beyond expectation and supply. We have not yet begun a war, but we have already won the hardest battle. We must continue to show the world what it means to be an American.

1:00 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, Monday, September 17, 2001, I submitted this editorial� a little wiser and a lot more patriotic then I was just a week earlier.
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Originally published September 20, 2001