When I was younger, I just thought that 9/11 was just a dark day in history for the United States of America, but for my Uncle Juan it was a terrifying day. My view about 9/11 was always different than my Uncle because he was working and he remembered what had happened, whereas I was three year old boy not knowing what had happened. He was a little bit sketchy about the topic since he didn’t like talking about it. I felt horrible about talking to him about it since it was a touchy subject for him.

It was September 11th at a factory somewhere near LA, everyone was working and all of a sudden they heard the broadcast that one of the twin towers has been hit by a plane. Everyone thought it was an accident at first until they witnessed the second plane and they knew it was not an accident. My Uncle was working at his job like a normal day. When he heard the news that the twin towers were just hit. Naturally everyone was worried that about their families, “I called your aunt to assure sure she was alright” explained my Uncle however he was still terrified for his family.

When the towers were hit, my Uncle’s boss told everyone to not panic and to continue working and she’ll put on the radio to see what is happening. My Uncle also told me that he thought that they were going to attack California. I never knew why everyone was too worked up about it because he made it sound peaceful. Even though I know it was probably hell because they thought the terrorist might attack somewhere else.

My Uncle was a person who would figure news out before it spread out, this was not one of those cases. He would always know important events before I did “ I was at work while it happened, and everyone was terrified over the planes crashing” and I knew he felt sad because it was all sudden. He explained how he thought the US would never attack since it’s a enormous country and a powerful one too. He was always sad about it “as though a family member had died” and that is very sad because people had friends or family that died and my Uncle didn’t know anyone, must’ve made you think how other people felt.

Before the attack had happened my Uncle explained that when he arrived in California, he promised himself that he would have a better life for his family, you could consider that his American Dream. My Uncle had always wanted to move to California because Mexico was tough when he was growing up “ It was a peaceful country at the time and I wanted to go back except I stayed and remembered what was essential. He loved Mexico, but it was not the time to go back, because he wanted to stay in beautiful California. He would consider it because my grandparents thought it would be great to come back.

When the interview was almost done, I asked my Uncle what was the worst attack that had ever happened in Mexico. To my surprise there was nothing done in Mexico like the US, I kinda understand that Mexico did nothing wrong with Al-qaeda but even Mexico has some enemies. My Uncle told me that he felt mentally terrified because he thought something like that would happen. Now ISIS, a well known terrorist organization that has risen up from where it started and is now cutting the heads of reporters in Iraq. I didn’t feel anything at first because I didn’t realize he was right. Even though it’s not happening in the US, terror is still spreading.

In conclusion, I am grateful my Uncle Juan was able to tell me all the stories that he has remembered. He was brave for staying at work even though he had the thought that it was all going to end on that day. He had emotional pain, even though it didn’t affect him except for the fear of his family. Lastly because he still kept on living his American Dream after everything he went through.