I remember sitting on that beige leather couch, casually flipping through the channels. Constant replays of the planes hitting the towers, and consequently the towers dropping. Although I wasn't completely unaware, I will say 4th graders can only understand so much. I didn't see the sudden gloom in President Bush's countenance or thousands of New Yorkers standing in disbelief; I didn't see it.
Into high school, there was a documentary on 9/11 that I decided to watch. I don't remember much about that documentary, but the one thing I do still rings clearly in my memory. Firefighters and policemen set station in the base floor of the towers to have communication with the firefighters and policemen running up, but you could barely pay attention to the dialogue because all you would hear were these loud crashes of glass. The cameraman didn't dare ask what it was until finally someone quietly whispered, "Those are the people jumping off....."
I would guess every 10 seconds. Every ten seconds someone decided that it's better to jump then try to survive up there.
I really do wish to visit the 9/11 memorial sometime. Usually visiting those types of places doesn't really hit well with me because they are only about wars I've read in history books. But this memorial will be different.
