As blood ran down the flight attendant's neck, everyone prayed not to die. A dark-skinned man headed to the front of the plane to claim his next victim. He slowly pressed the cold red blade of a knife into the pilot's neck. Many who saw it screamed. They all knew then that they would die. The passengers heard the plane making wild turns and realized they had turned around. Not long after this happened to four planes, every single passenger died. Terrorists had taken control of planes in America. Four planes, nineteen terrorists, and nearly 3,000 deaths later, the United States of America has changed forever. On September 11, 2001, many people's lives changed. Not only Americans were affected, but also Muslims and Islamists. (A Nation Challenged 80). Family and friends were lost, lives were taken, and New York City was torn apart. Two planes hit the Twin Towers, otherwise known as the World Trade Center. A plane was crashed into the Pentagon located in Virginia. A final plane flew into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after being taken over by passengers. The nineteen men who hijacked these planes belonged to the Islamic militant group known as al-Qaeda. (The 9/11 Commission Report). A New York Times editorial said: "It was one of those moments when history divides and we define the world as 'before' and 'after'." The Pentagon is almost a city unto itself. On average, 23,000 people work there per day, and over 200,000 phone calls are made per day via phones connected by 100,000 miles of telephone wire. (A Nation Challenged 24). American Airlines Flight 77 was scheduled to fly from Washington to Los Angeles, California... through buildings filled with paper and smoke. He had thin, gray, almost white hair that had thinned out over time. His eyes seemed sunken into his face and his skin sagged. He looked younger than he actually was and acted accordingly too. He had family at home, waiting for his return, or at least praying for him to return. Mychal Judge was the Chaplin of the New York Fire Department. He didn't have to go to the scene, but he chose to do so anyway. Father Judge was kneeling and giving last rites to a firefighter who had been killed by a falling body. Because Mychal Judge was the first to be released from Ground Zero. This 68-year-old man's death certificate bore the number one September 11, 2001. (One Nation 70). September 11, 2001 changed America and the world forever. No one would have ever thought that four planes and nineteen terrorists could do so much.