“Tom Kramer’s contemporary world problems class watches some of the news coverage of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Tuesday morning.Matt Johnson / staff photoWe’re glad we’re safe and nothing has happened to us.South Whidbey High School student Jennifer Barrow wasn’t the only person on South Whidbey to feel this way Tuesday morning. Like everyone else in the country, Barrow woke up to see and hear news coverage of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.Shortly after 6 a.m. local time Tuesday, Sept. 11, the first of four commercial aircraft crashed on the East Coast. Two of the planes hit the World Trade Center in New York City, demolishing the twin towers and presumably killing thousands of people. Shortly afterwards, another jetliner crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed outside Pittsburgh, Penn. at about the same time.The terrorist acts monopolized class discussions at the high school. Contemporary world problems teacher Tom Kramer said the tragedy is a much more specific issue than his class usually studies.September 11 is going to be one of those points in history where you stop and reflect, he said.Students watched news coverage in class and in the school’s library. Emily Mydynski was one of many students who were talking about the morning’s events both in and out of class.That’s all we’ve been talking about. In class this morning we watched the news on television. It’s so hard to believe, it seems unreal, she said.The Whidbey Island Waldorf School gathered its students and parentes together Tuesday afternoon for a circle of concern and sharing. Away from the schools, South Whidbey residents were checking with friends in New York and Washington, D.C. Freeland resident Robin Blanc first heard about the disaster when her 7 a.m. conference call was canceled. Blanc, who works for a company that has offices in Building Two of the World Trade Center, received the following e-mail from the regional office in Bellevue.Wanted to let all of you know that the staff and clients that resided inBldg Two, 21st floor of the World Trade Center all evacuated safely. However, we have learned that this building just collapsed. We are continuing business as usual here, however, many of our East Coast offices and major hubs are closing today.- TiffanyThe message brought the disaster right to Blanc’s office in Freeland.It’s devastating, she said. It’s the worst thing that has ever happened in our lifetime in the United States.It will also affect how she does her job.I have four trips by air planned in the next two weeks, Blanc said. I don’t know how that will work.Even for South Whidbey war veterans, there was nothing to which the morning’s events could be compared. Jack Eskenazi, a World War II veteran and former prisoner of war, was visibly upset by the news.This is worse than Pearl Harbor, because we knew who the enemy was, he said. We don’t know who we are dealing with.Freeland’s Dorothy Saran said the worst part of her morning was thinking about the thousands of people who died in the crashes.All those people killed, so sad, so very sad, she said.People responsible for protecting the public on the Island were some of the most worried. Langley Police Officer Ryan Raulerson said he wondered if Washington state might see its own wave of crashes when the clock struck 9 a.m. on the West Coast.When I realized that the hijacking and crashes happened around 9 a.m. Eastern Time, I was worried whether there would be similar incidents on the West Coast at 9 a.m. our time, he said. It is terrible.In the aftermath of the morning’s events, high school teachers held class discussions in all classrooms. The school canceled Tuesday afternoon’s volleyball and soccer games due to the ferry closure. “