It was a day that would forever be burnedinto my memory. I lived 30 minutes from the city, so I was pretty closewhen it happened. It felt like a normal day in fourth grade, but thestudents were a bit restless. There were rumors about an accident, evena ridiculous story about airplanes crashing into a football field. Webecame confused as fellow students were picked up or sent home eventhough school had just begun, and we started to worry when we saw thestern faces of our teachers.

My mom didn’t know anythingabout the situation because our cable was often broken, denying usaccess to the news. It wasn’t until I got home that my mom foundout online that the Twin Towers had fallen. My dad, a surgeon, had tostay at the hospital to wait for victims to arrive. He explained duringdinner how all scheduled operations were put on hold so that they couldhandle the emergency. However, not a single ambulance arrived from thetowers because no one made it. When we heard this, our chopsticks pausedin mid-air and there was silence as we digested theinformation.

I remember running across the hall to my bestfriend’s apartment to watch the news. We sat in horror as theyshowed the plane crashing into the building over and over. We were evenmore devastated when we found out it wasn’t an accident, thatpeople had hearts so black they chose to destroy so many lives.

Iwas only in elementary school, but I could still feel the pain of thistragedy. I knew students whose parents were lost attempting to saveothers and saw the agony in their tear-stained faces. I only wished thatthe perpetrators would be punished.

The next day many of us wentto school. The dust and debris had traveled to our area, so a lot of uswalked with masks on our faces. It was a sad day, with gloomy weatherand polluted air surrounding us. The pollution invaded our eyes and thesimple task of getting to school became dangerous.

After a fewdays everything seemed back to normal. Nature was moving on, whichreminded us that we, too, must live for the present, not the past. Thosewho lost relatives will never forget those who are missing from theirlives, but we won’t disregard those who are still here. Thetragedy may have scarred us for life, but we will remain strong and moveon. As a country, community, and family, we have grown closer andtogether we will face the things life throws at us, no matter how hard.