I was 15 years old, and in the 11th grade @ a high school in the San Fernando Valley, CA. My class on break for the fall so I had been staying up until midnight everyday and waking up late. On September 11, I woke up around 9am PST. My sister had already gone to school, and my dad had already left for work. I started my day off like any other. I turned on the television to the morning news and booted up my computer to check email and chat with my friends. On the news I see a man walking past the camera and reporter covered in what appeared to be ash. The man looked angry and he was cursing up a storm, and then the newscast replayed the video of the second or first plane hitting one of the WTC buildings. I switch to my computer and on my homepage I read about the attacks that had occurred earlier in the morning.

I did not understand what was going on nor could I comprehend why anyone would commit such a horrendous act on our soil. My heart was broken as I had naively believed that the world was a safe place, and that war was a thing of the past.

I spent the rest of the day watching the news coverage and reading news articles online, but it wasn’t until I went to college and studied world history and international relations that I was able to fully comprehend the historical precedents to 9/11.