There’s no question that the events of September 11th, 2001 changed Americans’ sense of protection and trust. The images of that day are installed in the minds of all those who remember the tragedy; and those who don’t. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. This year also marks the first year that not all high schoolers were alive during the attack. This is my perception of 9/11 as someone who doesn’t remember it ever happening.

I was born in the year 1999, making me only two years old on September 11, 2001. Unlike many Americans, I don’t remember what I was doing during the terrorist attack. I don’t remember watching the TV in disbelief, or having my song be interrupted on the radio to bring me the breaking news. Here’s what I do remember. I learned about 9/11 like a history lesson. Every year on the anniversary, teachers told the stories of their experience. They usually explained to us where they were and what they were doing that day. One teacher told us that the school she was working at closed for the day; as a kid, that was the biggest thing that stuck with me. Of course I didn’t understand what exactly happened in New York, I knew that there were two planes that hit two buildings, which inevitably collapsed. No one ever told us why someone wanted to fly a plane into a building. I think for awhile I just assumed it was an accident. I remember a boy in my class making the comment “why didn’t everyone just crawl down the side of the building?” that really summed up our level of comprehension at that age.

In middle school I finally put a visual to what I had been hearing about my whole life. We watched news footage of the 2nd plane smashing into the south tower. We watched people running for their lives with debris falling around them, and a man jumping to his death. Never seeing any footage before that day, and then finally seeing all of it at once, was quite overwhelming. I finally understood what the big deal was. I felt what everyone felt that day watching the exact same news footage, I was just about nine years late. Later in middle school we learned more about the war in the Middle East, and for the first time I connected the two events. I learned just how different America was before 9/11. From air travel, to trust in government and outsiders, everything used to be different; but not for me. To me everything has always been this way.