a decade gone by.

i was sixteen years old. i was in chemistry class. my friends and i were busy setting up an experiment in the lab, but realistically, we were probably more consumed with our discussion about last night's episode of dawson's creek. i heard the classroom phone ring in the background, but i didn't pay much attention to it. i wasn't the sort of student who would have been called to the principal's office.

but then mrs. dummer made us stop what we were doing. she told us that an airplane had crashed into the world trade center. i didn't know what the world trade center was, but i pretended that i did. heck, i didn't even know it was in the united states. she turned on the t.v. and i remember how she sat down and just stared at it. i remember thinking how bizarre it was to see her just sitting there because she was always so engaged, walking around helping everyone. some kids continued to work on their lab. some wandered over to watch with mrs. dummer. as soon as i went over to see what the big deal was, i instantly recognized the two tall buildings from the shots of the city on friends. that was the united states. that was new york.

both buildings were on fire near the top. i thought,"well that doesn't look that bad. they're big buildings and only the top floors are affected." i also remember thinking that it was so weird that two planes had hit two buildings. blinded by the innocence of youth, i blamed the "accident" on mechanical failure. and then we saw the first tower crumble and fall. at this point, everyone had left their beakers and graduated cylinders and gathered around the t.v. the class was absolutely silent, with the exception of the class loudmouth who quietly muttered, "holy shit."

holy shit, indeed.

today i looked back at my high school yearbook from my junior year. in the back of the book there is a page that reads:

"dedicated to the thousands of people who died that fateful day of sept. 11th. we will always remember you. we will never forget how our freedom was looked down on by terrorists. we will never forget how that day not only united americans, but..."

the intent of the page was to provide a space to record how we were changed by those events. but i left it blank. how was i supposed to know, at sixteen years old, that my generation would be forever changed? how was i to know that two years later many of my classmates would enlist in the armed forces and fight for our country in the name of justice? in the name of those who died. how was i supposed to know that every time i entered an airport from that day forward, my mind would wander to the source of the security measures. how was i supposed to know that words like taliban, al qaeda, and osama bin laden would become regular lexicon? how could any of us have known?

ten years later, as i've grown from a teenager into an adult, i've learned that every generation has a defining moment. for my grandparents, it was the second world war. for my parents, it was vietnam. for my generation, it is september 11th that has left its stamp on our innocence and our youth. although the event was horrific, it's my prayer that the measures and precautions that were taken in the decade that followed will prevent norah's generation from experiencing a tragic, defining moment.

although it's become cliche, we will, indeed, never forget. after all, how could we?