I remember exactly where I was on Sept. 11, 2001.

I was sitting on the floor of my sixth-grade science class making a bridge out of toothpicks and marshmallows when my teacher turned the television on.

I remember being so confused. My teacher was crying and people were pointing at the screen.

What was going on?

My teacher tried to calm down and explain to us that planes had hit some very important buildings in New York City on purpose. I didn’t get it.

Why would anyone do that?

Within minutes children started to be pulled out of class by their parents. I waited and waited, but mine never came. By the end of the day I was one of 20 students sitting in the cafeteria just waiting for that final bell to ring.

When we were finally released I ran home to find my dad sitting on the couch crying. He tried to explain what had happened, but couldn’t. There weren’t and there still are not any words to describe 9/11.

How did this happen? Why?

Unfortunately, 10 years later, these questions still haven’t been fully explained to me.

I was 11-years-old when these terrorist attacks changed America forever. I literally grew up with the war on terror constantly raging in the background.

To be honest, I do not remember what the world was like before our country was afraid, before we realized we were, in fact, vulnerable.

To me it seems commonplace to go through a million safety measures before getting on a plane, to spend billions of dollars on a foreign war and for people to use 9/11 as reasoning for all types of political action.

My parents remember walking onto a plane without throwing out their liquids, without walking through a machine that might cause radiation damage. I don’t know anything other than getting to the airport two hours early for all of the new security measures.

Sept. 11 has also provided a significant amount of political fodder. Though the attacks brought America together for a short period of time, the post-9/11 policies have become a dividing line between political parties.

This is a small slice of the post-9/11 era.

A lot of people have been impacted way more than me, but a friend of mine commented in class this week that we are all a part of history now and I definitely think that holds true.

Growing up in the post-9/11 era, we each have a story to tell and it makes up the bigger picture of that day, that moment in time.

Ashley Withers is a senior majoring in journalism and also serves as the Editor in Chief of the Daily Campus. She can be reached for comment at [email protected]