It was a friend’s birthday that day, and she had brought in chocolate chip cookies to our class. We were only in second grade, and as such, we were all delighted to see such a treat waiting for us. I can’t recall if we were doing math or even science at the time we heard.

I didn’t see anything live myself, but when I went home that day, it was all we saw on the news. I remember the look of shock and blatant terror on faces of my loved ones as we watched in horror at what had unfolded while I had been at school. I remember my mother mating socks as she sat on the couch, myself and my brothers curled up on the floor by her knees.

To see such a sight, and be so young to witness, it is almost unreal. I look back to when I was that little child ten years ago, and I think to myself: Yes, that did happen. Did it hurt us? Did it cause such grief among our country?

Yes. It did. But can we safely say it made us stronger as one country, one people? Absolutely. This day will forever be etched in our hearts as a reminder of what we went through, and what we survived.