The day that changed the world.

I can't believe it's been 5 years. I will never forget exactly where I was when I heard, and how that day and some of the following days unfolded. It's a day that scarred history, and to my generation, it is the biggest thing we've ever known - the worst tragedy we've seen on American soil. Ten years down the road, 20, 50, and should our country survive that long, I think even 500 years from now, this day will stand out.

Who knows what will become of the war on terror, if it will turn into the next Cold War or if it will boil down to civil wars in the Middle East? I can't imagine the next generation of kids, ones who were too young on this day or not yet born, not knowing what it was like, not feeling the wound in the soul of our country that I think is a part of America's collective unconscious.

I lived in horror that day, and sorrow, and fear, as I think many Americans did. We were all angry too, at the unseen force who could so cold-heartedly take aim at us and our way of life.

Life before 9/11 was easier. It was a time of peace, and for me, a time of innocence. I had never known war, never known what it was like to loathe the president of my country, never feared for my country's future or for my own rights.

That day, I was riding in the ol' '88 Volvo 240 DL, the sounds of K104.5 blasted through those duct-taped speakers, and I was cringing as Ludacris' "Peaches and Cream" blared (it was back in the day when I hated rap). When the song cut out in the middle, I was instantly glad - relief from those dreadful lyrics - but then the DJ's voice came on.

"A second plane has hit the towers. A second plane. It now looks like this might be an attack."

And through the day, hearing tidbits of news as I sat through Chemistry, not believing until I got home after school and saw it for myself that the towers had FALLEN, that part of the Pentagon was exploded, that another plane had aimed for the White House.

In the days afterward, Mr. Mathieson telling us all that the next attack would be on a small town just like Waxahachie - we, after all, represented another part of America that the terrorists all hated. Well, we knew it was silly, but I think everyone in the class gave at least a moment's thought to, "What if?"

I'll never forget. I will always get sick to my stomach as I see the second plane hit the tower, as I see the towers begin to crumble, the dust clouds obscuring everything in the street, people running with terror. And I just wanted to take a few minutes today to think about the people who died in those attacks, the many who may yet die from being there after the attacks, and the people who have died in wars because of those attacks.