I was at school, in 2nd grade. My class was celebrating a classmates birthday. When someone from the front office came to the door, asked my teacher to step outside a moment. She came back in, ran to the tv, turned it on, and in seconds put her hands to her face and burst into tears. I just remember seeing the first tower smoking. Then the second a little after that. I just understood that it was bad, and being sad, but not crying. The only time my teacher brought it up after that was about a week later, and that was with the newspaper, which one of the kids grabbed off her desk...

I remember I asked on of my parents on teh way home from school, why someone could be so stupid. I think their answer was something along the lines of "There are some very bad people in the world, and because they believe certain things, they do things that others don't understand, that are very bad. The people who flew into those buildings in New York, were bad people, but they also had diffrent beliefs than us, and maybe thought what they were doing was right. But they made a very big mistake." I can't remember what my responce was.. something along the lines of a typical punishment for a 7yr old. I wanna say I asked them "Then why don't their mommies and daddies put them in the corner/ spank them/ take their toys away." but I can't remember for sure.

I haven't watched a news channel for more than five minutes today. Why? Because I remember enough. I remember watching the news that day, and I don't want to watch any of it again. I barely understood it when I was little, and now that I'm older, and do understand it, I know I'll be more upset about it than I was then. I feel that as long as I remember it, and remember that many lost their lives or loved ones, and many did things to attempt to save others, then that's what I need to remember.

If I heard correctly, my school district has pretty much required that everyone above a certain grade (I believe 2nd) write about what they think a hero is, what they remember from that day, or why it's important. I have a cousin who's at the age I was 10yrs ago. He barely understands why his mom & dad don't live together anymore, I can't imagine him understanding anything like this for a long time.