“I can still remember the dust coating the windows of our upper east side apartment and the sirens blaring non-stop.”

“My sister and I complained to our dad about our ears popping from the change in elevation, but we were silenced when the elevator doors opened to the observation deck.”

“Living in the Midwest, you don’t think of terrorism touching you. We don’t have any major landmarks, skyscrapers, or industries that could bring the country to its knees if they were destroyed. But that day still touched all of us here, affected many of us in that we knew people who knew people in the towers, or in NYC.”

“The Members, on the Capitol steps, singing God Bless America. It wasn’t a made-for-tv moment - in the hours and days and weeks later when it was replayed on TV it felt trite and corny but in that moment, that night, it felt like we were clinging to something, like a lifeline.”

“And then there was the awkwardness of class conversations – of trying to understand, but encountering the lesson that there are no words for some human emotions, that the lack of words or the struggle to find them holds the most truth.”

“I know I’m miles and miles away but the tragedy of 9/11 still affected (affects) us.”

“Looking back through my eleventh grade yearbook, it is easy to tell who knew or who didn’t as their photo was being taken. See, September 11 was also Picture Day in my Southern New Jersey high school.”

“A man stopped us on the street & asked if we were American, then told us in a thick French accent, America got what it deserved.”

“I didn’t know what to make of it.”

“I remember it was picture day at my school. I was ready to take my picture when my teacher told me I was going home.”

“on september 11th, I was at the gym on 57th and 8avenue in Manahttan, running on the treadmill and watching music on tv, and suddently , all tv stopped and showed on live the 1st tower getting attacked…”

“Everyone’s posts have been about how young they were at the time, and I guess I was too, but it didn’t feel that way then… I swear I aged so much that day thinking of all the possibilities and how everything was going to change now.”

“After Sept. 11th, the city was plastered with missing persons flyers, New Yorkers were patient with each other and no one wanted to be alone.”

“Even at 10 years old, I knew that protecting her was what needed to be my priority in the midst of all the chaos.”

“The very first thing that came to my mind was the safety of my father, who was at the time was on active duty in the Navy and was deployed in the Middle East. Every morning before I ride the bus to school, I would call my dad to tell him good night and I love you; that morning, not one family member of my dad’s squadron could get a hold of them.”