"...we've just recieved a report that a commercial aircraft has crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhatten in what is assumed to be a terrorist attack on the United States..."

That got me out of bed, and into my parents bedroom, where they were already awake and watching the TV in silence. That is when I first saw the burning tower of the World Trade Center. Moments later, we watched as the second plane crashed, live.

There's no need to recall the days events. I'm sure everyone already knows what has happened. All I have to say are my thoughts on the subject, the thoughts of a 19-year-old girl living on the west coast of Canada.

I was born in 1982. I was seven years old when the Berlin Wall came down, and I actually knew what was going on. Dad explained to me, in the simplest way possible, why a wall had been dividing a city, and why people were so happy that the wall had come down. Later on, I lived through the Gulf War. I heard the name Saddam Hussein, but didn't have a clue as to who exactly he was and why we all hated him so much until my Grade 12 History class. And unfortunately, I didn't even care to know.

The United Nations declared Canada the best country in the world to live in, and British Columbia the best province. Vancouver being a healthy city, and Richmond being the cleanest, most economically stable suburb of Vancouver, and finally the Steveston block being the highest-income block in Richmond. Statistically, I live in the best place on earth.

My generation was always a "safe" one. I have never felt the fear of real war until this day. War has not been declared by anyone, but the fear I felt today, and still feel right now, is unbelievable. The pit in my stomach will not go away. This morning, my hands shook as I tried to get ready for school. Tears filled my eyes as I listened to the radio.

I always wondered, why hasn't anything "cool" happened while I'm alive? Always jealous that my parents got to live in such turbulent times, witnessing the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam. Things I love to learn about in school. I felt cheated to be living in such times where teenagers seem to not give a flying fuck about history, politics, or anything of what I consider value. I always thought, my life is so boring, I almost wish I suffered adversity.

My children will ask, Mom, do you remember when the United States was attacked? Do you remember where you were when you first heard? I will say, Yes, I remember. I remember driving to school, fighting back tears as I listened to the screams of people on the streets of New York. I remember the low-flying jets overhead as I was stuck in traffic on the Arthur Laing bridge. I was a college student, and I went to my first class that day only hours after the attack, and my Psychology teacher had tears in his eyes and a choked up voice. He told us that this would be a day we would never forget, and our lives would never be the same.

I remember the fear of my classmates voices, and the outrage of one particular girl in my English class. She had gone to the President of the school early in the morning to request that we take a few minutes of silence to pray and think about what had happened that morning, but was given a look that said, you must be crazy to be making such a request.

I am flipping back and forth, from being sad and scared of the future, and thinking that the USA has had this coming forever. All it took were a few people with the guts and organizational skills to pull it off. I don't mean to say that anyone deserves something like this. But I cannot blame Palestinians for smiling at the thought of the Great America in chaos. Hello, welcome to the real world. Sometimes we all need a good dose of our own medicine.

I don't know what to think anymore, or what to say. September 11, 2001 will be going down in history books, I can say that much.

So many firefighters are trapped underneath the collapsed buildings. That is something that truly breaks my heart. Men and women who mustered up the bravery to do their job, to climb into a burning building that was just hit by terrorists. If they are dead, they have died with the utmost respect and dignity that anyone could have ever died with.

I am thousands of miles away from the nearest terrorist attack, and I cry.

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