“Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. “
- Pres. George W. Bush

I was on 24-hour duty at the hospital when it happened. I just arrived at the lab after extracting blood from a patient in the ICU when I noticed everyone was at the blood bank completely silent, watching something in the TV. I saw an airplane crash into a building and I thought it must be an accident. Not only did I not think of it as being a terrorist attack, I wasn’t able to comprehend it was happening in New York, in the United States, the most powerful country in the world. When the newscaster said that the Twin Towers of New York City has been under terrorist attack, I was terrified. I was trying to reach for my dreams, finishing school, dreaming of going there – my son was only 9 months old. If it can happen to them, what more to us?

I cried when I saw the building crumble. I imagined all the people there – the families they left behind, their children who would never see them. I wanted to go home, lock myself up and just be with my son. But I had to live, and lived I did. Each year, the memories of 911 seem to be more vague than the last, because, unfortunately, there were far worse things that had happened, maybe not on the worldwide level, but has directly affected how and the way we live here.

But I had to live, we have to live, and living we are.

We always have a choice to move forward and live the life we want.