When I was 10 I had no idea what a terrorist or a hijacker was, I didn’t even know what the World Trade Center’s were or why those two towers were so important. I would learn very quickly what all of those things were.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up for school and of course like any ten year old I didn’t want to go. All of a sudden I could hear someone sobbing in my Mom’s room and I didn’t know why, I thought she was going to miss me that much at school. When I sat down on her bed I didn’t understand what was happening on the T.V. “Girls, you might not understand this, but a plane just hit the North Tower. Someone just attacked the United States.” My mom said to me and my sister. She was right I didn’t understand. All I could think was, “I’m 10, I don’t care it doesn’t affect me.” I didn’t know just how much it would affect me.
Fast forward. I’m no longer a 10-year-old little girl. I’m 18 and I just enlisted in the United States military. Everyone asked me why I did it. My response always stayed the same. “I was only 10 when the terrorists tried to rip apart our country. I didn’t understand then, but I do now. I want to help make sure that can never happen to us again.”
Today, Osama has been killed and we are pulling troops out of the Middle East. When I was 10 nobody explained what happened in terms that I could understand. Now, that’s what I try to do. If I can help children understand what happened when they were born or just little kids like me I’m making a difference. I strive to make sure that day will never be forgotten.