The day was September 11, 2001. It was a bright and sunny day. It started out as just another typical Tuesday. However, that didn't last very long...

Do you remember where you were at 8:46 AM EST on September 11, 2001? I sure do.

At the time when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower, I was still in bed. I had late classes that day so I didn't have  to wake up that early. A few minutes after the plane crashed into the building, a friend of mine (Chan) called me up and told me to turn on the TV. I was a little annoyed that she had woke me up to watch some TV show, but she insisted that it was important. So I did...

When I saw the images of the plane crashing into the WTC, I had thought that I was just watching a movie. I didn't think it was really happening for the first 10 mins since I had just woke up. Chan told me that it was on every channel. So, I changed channels to check. And, she was right; it was on every single channel. While we were still on the phone, we saw the second plane crashed into the South Tower at 9:03 AM EST. At that point, we both knew that this is no accident; it was a terrorist act.

Chan and I stayed on the phone for about an hour until we got cut off. All of a sudden, we couldn't get in touch with eachother again until later that day because everyone in America was on the phone all at once. I was planning to go to school, but my friend, that was at the school, told me that they had evacuated the school and closed it for the day.

So, all day, I stayed glued to the TV. Every news station was doing live news all day and night. Later on that day, two other planes crashed into the Pentagon and a small town in Pennsylvania. It was sad to see all of those innocent people die like that. It's also sad to know that the government didn't know how to react to the attacks. I actually laughed when I found out that the city of Philadelphia had place police and armed guards around historic landmarks such as the Liberty Bell. Why did I laugh, you ask? Well, think about it... Terrorists would rather kill people than destroy objects. If a plane were to crash into the Liberty Bell site, it will not only destroy the bell, but also all of the people guarding it. So, it's better to evacuate the area and the rest of Center City instead.

So, after 10 years since the tragic event, did we learn anything? I don't think we did. The WTC buildings were the tallest buildings in NYC in 2001. The taller the building, the easier the target. Philadelphia is still planning to guard the historic landmarks on the 10th anniversary.