I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I was a junior at the University of Florida, and was just coming out of my geology class at Williamson Hall, and it was like something out of a movie. As I stepped out into the early morning sun, it seemed like everyone on campus was on their cell phone. Everyone. I could hear pieces of the same conversation. One person said, "A plane hit the World Trade Center?" Another said, "No way, what happened?" Another, "It just crashed." Yet another, "A huge jet, it just slammed into it." I didn't really think anything of it; a plane crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945, and while it was tragic, it was not catastrophic. In retrospect, thousands of people having the same conversation should have struck me harder, but I was young and self-centered. It didn't happen to me, so it was just another news headline. It wasn't until I was standing in the mob to pick up the football tickets for that Saturday game against Tennessee that I realized the severity of what just happened. We were the number one college football team in teh country, about to play a major rival, and all anybody would talk about was this plane that hit the World Trade Center. I got back to my apartment, and my roommate, Tom, was watching the news. "Can you believe this?" He said. I sat down and watched in disbelief, the first thought running through my head being, "How are they going to repair that building?" Up to that point, it was just another plane crash. Then it happened. Live on the news, I watched the second jet slam into 2 World Trade Center. I couldn't believe my eyes. Twice in one day? What are the chances? Then the news comes in that another plane hit the Pentagon. The news was doing that picture in picture thing with pictures of the Pentagon side-by-side with the World Trade Center. Then out of nowhere, Tower 2 fell. Before I could fully digest what had just happened, Tower 1 fell. I couldn't believe what I just witnessed. I grew up in New Jersey, and you could see those towers from just about anywhere on a clear day, and now one had fallen. I was shocked, hurt, angry, all of it, you name it, I felt it. I was glued to the television for the rest of the day. Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania, then 7 World Trade Center collapsed. I was numb. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. After nearly 200 years of geography-based security, the USA had just been punched in the mouth. America's naivete was lost. We were being held responsible for the crimes of our government, and 3,017 innocent people paid the ultimate price that day, with another 6300 injured. But we were all victims. Like a child who realizes his parents' mortality, we learned that the oceans could not keep us secure. We learned that there are people so desperate that the U.S. military does not frighten them. We lost our innocence that day. I'll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. I'll never forget the bravery of the firefighters and police officers who looked death in the face and still did their job. I'll never forget how everybody became a blood donor. I'll never forget that there were no hyphenated Americans. I will never forget.