How 9/11 Changed My Life

When I began to answer these questions myself, I started learning more about myself that I never really paid attention to before. For me, the most significant world event I have experienced was 9/11. Though I was very young, I remember my mom turning on the news and just starring in awe. She didn’t know how to react exactly, but I remember the shock on her face and how she seemed scared. I was too young at the time to really think much of it, but now thinking back to it, I understand why she was so shocked. It was an event that changed our country completely. Security at airports were made extensively more secure and people started being more aware of others around them. No one knew if there would be another attack and if there was going to be one, when it would be. So many families lost love ones and so many lives were changed forever in one instant. It taught me that I need to appreciate life everyday, because you never know when something might happen to you or your loved ones. Some things that
have changed in my lifetime so far are friends, technology and my “home.” There are friends I had in elementary school, middle school and high school, which some have suck and others have been lost over time. Technology has improved so much, I feel like I can’t even keep up with the changes because they seem to happen daily. My real home will always be where I grew up in Kansas, but now that I am in college and have moved away from that home, Nebraska has become my home. I have created strong friendships over the year and a half I have lived here and now it has become my home away from home. Things that have remained the same are my support system, my family. My mom has been here for me every step of the way in my life. My sisters are there for me when I need sisterly advice and my stepdad is always there to be my shoulder to cry on in hard times. I like the maturing part of aging.
I feel that friends have become more reliable and less flakey. I have enjoyed everything I’ve learned over time from family, friends, teachers and mentors. I also really like that boys are becoming men and not toying with my heart as much, but obviously I know they still have some growing up to do. I don’t like some of the new responsibilities that come with aging. I definitely took for granted everything I was given when living at home, like free food, clothes, gas, toothpaste and all the other little necessities. I also wish I could rewind time and enjoy school while it was easy. I also don’t like the loss of creativity and imagination of growing up. My mind used to run wild and everything I did, I did because I wanted to do it, I was never afraid of what others thought about me in the process. Now I’m sad that I care so much about what people think, instead of just doing the things that make me happy with no thought behind
it.