On September 11, I spent the day alternating between intense anger that made me clench my fists and enormous sadness that made me cry.

On September 11, thousands of innocent people lost their lives due to terrorist attacks that made sense only to the animals who perpetrated those attacks.

I, along with millions of people all over the world, watched in mindless horror as the day unfolded. As we heard that four planes had been hijacked and had crashed. Two into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and one into the ground.

We heard stories of people jumping out of the windows of the World Trade Center. They chose not to be burned alive, but rather to fall to their deaths. We heard of a man on a cell phone, locked in the bathroom of one of the hijacked planes. “We are being hijacked!” A sound and then the phone goes dead.

So many gruesome stories, one after another. So many, your mind goes numb because you can’t comprehend this monstrous massacre of so many lives in such a short period of time.

At first you feel utter horror, then agonizing sadness and then the white-hot anger. How dare anyone do this to my country; how dare anyone do this to my fellow Americans; how dare anyone do this to any human being!

When President Bush came on the television to speak for the first time from Sarasota, Florida, I was relieved to see the anger in his eyes, even though his words were calm and measured. I knew then that the United States would not hesitate in retaliatory action.

As the Japanese discovered when they bombed Pearl Harbor, you do not invade our soil; you do not kill Americans and think you can get away with it. We will annihilate you.

What occurred on September 11 can only be considered an Act of War. And as with our entry into World War II, we as American citizens will do whatever we have to do. Our government will hunt down those responsible and make sure that justice is served. “This is the United States and we will not be diminished!”

Our lives as Americans changed on September 11. We have lost our innocence. I don’t think we’ll ever feel quite the same when we board a plane. If you work in a high-rise office building, will you feel as secure today?

The day that Timothy McVeigh was executed, the Orlando Sentinel published a two-page spread. On it were the photographs of everyone killed in the Oklahoma Bombing. The caption reads, “Lives Disappeared In An Instant.” Looking at each individual photograph, I came to fully understand that these were unique human beings…not just numbers.

I put it on the wall near my desk to remind me that there are other things far more important than the Internet. It also reminds me that I could lose those I love in an instant. Sadly, I will be putting another part of the newspaper on my wall today.

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