Isn't it crazy to think that 3,000 innocent people died because they went to work, or they were flying on a plane to get to their next destination?

September 11th, 2001 is a date still fresh in our minds, whether we've lived through it or learned about it in history class. We hear about it every now and then. Some of us actually remember it as if it happened yesterday.

Explosions. Planes. Fear. Death. 3,000 too many.

Apparently, it was a beautiful day, from what I was told and from what I actually remembered at the young age of four. The sun was shining, it was warm and quiet, and the skies were clear. Not one cloud in sight. Planes were taking off, flying, and people were loading onto those morning flights.

Between 8:46 A.M. and about 11 A.M., America was under attack. America was struck. The Twin Towers in Manhattan were blown, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. had been hit.

I didn't understand. How could a preschooler really understand? I didn't know that mean men were crashing planes into our buildings on purpose. Why? Consecutive crashes, over and over again, and no one knew what to do. We were under a terrorist attack.

While everything was happening, children were sent home from school. Adults were sent home from work, or they were told to stay home and stay glued to the TV or radio. I remember I was picked up from preschool, and I remember my mother crying on the couch at home as the news screamed at us.

I had no idea, and I was too young to have it explained to me.

Not one plane in the sky. Not one. Airports and air traffic control were shut down.

President George Bush was told the news while he was visiting an elementary school in Florida. The look of fear on his face, and we knew right then and there that the man was human. He indeed felt fear, but instantly took action to the aftermath of the tragedy up north.

There were evil people that day. They were evil and heartless because they purposefully crashed the planes into our significant and important buildings. But there were also heroes.

The fourth and final flight that was supposedly headed toward the White House had crashed in a random field in Pennsylvania instead. The passengers on that flight took action against the hijackers. Loved ones were supposedly contacting the passengers, telling them that three other planes crashed in said locations.

They risked their lives for their country at that exact moment, and I still look up to them today.

I also look up to the policemen, firemen, and other emergency personnel who helped citizens that day and afterward, and I think of those lives lost, the men and women who went in to help but never came out alive.

September 11th was the day that America changed, but she's stronger than ever now. We came together as a people, and we stood united, as one. 18 years later, we still stand together.

18 years later, we still remember the 3,000 lives lost, the heroes who sacrificed everything for everyone. I pray for the workers in the Twin Towers, who all went to work and never returned home in the evening. I pray for the ones who wanted to jump and fall stories and stories rather than burn to death in the buildings. 18 years later, I remember. I try and try, even though I was young when it all happened and it was impossible to understand.

I think of this day more than I should and not only on September 11th. It will forever remain a sad, sad day. But it will forever remain a courageous time when our nation came together as a whole and fought back.

Look at where we are now.

We will never forget. 9-11-2001.