This past week, I went to New York City. Aside from the spectacular Broadway experiences I had, I got to live out one other dream I’ve always had: to visit the 9/11 memorial site and museum.

When people normally think of 9/11, however, my generation is not commonly in remembrance of the largest terrorist attack on American soil. My generation lost parents, grandparents, family, friends, and acquaintances that we may have or would have still known to this day. However, when it comes to remembering this emotional event, most of the children of my generation were three or four. That’s why, when adults can recount their exact locations and beings on that day, my generation cannot always do the same.

Fortunately, I can remember. I was 4 and had broken my right femur just 5 days before September 11th, while I was at daycare. I was in my house in Washington State the morning of September 11th, 2001. The news of the attacks broke slightly before 6 in the morning, and my grandmother got stranded in Seattle with me for another week.

I mention this because I am an anomaly. As I was walking into the museum, my 11 year old sister had no idea about anything relating to 9/11, for the most part. She is like most of the kids my age, unattached to the terror attacks emotionally and mentally.

So I tell everyone reading this that you need to go to the 9/11 memorial and museum before you die. Even at the age of four, I still was not old enough to comprehend and form an emotional bond to 9/11. After you go through the museum, you do.

In the museum, you are met by gruesome photos of people jumping out of the windows of the Twin Towers because they would rather die quickly than slowly. You hear live audio recordings of passengers’ last call to their spouses, both calm and panicking. You listen to firsthand retellings of the moments on Ground Zero from the heroes that were there to save as many lives as possible. And, you are met by artifacts from the dreadful day itself.

One thing not many people know, is that after the Twin Towers fell, the two remaining support beams formed a cross, showing that the United States will always have trust in the fact that things will get better, and the resilience to stand up and not let something like 9/11 keep us down.

What this museum does right is cover every aspect of the attacks: the Pentagon, United 93, and the Twin Tower attacks. It isn’t specific to the Twin Towers, and that is what makes the experience so worthwhile. You genuinely will feel like you were at every hijacking from beginning to end.

After witnessing everything the museum has to offer, even including vocal recordings of the terrorists upon hijack, people can not help but leave with heavy hearts and an overwhelming sense of national pride. At no other point in my life have I walked out of a building feeling as instilled in this country as I did that day. That feeling is not even something close to what an event like the Olympics can bring out in people, it is a million times stronger.

What I saw in my sister when we left, was the same national pride mixed with a sense of eagerness to learn. In the past few days since we have been back from New York, my sister has constantly been drawing pictures of the Twin Towers while reading books and picture books that show everything people went through on September 11, 2001. Seeing as she wasn’t even alive during the attacks, the museum instilled something in her that made her want to know more and honor those who died more.

So I beg of everyone in my generation to please visit the 9/11 memorial and museum before you pass away. Even though we were all young when 9/11 happened, you will feel connected to the event and it will mean as much to you as it did to the people old enough to remember it. Not to mention, it is also just easily one of the best organized and put together museums you will ever go to.

Our generation is accustomed to minor terror attacks and mass shootings carried out by Americans, but 9/11 was a terrorist attack that will, hopefully, forever be the worst attack on American soil, and it should still be recognized as so instead of forgotten on behalf of our generation. Days like 9/11 aren’t remembered for mourning purposes, they are remembered to show our resilience and ability to overcome adversity.

So, I have one last request: Educators, administrators, and businessmen and women alike, please hold minutes of silence every 9/11 for those terrible attacks. Please stop saying it happened 15 years ago like it’s not important anymore. Say it happened 15 years ago, and honor it so everyone remembers what we as a country can push through and come together.