[Opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions or beliefs of the Red Oak Middle School community.]

 September 11, 2001 was one of the worst days for New York – and America as a whole. Terrorist attacks have become more common in the past few years, but 9/11 will always be engraved boldly in US history.

Osama Bin Laden was the leader of Al-Qaeda and organized the meticulous attacks and hijackings that took place on 9/11. The north building was struck by a plane containing less than 25 people. The second plane was piloted diagonally into the south building, and it contained 65 unsuspecting passengers. Soon people found that there was an attack on the Pentagon that was also carried out by al-Qaeda on 9/11. The hijacked plane circled above the Pentagon until it crashed into the military headquarters building. The fourth plane did not make it to the White house and ended up as a pile of rubble in a field in Pennsylvania.

By targeting these majorly important places in New York and Washington, DC, the terrorist group also targeted our strong points in political, economic and social networks we established through decades of hard work. Although the attacks were meant to tear us apart, it knit us closer together so we could pull our lives back together.

Since then, we’ve observed and paid respects to the nearly 3,000 people who died on September 11, 2001, including the hundreds of first responders and unnamed victims turned heroes. I hope that my peers will recognize this as a sad  and sobering event in our past and commemorate it. Obviously, we’ve recovered and are stronger than ever. God bless America.

[Opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions or beliefs of the Red Oak Middle School community.]