8:46am on a Tuesday.
That is the minute an ordinary bright sunny morning turned into something none of us could have imagined.
25 years.
Here's my recollection of where I was on Sept 11th, 2001.
i was 9 years old, in Bangladesh
I was at my aunt's apartment, playing with my cousins, laughing like it was any normal afternoon. We'd been pulled out of school early so we were enjoying it, till one of us realized the adults in the other room were crying and we could hear screams.
It sounded serious.
We ran to the TV room. A tall building on TV was on fire. The North Tower. Smoke gushing out. Reporters trying to make sense of chaos. BBC, that's the international channel we watched for news back home.
I didn't understand what I was looking at. 9 years old.
Started to slowly comprehend what was being said on the news.
A plane crashed into a building? Was it an accident? Is this a movie?
I didn't know New York back then. If I remember correctly, I knew the Twin Towers existed but nothing beyond that.
Then I watched the second plane come in. 9:03am. The building next to the smoking building this time.
I was crying before I understood why. I didn't think I fully comprehended what the little black dots coming out of the buildings gravitating towards the ground were. Now I know. They were people. Jumping off. And debris.
We sat frozen and watched both towers crumble, one after the other. They were just crumbling and there was nothing anyone could do. One of my cousins tried to place her hand on the TV to make it stop. She was 5.
The adults, uncles, aunts, parents, were busy on the phone. Checking in on relatives abroad. Some in the States. Some right here in New York.
Watching this attack that way did something to me I still cannot explain. It's created a permanent soft spot for NYC in my heart. The city, the people. And Ground Zero.
As a human, it saddens me. As a Muslim, it disgusts me.
Despite popular belief, we're not bad people. Terrorists are terrorists. Extremists are extremists. No matter what faith, color or race.
2011. life happens
I get the opportunity to move to the United States as a legal immigrant with my family. I remember doing everything I could to convince my parents we move to NY, or NYC, despite it being one of the most expensive places to live.
They gave in.
We moved to New York.
First place I went:
Ground Zero.
To pay my respects. It felt so heavy. The memories of 2001 came flooding back. It's like I never forgot watching those towers burn. I can close my eyes and still see that old TV screen clearly.
2017. the 9/11 memorial
Walking into the museum felt like stepping into some kind of sacred grief.
The air is heavy. You feel it before you read any of the names or the descriptions on the plates next to the collection of recovered objects from the debris and personal belongings of the victims and survivors they accumulated.
You listen to the last voicemails passengers left for the people they loved. You hear conversations from the cockpit. You see the twisted steel beams. You touch the Survivor Stairs. You read the names.
I did not lose a family member that day. I lost my innocence. My blind faith that human beings could not do heinous things like this evaporated. The heaviness never left.
2001, 2011, 2017 and 25 years later, 2026, today. I still grieve the lives lost, that day and the days, months, years to follow, of those affected by it.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum is a beautiful tribute. Highly recommend paying your respects there at least once in your lifetime.
You won't know unless you experience it for yourself. No amount of photos or articles does it justice.
O'Hara's
I stumbled upon O'Hara's one day while exploring the city.
Noticed the entire bar's interior was covered in service men and first responders' patches. So I asked the bartender what was the significance of these patches.
He explained:
That bar was a hub that day. They served food, water and refreshments to the first responders, service men and volunteers who spent that day rescuing and helping out.
The walls are covered in patches and badges. A lot of them belonged to those people.
Now they only allow people who serve, on 9/11.
2026
To everyone who served, thank you for your sacrifices that day, and for every day that followed. The direct and indirect impacts people made cannot be appreciated in words.
All any of us can do is show the utmost respect for your sacrifices.
💙🖤🤍
My heart also goes out to the almost unsung heroes at The Pentagon, and at Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Sometimes I feel we don't talk about that enough 🖤
Again, if you have never been to the 9/11 Memorial, go. At least once in your lifetime. It's not a tourist stop.
And today: show a little bit of grace to the people around you. Check in on your loved ones. It's a heavy day for many people.
Say their names. Learn their stories.
25 years.
Never forget 🗽
