I teach writing at a college, and every year since the one-year anniversary I've had my students write a reflection on that day. I'm just now getting to the point where the students are of the age where this is the first big thing many of them remember. The reflections started out angry, defiant, patriotic, and sad twelve years ago, but now I'm hearing how the then kindergarten students were bewildered, scared, and confused because of non-verbal cues from their parents, or from carefully crafted discussions that seemed to counter news they were picking up elsewhere. It's been interesting seeing history, and our perceptions of history, being shaped as I've grown older. As for the event itself, I was on sabbatical that year and soon was traveling around Europe, where I remember many strangers coming up to me wanting to talk about 9/11 and offer condolences.