The day our world changed

By David Olsen: I was in college at the time, and I was taking a night class in which I had a test to study for. I had the day off from work that morning, so I decided to sleep in a little and enjoy the day with my wife, who also had the day off from her job.

I remember sitting in my living room around 8 in the morning, with my books and papers laid out on the coffee table. I was passively watching television, flipping through channels when the news story caught my eye. A plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. My initial reaction was much like any other news story of that magnitude, and so I wrote it off and went back to my books to study for the test, figuring I would watch the news and listen to the newscasters describe the scene. I vividly remember thinking it was just an accident -- kind of like the plane crash in the 1940s with the Empire State Building.

Then, a few minutes later, I looked up at the TV to see the second plane crash into the towers. That's when I realized this was no accident, that this was deliberate. Then they cut to the Pentagon, where another plane had crashed into it.

I remember how numb I felt, thinking, "Why would anyone want to hurt us?" It's a question I still ask to this day, as to why people on the other side of the world want to hurt people who have never directly hurt them. What have we ever done individually in this country to offend them so much they want to kill us? I've since forgiven the attackers and the people directly involved. Forgiveness is key, and time will heal the deep wounds this crime against humanity has left on the world.