Sep 12, 2021 2 min read

Logan McGrosky, age 4 on 9/11.

“I was at day care in Corapololis and I remember it being like a weird day. I remember my dad came and picked us up instead of my mom, who always picked us up. I remember him looking scared and frightened. You could tell something was wrong, but I had  no concept of planes and buildings, and what had happened. My dad took us straight home, and he was sitting at the TV watching it pretty intently. As I got older and gained more knowledge, I realized how terrible it really was. I’m not afraid of air travel, but I’m more cautious. I feel like I have my head on a swivel when I fly. And even if I’m in a big group of people or at sporting events, I’m always looking out. I’m not afraid to go, but I’m vigilant and aware of the rare possibility that something could happen.”

Clair Baer,  age 15 on 9/11

“I grew up in Michigan, so we were kind of far removed from the chaos of it, I was in my sophomore year in high school, and I got sent out of the room for talking. I was sitting in the hall when my English teacher came up to me and said, ‘Why are you in the hall?’ She said go tell my teacher to turn the TV on.  said the World Trade Center got hit, and I said, ‘What’s the World Trade Center?’ You could feel how serious it was. The whole school got quiet. We all watched the second plane hit. After that, students got called for dismissal. If you wanted to contact your parents, you could come to the office. I didn’t leave because I had two working parents. It was nuts, pretty chaotic. I had friends whose family was traveling and flying, and they waiting to hear  from them. I learned that deep in my bones I wasn’t as safe as I thought I was, and  tragedy and despair can hit at any moment. You’re not as invincible as you think you are. Since then, I’ve lived with a heightened level of safety, an it was from being afraid of terrorist attacks from the age of 15.”