Until I watched people die on live television on the morning of 9/11, I'd have told you I knew exactly where my life was headed. I held my newborn, and my husband and I decided I would not return to teaching until we'd spent time together as a new family of three. In every way, the terrorists who brought death to our shores …

One thing you can't do is hide your religion if you're a Muslim woman in a post-9/11 country.

I gave three of my children to the wars that resulted from 9/11. I worried over every missed phone call. I panicked every night when the news reported on lost Marines. Although I clearly understood the risks as a former Marine, I was fretful because I was the mother of more brave Marines.

NEW YORK -- September 11 has changed us all. But the tragedy of 9/11 was not just a New York City story. It was not just a Washington, D.C., story.

I was not anywhere near New York when the events took place, but I remember certain images like it was yesterday: As I was walking out the door to go to school, I spotted on TV the tower falling to the ground. Not understanding what exactly was going on, I closed the door behind me and continued with my day, unknowing it …

On September 11, 2001, I was camping in the back yard of my parents' house with family. It was a hot day for September in Massachusetts, so I was up with the sun and spent the morning clearing up the previous night's mess.

My life in America started on September. 11, 2001. I was 17 and living in Pakistan. I got my immigrant visa two hours before the tragedy happened. I came to the U.S. on September 24. My expectations were shaped by the news stories on TV; I expected angry people, closed doors, and a barrage of misdirected hate.

As much as I'm horrified by 9/11, I am immensely grateful for 9/12. 9/12 was a day when neighbors looked out for each other; blood banks were fully supplied with donations and people everywhere wanted to help. Globally, humanity united to say, "We are all Americans."

If things had gone differently in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, I might be able to see a row of white tombstones and not get emotional. I might not tear up whenever Memorial Day comes around. I wouldn't look for names on memorial walls.

I am an American, born and raised. I lived in a suburb in North Carolina all my life, drank sweet tea, ate barbecue, Bojangles', you name it. My parents, though, are Turkish, and although they aren't the most devout Muslims, that is their culture and in part, mine. Turkey is a nation that is 99 percent Islamic. So after …

I don't watch movies or television shows about September 11. I don't need them to remember. While the nightmares have faded, I can still close my eyes and see the towers fall from my Brooklyn loft. Sometimes I try not to close my eyes.

Today, 10 years later, some of my patients still talk about 9/11. They have changed, matured because of it. I have changed and matured. I appreciate how lucky I have been to grow up in America, and I also appreciate that many others in the world have not been so lucky. I appreciate that relationships -- both international …

In the years since 9/11, I have moved more than 900 miles from New York City and changed professions. I went from planning parties to organizing fundraisers for the families of 9/11 victims, working in social services and volunteering for humanitarian-based organizations like Roots and Wings International, Twilight Wish …

To me, the lesson was clear: Even in the midst of tragedy and uncertainty, when the odds are against you and the future is bleak, there is still hope. There is still a miracle out there. There is life.

Instead of being a trusted member of my community, I was not invited to weddings and parties because my ethnicity "might cause tension." Instead of addressing the need for more female teachers to be sent to educate the multitudes of illiterate girls in the 21 countries of Arabia, I was fired from four jobs in a row and …

Before 9/11, I was living in my own little bubble. I thought nothing bad could ever happen -- that my parents would live forever, and that our country's military would always be able to protect us. I was wrong.

It is a gorgeous morning. Waiting for the substitute teacher, I explain the next project to my art class. I have to go to a meeting in Omaha, Neb. Our security officer enters and says terrorists have hijacked a plane and crashed it into the World Trade Center.