I have matured greatly over the years. The area that I feel I have matured the most is empathy. As a kid I never really cared about how others felt. I didn’t wish anyone ill will, but I wasn’t able to internalize how others felt. Looking back, one of the most inappropriate times this happened was in forth grade.

September 11th, 2001. It was early in the morning and I was busy in class at Norvelt Elementary school. Some students were being dismissed early, unexpectedly. All the adults looked extremely stressed. After lunch we were all sent home. As Abby and I came bounding in the den both Mom and Dad were home (which was weird for the early afternoon), eyes glued on the TV. The news kept saying something about ‘towers’ and ‘planes,’ but I wasn’t paying too much attention. The footage of the planes hitting and the towers collapsing kept playing over and over.