I was only about 6 years old. I cried about cuts and scrapes and having to go to school. There was constant negative teasing. I was always by my mother since she was a school teacher and very over protective. She always wanted me to be strong and brave and to push me to become more than maybe I could even handle. Throughout life we see how strong people really are and how much pain they can take. [[connect->Realization]] You can tell a lot about a person by how they deal with things. You can discover a person’s true patience when they are challenged with a row of tangled Christmas lights. Also, receiving gifts and deciding a path of humbleness or a major ego when awarded with a higher accomplishment. The most interesting way to clearly see someone though is when they feel pain. When you see someone else in pain it hits you to. Understanding the person’s problem is not what is important but rather how we relate to the fear in their eyes, or the tears rolling down their checks. Then we see who people really are and how they are just like us. [[connect->It Begins]]I was only 6 years old. My mother came running in the room frozen and stunned. I thought I was in trouble. I ran into the back corner to cover myself because I knew I was about to get it. My heart was racing, running a marathon, and preparing to launch itself out of my chest. Then I noticed she wasn’t looking at me at all or even remotely worried about me. This is when I realized that this issue was bigger than me or anyone in the school. My mom raced towards the black TV. The monster inside the TV was taunting my mom. She fumbled and stretched onto her tiptoes to press buttons. Other teachers believed she was out of her mind but they just didn’t know. [[connect->Numb]]It amazes me how every moment we spend transforms us and creates us. Moments make us fear and make us laugh. Each second changes us from who we us to be. There are few times in life where time stands still. When the hands of time do halt, you feel it. The clock stops ticking and so does your pulse. You are drowning in the idea of that split second trying to piece together what is right in front of you. Sometimes it hits you all at once and sometimes you are permanently stunned and numb. You will never forget certain moments. [[connect->Naïve]]The monster in the TV used to stand so strong and proud. Those two monsters watched over that big city. Holding inside of it thousands of people that were about to be gulped down. Many people jumped others were killed instantly. They weren’t just people though. They were fighters, just like all of us. All trying to escape the monster that we never know when will strike. The rubble showered over them making them disappear. It swept its misty dust through the streets making it hard to breathe. [[connect->What Now?]]I looked around the room. Everyone was quiet. Everything was motionless. Time had stopped. The towers were moving down towards the ground. Time stood still. The pain hit and all of us were numb, some still are. I was only 6 years old, lying in the corner watching time unfold. As it past I was too naïve to know. The screen was blurry and then slowly became clear. It was bigger than me or the school is was in. It was bigger than anything I had seen before and then suddenly it was gone. The monster in the TV was stabbing us. It was letting us know it was here. [[connect->Time Stands Still]]