I was not yet alive on September 11, 2001. The post-9/11 world is the only world I know.

Over a year after one of the most horriffic, life-altering events in American history, I was born into a world very different from that of the pre-9/11 generations. What used to be a world of trust and safety is now full of suspicion, fear, and supposed dangers. I can hardly believe my parents' and other adults' stories of exploring outside as kids with no parental supervision, easily crossing country borders, and boarding a plane without utmost security. I was born into a world where terrorism is normal, bomb threats and shootings are much too common, and discrimination continues despite all our seeming progress.

I was also born into a world that is increasingly divided. They say that 9/11 increased patriotism, but the years that followed tore us in half. The America I grew up in seems to be divided by color: red or blue. These two colors are constantly pitted against each other as if they aren't both part of our identity, both part of that red, white and blue flag that we say stands for unity and freedom, that flag that we once united under after those skyscrapers fell. September 11, 2001, was a terrible day, but as terrible times should, it brought people together for a common cause. Now, terrible events only seem to push us farther apart from one another as we argue over who's fault it was and how we should respond.

Because of 9/11, I live in a more fearful world than the one that existed before that day, and despite 9/11, I live in a more divided world than the one that existed following that day.

And so very unfortunately, that's the only world I know.