I could line this title field with a litany of cliches....

Before my second year of university began, I had to choose a field to study in. I had been taking socialscience courses till then, but the time had come to decide whether I would choose Economics or Commerce.

While I started my second year timidly on Sept 6th, I made a bold decision in the coming days, I would choose neither of those subjects, and instead, I would take Politics. I had always wanted to, and I loved it. Why nto do something you love rather than something you don't?

I made the decision at around 9 am in the morning, and before I could talk myself out of it, I went and chnaged my courses- about an hour later, I was a polical science student, taking South American politics, American imperialism and a slew of other courses that were all intertwined.
Then, one day out of nowhere, way earlier in the morning than I would be thankful for, someone knocked on my door, hard. I opened up groggily, eyeing the clock sideways. Matt, this kid on my floor, who ultimately became the harbinger of bad news, told me that something big had happened, that I should come.

I walked behind him, in my boxers and a t-shirt. In the common room,I saw a bunch of people, all in their night-ware. I looked at the TV, at first it didn't register. Fire. Ok. Really high up in a building somewhere. Ok. Newscaster's voice: New York, early morning, plane, crash, no official statement from anyone. Ok. I was starting to comprehend a little.

A few minutes went by, I picked up the pieces of news, and put it all together.

Then, everything I had heard till then, changed. Newscaster's voice croaked. His words less formal, his composure slightly evaporated: second plane, South tower, opposite side, just a short time apart.

It didn't make sense. The first one was a mistake. The second one, too?

We just looked at each other. Perplexed. I wanted to stamp my feet, just to see if it hurt- was I really awake? It sounds stupid, but I had until this point in my life, not seen anything so big happen so quickly on tv, while I was awake. 17 minutes from one plane to the next. It was unbelievable, So I stamped, and it did hurt. I remember feeling really thirsty for a few minutes, but I sta there glued to the TV.

More people came in, they sat down. Some had heard on 680 news when their alarms clocks chimed up. Others had just seen it on the BBC website. Still other had their parents wake them up. More people came in. The second floor common room of Woodstock Hall at Mcmaster university was now full, much like conference rooms, and coffee shops around the country, and even around the world.

It had slowed down a bit, people started making comments and just digesting what they had just seen. Someone mentioned how it was sort of good that this had happened. As the person on the floor charged with keeping the peace and making sure no one stepped out of line (it was my job in my second year), and steeped at that moment in my own edginess, I told him to shut up before anyone else could respond to him. We all turned back to the TV.

Then, it happened. The single most defining moment of the last five years. The point from which all other points are now judged. It fell, the South Tower fell. It collapsed in front of me. I saw my own jaw drop. I saw the faces of the kids around me, barely 18. Someone let out a yelp, another cried softly. This was horrible. A part of me now wanted to turn the TV off, stop these kids from seeing this. This was torment. But another part of me held his hand, coaxed the other to listen to reason, as if that was in supply on that fateful day- this was history unfolding in front of our eyes. Generation Next's dose of reality, our Vietnam, our Chernobyl, our world morophing itself into something different, although we had no idea of it yet. I understood this at that time, as I watched that building fall, with all those people trapped, their lives cruelly trampled upon forever.

I don't remember, but I think there was a feeling inside me that what had happened to one, must surely happen to the other. Shortly after, it did. The North Tower fell. I felt the world crumbling around me. I felt my life slowly being eased out of its bubble, knowing full well that nothing from now on, would ever be the same again.

I walked away an how after the second bulding collapsed. I was exhausted. I couldn't listen anymore. I went outside, and all I heard was planes, buildings, New York. There was no name for it at that time- no catchy name for it, that would tag every headline for years to come. There was no policy. It was just a catatrophe. An ugly part of the world rearing its head, be it a conspiracy or a terror plot, it was ugly.

Classes were cancelled that day. All of them. The next day, I went to my first clas on time, and I looked onto my professor as he walked in and told us that keeping in mind what had happened in the world since we registered for this course, he would have to change the course outline, and we would have to buy new books - it was a first step towards many other changes, both academically and personally. September 11th, 2001 defined my university experience. I became more politically involved, I covered the topic and its tangents in every course I ever took, from Theory of War to South American politics and culture, from history of the Middle East to American hegemony. My world for four years revolved around this fateful date. I can only imagine how others more personally affected feel.

Tomorrow is a monumental day in the history of the world. And I for one, shall mourn the baseness of our world, shall mourn for what we have done to each other and how. Five years on, our world has completely changed. Safe places are no longer safe, allies are no longer friends, enemies have been hugged and kissed, yet the machine rumbles on. We have deluded our minds with the prospect of peace, a peace that has evaded our world for almost a century. Those that lost have been forgotten except in lip services, those that gained have gone unpunished and those that had nothing to do with it, are left pondering the state of our society and the prospect of light in the lives of our unborn children.