May 1, 2011.

I was 11 years old on September 11, 2001. I remember my Grade 6 teacher, Ms. MacDonald, being visibly shaken on that morning, and soon enough the Principal made an announcement that something important was going on in New York City. I remember coming home from school that day to find my mother crying as she watched CNN, with the images of the World Trade Center towers being hit by commercial jets replaying over and over again.

On that tragic day roughly 3000 Americans lost their lives in a terrorist attack and the world was forever changed as the United States - and its allies - responded to the situation. Many more have died in the years that followed, and unfortunately I fear that this trend will continue in the years to come.

While I don't think I fully comprehended the situation at the time, over the years - as I matured and began to understand the world in which I lived - 9/11 - as it was called - became a central focus for me. Developing into an individual who follows, analyzes, and studies current affairs - and has a specific interest in world politics - it became impossible to analyze anything regarding modern politics without reference - implicitly or explicitly - to that fateful September day.

Today, 10 days prior to my 21st birthday, Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda - the group that perpetrated the 9/11 attacks - and the face of international terrorism for the past decade, is reported - and is confirmed - to have been killed.

May 1, 2011. A new day to be forever etched in history.