This September 11th signified the 10-year anniversary of the attack on WTC Twin Towers, known simply as 9/11. Though this sad and tragic event happened a decade ago, for some of us it remains fresh on our minds.

Since I've lived in New York most of my life, this is a very special anniversary for me. But now that I live in Yuma, I see also that this was an attack on our whole country, not just New York. Let us take a look back on that memorable day to see what people experienced the morning the towers fell, first in New York, and then in our town, Yuma, Arizona, and see how it strongly it affected all of our lives.

Richard D. Cabrera, 31, Clerk at the New York Public Library
On September 11, 2001, I was 21 years old, living in my mother's home in the Bronx, getting ready to go to work. I was listening to the radio and heard something about a plane hitting one of the towers. I turned on the television and saw one of the towers billowing smoke. I saw the instant replays from those who were filming the towers at the time and then in real-time I saw another plane hit the second tower.

My uncle worked in the second tower. Several members of my immediate family tried to get in touch with him but the phone lines were all tied up. No one was getting through to him. Mine was the only call that got through. After my brief 30-second conversation with him, while he and his co-workers were running down the block before the second tower came down, I was able to relay his safety to the rest of my family. That morning felt very much like a movie. I can't remember how the rest of the day was. I felt very lucky to have been the only person that could get through to my uncle that morning. He's never talked about what he experienced that day.

My life has generally changed for the better. Since then I've come to appreciate my family more than I used to. I used to let life get in the way and allow months to go by without so much as calling one of my family members. These days it takes a lot more to upset me and my priorities have shifted. In a more personal way, following September 11th, I began growing closer to God and continue to do so.

Kieran Hobler, 27, Audio Engineer at Xavier School for the Blind in New York

I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was in my 1st-period religion class senior year at Fordham Preparatory, a private high school in the Bronx I used to go to. First, the dean made an announcement over the loudspeaker about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. Then a few minutes later, in the class, the second one came about the second tower getting hit. After this, the school told everyone to go back into their homerooms until further notice.

At the time, my friends and I weren't overwhelmed by the situation. We didn't see any television footage of the planes hitting the towers or the historical magnitude of the situation. It had seemed, although tragic, a common occurrence that you would read about in the newspapers, so I had already been desensitized by that type of violence.

Eventually, we were dismissed from school and I drove home with my friend. This is when I was able to listen to the radio and hear more about the attack. It slowly started sinking in that this was a much more significant situation. When the reports of terrorists possibly being involved came in, the ride got more and more silent and contemplative. I don't know whether this was a result of the anxiety and panic starting to settle in, but I could've sworn I smelled smoke from the highway miles away from the towers.

When I came home I saw the footage of the towers collapsing. This was all so new to me. I had never experienced disaster first hand, so my mind and feelings went blank. But after seeing the towers collapse over and over, each time I had begun to start feeling more and more of what I could best describe as dread. There was no crying -- I was too scared to do that -- just complete and utter dread.

The fear and paranoia didn't go away at first; it grew worse and worse. I would say the anxiety didn't fully go away until three or four years later. The event also caused me to get very involved in geo-politics. I started delving into why someone would attack us and asked questions like whether it was a result of being provoked. It made me really question everything and keep an open mind about why people would inflict harm onto others, not only in politics but in general.

All in all, the fear still resonates, but nothing like I had felt before. For the most part it's over and I'd like to keep it that way.

Megan Duke, 28, Teacher's Aide at Irvington High School, Yonkers, New York

I slept over at my best friend's house the night before and woke up to her and her sister screaming in the next room. She came in, made sure I was awake and turned on the TV. I saw an airplane hit the first tower, then the next. I was confused and asked her why she would put on such a horrible movie so early in the morning. She turned to me and said, "This isn't a movie."

The first tower fell. I sat in silence for a while. I called friends and family to make sure everyone was all right. Everyone I knew made it home from the city that day. Even though I didn't live near downtown Manhattan, the fear spread. Watching people hanging out of windows and some jumping to their death and ultimately dying is something that I wished they hadn't shown. However, since they did, I have a greater understanding of what happened that day. I was fine; my family was fine, but the world wasn't and that was felt everywhere I went.

Although September 11th has changed me, after ten years the changes probably aren't noticeable anymore. Watching people's movements and wondering what's in their backpacks on trains and airplanes has become normal. That day is this generation's "day that will live in infamy," but I feel ours is different. With all our forms of media, not only have we not forgotten, we re-live it every year.

I feel we all lost a part of ourselves that day, even if we didn't lose someone. We all mourn for those who simply went to work and were killed because they did so. I'm looking forward to the 9/11 memorial site so the families, New Yorkers and the world can finally mourn properly after ten long years.

Mary Beth Craven, 26, Teacher in New York City

The day started out like every other, until the entire school was brought into the auditorium. We were told that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. The principle asked those who had parents who worked there to stay in the auditorium, while the rest of the school went back to class. It seemed as though half the school had to stay to find out if their parents were okay, some in tears and some in shock.

I remember going back to my science class. We turned on the radio, which teachers were told not to do, and heard that the second plane had hit another tower. The school was put on lockdown; no one was allowed in or out for fear that the public schools would be attacked. An emergency dismissal was eventually called. It is a day I will never forget.

In many ways I like to think that it didn't change my life, especially because I was fortunate to not lose anyone close to me. Then there are the days when an airplane seems low and you can't help but worry that it's happening again. Even with the recent earthquake, the first thought that comes to mind after feeling the shake is terrorist attack, not an earthquake. So, as much as I like to think my life hasn't changed, I guess the reality is that it has.

Eric Pastrana, 28, Service advisor at Senora Nissan

The 11th of September, I remember getting out of the shower and hearing my mom yell, "Oh my god this can't be real." At that moment, I went into her room to see what was happening only to find the first tower of the World Trade Center engulfed in smoke. My mom informed me that there was an accident. This accident was followed with Tower Two and the Pentagon being hit and the downed plane in Pennsylvania.

The remainder of my day was spent trying to contact family in New York knowing a few of my cousins were in Manhattan for school, and a few were working with the NYPD. After hours of calling, we were finally able to contact my grandmother who informed me of all of my family in New York being okay.

I am now more aware of global happenings. It made me realize that we as a people are not safe in our own backyards.

Denise Ramirez, 24, Bartender at Oz/Student at Rio Salado College

It was my freshman year at Yuma High School, the second month to be exact, just a normal morning, until I arrived to my second period class and heard the talk about the Twin Towers. I really had no idea what the towers were, and I had no idea how this would affect my life.

Well into third period, the TVs were on, and we saw people jumping and the Towers falling. That is when I knew that this was real and everything felt like it was played in slow motion.

Around the same time I received a phone call that my dad would be sent to New York to help with search, trauma and rescue. He was a US Border Patrol Borestar agent in the Search Trauma and Rescue unit. I immediately felt my heart race and just broke down. He was supposed to go to Ground Zero to help. But, due to a mistake in orders, he was put on standby. They just told him to stay and they would call him if needed. My dad was ready to go do his job, and he really wanted to help out. That man is never scared.

This devastating event still affects me to this day. I cry while reading the passages of non- survivors and how brave and calm they were throughout this tragedy. It seemed like some of them had hoped that they would be saved, and that's what gets to me as well as the families who had to watch this devastation on live television. They will forever have a constant reminder of who they lost that day because something like this will never go away.

Ernest Munoz, 52, Certified Nurse Assistant at Hospice of Yuma

I was at my nephew's wedding in Minnesota on the day of September 11th. The tragedy that day kept us in Minnesota for five days before we could get a flight home. I remember watching in horror as the towers became piles of steel and cement. I hoped it was a dream. It felt as though my freedom and the freedom of my family were jeopardized.

I will never forget 9/11. It will forever be etched in my mind.

Guillermo Perales, 23, Server and Bartender at Mimi's CafÈ

The morning of the attack I was in my math class in 8th grade. I saw the adults around me panicking. My immediate response was shock. I was raised thinking things like that wouldn't happen, and the fact that it did made me wonder about what I'd been taught.

9/11 gave me a chance to challenge how I had biased myself towards other people. Seeing as I wasn't alive for Korea or Vietnam, I never had a chance to hate a race or religion that I didn't know. Going through such an event helped me to realize that there isn't a bad race or religion, just individuals who behave in ways I don't believe in. Basically force taught me to judge a person as an individual and not as part of an organized group or religion. It was probably the start of my over-inquisitive nature, to question it all and get as many facts as I can and make my own opinions. I learned not to take the opinions I am given at face value.

Valery J. Pastrana, 28, Bartender at Oz/Student at AWC

I lived in Yonkers, New York, a bordering city of the Bronx, at the time of 9/11. I remember being asleep, as I always was before 11 a.m, and being roughly woken up by my older sister, Christina.

"The World Trade Center has been hit," she said, "you have to come see."

I jumped up and followed her to my mom's room, and I watched as a plane hit the Trade Center. Only this was not the first plane she was talking about. This was a second plane hitting the first tower's twin. I felt like we, as a country were being attacked. By what, I was not sure, but I felt fear like I had never felt before.

I stepped onto my patio from my seventh floor apartment and looked in the direction of Manhattan. Far away but very visible were plumes of smoke rising into the air. It was like a bad dream. My sister and I stayed glued to the TV the entire morning watching accounts of what was going on. I remember being terrified until I got hold of my father. He had finally reached my grandma who lived in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Though she lived many blocks away, she was always traveling around the city running errands and visiting friends. Thank God she was okay.

Later that afternoon, I had to go to the mall, fifteen minutes away, still in Westchester County. I took the bus and everybody was quiet, not a normal thing for a public bus. When I exited, I knew why. Instead of the loud noises, sounds of cars and people and planes flying overhead, there was silence. Not a plane in the sky. Everybody was terrified that the terrorists would bomb the little shopping center in my hometown. I took the next bus home.

After ten years, I don't have the same fear I used to. I used to be nervous to hear a plane in the sky or travel back home to New York, but over the last three years or so that fear has gently subsided. Maybe it has been helpful living in Yuma, not traveling to Manhattan and not seeing reminders everywhere of what happened. When I spoke to people out here, the sense I got was that maybe our mornings spent that day were a little different, but the feelings were still the same. Our country had been attacked and a previous sense of safety and security we felt was no longer there. We all suffered and grieved for the people lost that day, whether or not we knew them. Now on this anniversary, we as a country look back on this shared tragedy stronger and more united than ever.

New Yorkers and Yumans look back at 9/11