To my children and future generations:

May 1st 2011 is probably a day you will learn about in your high school history class. It will probably be in association with September 11th 2001. We were there, and I want to document everything I can remember so maybe you can understand it all when you are older. 

We can't talk about May 1st without September 11th. It was my generation's Pearl Harbor, and all of us remember where we were when everything happened. What was so remarkable was how unremarkable everything started out. My dad had to have a car repaired, so I met him in the morning to follow him to drop it off at  the mechanic. I was listening to CDs in the car (never liked Montana radio stations) and the first plane hit when I was in the car. When we got my dad's car dropped off, he told me as I drove him home that some one had called to tell him a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. 

"What do you mean a plane hit the World Trade Center?"

"It must be a small aircraft, maybe a new pilot who was having trouble with navigation?"

We went back to my parents house, where my dad checked his work messages. 

"Molly turn the TV on" he said "Another plane hit...something is going on"

In my eternal brilliance I asked "What channel is the news?"

I eventually found CNN and when it turned on I saw the first tower collapse. Smoke and fire were everywhere, the second tower had a hole ripped into the side. I remember actually falling to the floor and tears building in my eyes. How many people were in that building when it fell? 

Then the second tower went down. Media that was reporting from the ground began to run, cameras still rolling and gray dust everywhere. New Yorkers, with ties and briefcases were running as a cloud of smoke followed them, people were struggling to breathe and nearby buildings collapsed from the impact of the fallen towers. 

"What the hell is happening?"

The news got worse, a plane had hit the Pentagon. Everyone was evacuating the White House and a plane crashed in Pennsylvania. None of us could comprehend what was happening, and we all felt completely helpless. 

3,000 people died, and our country became extremely divided. After 9/11 we joined together for a while, but soon it became very Right vs Left and 9/11 was referenced time and time again by each side trying to gain public support. One thing that divided us was what to do against those responsible, mainly Osama bin Laden, leader of the terror organization Al Qaeda. We went to war, we almost caught him once, but he always evaded capture. It was the President's (George W Bush) main focus to catch him (dead or alive) but bin Laden always evaded capture. 

Finally, now, 10 years later, we got him. The US Navy Seals invaded a lavish 1million dollar compound in Pakistan and killed Osama. The last thing he saw was a US soldier, and he was later buried at sea after a traditional Islamic funeral. 

He's gone, but Al Qaeda isn't. I don't know what is going to happen now or how this will affect your generation, but know that despite any mistakes your country has made, we did this right. USA.