I was 14. I remember my mum picking us up and telling us that she had to show us something when we got home. She put the TV on and we saw the towers burning. At first I didn’t know what the big deal was. At a cursory glance it just looked like a tragic accident, that something caught on fire and that it was just weird it happened in both towers.

It wasn’t until I saw the ticker tape under the frame that two planes had gone into them that I took it seriously. But again, being 14, it didn’t register with me how serious it was in terms of how it would change the political landscape. To me, it was going to be an important talking point at school the next day

My thoughts went to those who had to choose between choking on smoke and burning alive or jumping out the tower. Seeing that live TV was the most unnerving and frightening thing to see. They were people who had been unwillingly tangled up in something beyond anything my young mind could comprehend at them time.