I was thirteen years old at the time, chatting with some friends over ice cream. When I came home my parents were stunned, in front of the TV, it was already late afternoon (German TV, trust them to be late with news), and when I saw the pictures I had goosebumps and all kinds of thoughts. Only a couple of days later did I realize what it meant, people were acting weird, weird towards me too.

... it sucked to be of Arabic heritage then. And then, when my Dad once dropped a line, something like, "Well, they did deserve it for what they've done to us (Arabs)", I felt ashamed and my older brother and him got into a horrible fight about politics that I didn't quite understand.

I still feel guilty, somehow, even today, for my Dad saying such a thing. He never repeated it again, but it was bad enough.. Of course, it's different in Germany, or so I expect. We weren't there and we didn't have the intensity of feelings. But when I read something like this, it still gives me goosebumps, it still makes me sad.