One of the things I always believe is that no matter how bad something is, you can take something positive out of it. The one time I wasn't sure of that was on September 11.
I usually wake up at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. That day, I happened to wake up earlier. I turned on the TV and I saw that a plane had crashed (撞击) into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. My first reaction (反应) was that it was a terrible accident. Then I saw another plane fly into the South Tower and I realized that I was witnessing (目击) an act of terrorism.
My wife and I spent the day watching the terrible pictures over again. When I watched family members looking for their loved ones, the pain in their eyes was something I would never forget. I couldn't understand how something this terrible could have happened.
It wasn't until a few weeks after September 11 that I began to see that perhaps some good did come from this tragedy (悲剧). People seem different now, more understanding, more tolerant(宽容的). Little things that seemed to be such a trouble before are no longer big things. Personally, I am more tolerant than I was. I realize life is too short, and too precious(珍贵的), to let myself get worried over small things. I've learned also that you can't take things for granted. Things change in the blink of an eye. People go to work and don't come back. One moment they're living and the next minute they're not. And, it doesn't matter who you are, there is nothing you can do about it. We never know when our time here will be over, so we all need to make the most of every minute we have.
You try to learn from what happened. You can't be used up by it. You can't live by it. All you can do is just live.
