11 Years
I was asleep, graduated from highschool for over a year at the time. My father came downstairs, woke me up, and said words I thought I'd never heard " We're under attack ".
It took my brain a few moments to realize that I was indeed awake and not in some partial-sleep dream-state. I Ran upstairs and was glued to the TV. I saw the second plane hit live, and both towers collapse live.
From that day forward I become polarized to learn more about politics. A few days of Google and searching, I came across Democratic Underground.
That sunny September morning will never be forgotten, I remember it as vividly as it were yesterday. Two things did come out of it that could be seen as positive. The forceful shove into learning what I could about the US government and how things work, and my push from centrist to left learning.
To this day I still get choked up watching any video from that day. Some would say, especially people younger than me, that getting teary-eyed over it is a sign of weakness, but it's not. It's a sign I have a conscious, and a heart.