The aftermath of 9/11 extended far beyond that single day. Years later, at Shaw University, I met Tahj, a guy from New Jersey who was always smiling and seemed so carefree. In my youthful naivete, I assumed he was a "silver-spooned kid," a person who had never faced hardship. It was a shallow and unfair judgment, one that was completely shattered when he revealed that he and his siblings had lost their father that day in the World Trade Center. The news hit me hard. My assumptions crumbled, and I felt a profound sense of humility. I realized that as outsiders, we have no clue what a person has been through. That simple conversation taught me to be more compassionate, to look past the surface and recognize the hidden struggles that people carry with them every day.