My Birthday Shook the World My Life

Birthdays are fun.

But what if your birthday happens on the saddest day in the world?

And you can't celebrate it like everyone else.

First time I found out, I was probably in, maybe, first grade.

Some kid said, "Oh, that's your birthday? Well, that's a bad day."

I was like, "Oh?"

What if you were asked to take part in important events

and felt a responsibility for the future?

It is importantly special, it is one of the biggest things in history.

'I've got people coming out from all sides of the building!'

Just over 10 years ago, a terrible thing happened.

On September 11th 2001, terrorists hijacked four aeroplanes

and attacked America.

That day became known as 9/11,

because it took place on the 11th day of the ninth month.

3,000 people from 70 different nationalities

sadly died in the attacks.

Introducing Anish, Johnny, Lexi, Bryce and Colby.

Five American children who were born on that day.

They know just what it's like having a birthday on a day

when no one feels like being happy.

My name is Anish, and I live in Daretown, New Jersey,

with my mom and my dad and my sister.

There's a farm in front of our house which is having a fair

and my mom and my dad and my sister are coming here for pumpkin picking.

OK, they are very heavy!

Oh! OK!

I'm picking one that is nice and big, and not that heavy.

Anish's story begins a few days before his birthday.

We went to the World Trade Center,

the place where the Twin Towers used to be, before they were attacked.

We were invited to a special event for the kids that were born on 9/11.

When they were built, the Twin Towers,

which were also known as the World Trade Center,

were the tallest buildings in the world, each over 100 storeys high.

From the window we could see the place

where the Twin Towers used to be.

What we heard on the headphones was really scary stuff.

Stories about people that were in the Twin Towers.

Some people who were going to the Twin Towers but then didn't,

because they heard about this.

This is basically what happened...

Two terrorists entered the plane, and,

since they had gone to airplane school,

they were able to fly the plane.

When they found the World Trade Center, they just went down.

They crashed right into the side of it.

There was a humungous hole. Everyone in that plane had died,

inside the building, most of them in that floor had died, too.

The remaining people felt like, "Woah!"

and then the firefighters came

and then they started saving a lot of people.

Shortly later, the North Tower fell down, then,

after that, the South Tower just fell down.

I actually went to the site of the World Trade Center,

and there was a memorial built over it.

They had the names of all the people who had died.

A lot of firemen died, too.

Many heroic firemen lost their lives that day saving others.

Actually, Anish is a hero too.

We'll find out later whose life he saved.

Bryce! Colby!

His hair is not up like mine, I look better than him.

He has a diff...

He is really, really sensitive about his hair. Watch this.

Twins Bryce and Colby

really should be having a double whammy of a party,

but not all their friends

think that it's a good idea to celebrate on this day.

I think he should change his birthday.

My mom and my dad were right there watching it

and I still have the newspaper of it so it kind of offends me.

I think that Luke is trying to be funny.

ALL: No, he's not.

I think he's just kind of over-reacting

a bit about someone's birthday being on 9/11.

I think that Bryce should keep his birthday on 9/11

because first of all, it's kind of special to be born

and especially because he's a twin,

not many twins are born on that day.

You could think about all the good things that have happened.

Could really use my bishop, now.

You probably have a trap set up for me.

-Yes, I do.

-How dare you?

And your Queen will be done.

If my birthday was on 9/11, I would probably have a different day

my birthday party, because it's a horrible day that day.

Well, it's his opinion. It's his opinion. It's a good opinion.

For me, it's an OK day.

It's my birthday, which is a really good part.

But the bad thing is the planes.

But I wouldn't change my birthday.

I wouldn't.

A lot of times you will, you know, when you go some place

and they'll say, "What's the date of birth?"

I'll say the day and they will go to write it

or put it in the computer and they'll just, like, stop.

They'll say, "2001, wow! They were born on 9/11, what was that like?"

Some people's hearts may have broke when they saw those planes

as they knew that their moms or dads were in the buildings

or a close relative, like a grandma.

Maybe even all of them.

Maybe somebody was in the building and they knew they were going to die.

My name is Johnny and I live with my mom, dad, four sisters and two dogs.

I've got the best family ever!

I'm just putting some through holes.

-He's coming!

-He's coming through this hole.

-Aw.

We are in the Beartooth mountains.

It's really cool. We've seen an eagle.

And chipmunks. We fed them. It's cool.

You see there's a perfect view up here

and you see valleys and trails.

Johnny's 9/11 birthday is going to be really special.

He's been asked to say something

in front of his whole town at a memorial ceremony.

I'm reading a little poem at the memorial.

Kind of nervous I might forget it and I'm just trying to memorise it.

Johnny is actually going to write the words himself.

A few miles away from his home are the Healing Fields,

made in honour of the people who died on 9/11.

The visit should give him a bit of inspiration.

There were 1,000 flags lined up by each other.

They would represent all the victims that were killed.

Here's one about the dogs that helped, the search dogs.

You asked about those.

Did some of them die, though? That's what I want to know.

Well, the rescue dogs.

They were important because they would smell the people

that were still trapped and find them.

Sniffer dogs saved people's lives

by finding them in the rubble.

No dogs died at the World Trade Center.

Some were even awarded medals.

You can touch it, too, if you want.

It might not look like it but this amazing twisted piece of metal

was once part of the Twin Towers

before it tumbled to the ground.

They set those things up for the Twin Towers.

It was really cool because it was a piece from the World Trade Center

and it was really cool to have it in our town.

There's a picture of all the hijackers, the 19 hijackers,

who hijacked the planes.

And here is a picture of the Pentagon.

The Pentagon is one of the largest government buildings in the world.

It also got hit by the third plane.

On 9/11 the terrorists crashed into the Pentagon,

killing everyone on the plane and 125 office workers.

Johnny's going to talk about hope at the big memorial ceremony

in his town but he'd better get a move on as it's in a few days' time.

Makes them smile. But oh, I didn't put that.

Do you want to practise it? Do you want to give it a go? Nice and slow.

Terrible things happened in our country on September 11th, 2001.

I don't know why.

I know I am a face of hope to bring joy into the world

-and help people and make them smile.

-Very good. All right.

It's one thing to read in front of your family

but how's the guest of honour going to manage

in front of hundreds of people he's never met before?

My name is Lexi. I live with my mom, dad, brother, sister,

my dog Buddy and my horse, Buster.

Lexi lives slap-bang in the middle of America.

We're really glad we live in a small town where everyone knows everybody

and there's some cool things. Sometimes we go out to the lake.

Before the corn was growing,

I used to run all the way into the fields and I'm like, "Whoo!"

Do you know what happened on the day you were born?

Lexi does.

She knows all about 9/11 and she wants to share it with everyone.

But not before she's tortured her little sister!

It's very early in the morning

when the school bus picks Lexi up from home.

She starts school at quarter past seven!

Today, here's hoping Lexi's 9/11 know-how

will be put to good use as she's volunteered

to do a presentation in front of her whole class.

No wonder she's looking a bit nervous!

I love history and this is just a really big thing.

A lot of people think that 9/11 is just history.

Well, it's actually something that kind of means a lot to people.

We will never, ever understand the terrorists

and why they do things like that

but what makes a lot of people sit down and cry

is because there were innocent people in there. Someone's family members.

Lexi's lecture seemed to go well.

Lexi was born right at the time that flight 93 had crashed.

And so she's always had kind of a close connection with that

and it was really odd

because it did feel like the world did really stop that day.

Flight 93 was an airplane that was going for the White House.

Passengers on the fourth plane bravely tackled the terrorists.

They diverted it into a field to prevent the hijackers

from crashing into the White House, where the President lives.

44 people died.

People decided to try to take over the plane

and try to get the terrorists out

to save thousands of people.

They saved a whole bunch of other people and they were our heroes

because they killed themselves for other people.

Flight 93 was the only plane that failed to reach

its hijackers' intended target.

When a child is born it should be a happy time.

But having a baby on 9/11 was difficult for their mums.

All these people were standing around you,

and they're all standing around the television.

And I was just the only one - even my husband -

I was the only one laying in the bed going, "Wow! Hello?"

And it took a nurse to walk in. And she looked at my face

and then she looked over at them and she said,

"Hey everybody, she's having twins over here."

And they were like, "Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah."

I feel bad even saying this!

I'm sorry!

But I wasn't excited. I was just so sad.

Anish's family is very close.

He's especially close to his uncle

and not just because he's good at imaginary bowling!

I was supposed to be born two weeks later, after 9/11.

But it turned out that I was born on 9/11.

Anish's uncle worked at the World Trade Center

but one morning he got a call from his brother

saying that Anish was about to be born earlier than expected.

He made the decision straight away not to go to work

and instead headed over to the hospital.

Whilst waiting for baby Anish to be born,

his uncle and dad saw the two planes crash into the World Trade Center

on a TV in the hospital.

Luckily, because he was at the hospital, he didn't...

..he wasn't in that building.

What if my brother would have gone to work at the same time?

And, uh, and just the thought itself actually brings shivers in you.

We were really so, so relieved that he was with us,

and, you know, because we heard so much.

You know, so many people really did not come back home that night.

Anish is a blessing to us, to me and to my entire family.

I owe him a lot. He saved my life.

I feel special that I was born on such a day.

And it ended up saving my uncle's life.

The terrible things that happened on that day changed the world forever.

One of the bad effects

was that some people blamed the religion of the hijackers.

All over the world, Muslims were made to feel responsible,

even though they had nothing to do with it at all.

Even if the terrorists were Muslims, it doesn't mean all Muslims are bad.

The American government wanted to find Osama Bin Laden,

the person behind the attacks.

This led to the war in Afghanistan,

because that was the country where he was believed to be hiding.

People were worried about similar attacks happening again

so security increased, particularly in airports.

They would put it through the X-ray machine.

You would wait on the other side for your stuff to come out.

They look at every single thing.

They're looking for any, like, explosives or weapons.

It's important to have, like, this type of security,

and I understand it, because 9/11 happened because of airplanes.

It's September 11 -

happy 10th birthday to Anish, Johnny, Colby, Bryce and Lexi!

But birthday celebrations will have to wait till later.

Johnny's big day is finally here.

In a few hours he will be standing in front of hundreds of people.

Will he stay calm and be able to make his speech?

Mum's nerves are all about

the extra-special guests who have been invited.

They have the former head of security for the Pentagon.

They have a United Airlines pilot who was comrade

with the two pilots who were flying on Flight 93.

Only a few hours to go and there's still a lot to do

before the family is ready to leave.

While everyone is rushing to get ready, Mum takes control.

All right, remember, you've got to read it slow.

Don't hold it right in front of your face,

'cos then we can't see your cute face, right?

All right. So first you start with?

My name is Johnny. My family and I wrote this poem

and it is called, "I Am Hope".

When you say "I Am Hope", just make sure instead of "I'm Hope"...

.."I Am Hope". Make it three separate words instead of one.

-Do it again?

-If you want to. It's up to you.

-Sure.

I'm sure my parents have a back-up plan!

Yeah, the back-up plan is for you -

you guys to help him read it if he, like, freezes up.

I was not aware of that, but...! I guess that's what I'll be doing!

-Ready, Bud?

-It's a good plan but will it work?

OK, let's go guys.

In Kansas, Lexi has made a big decision

not to celebrate her birthday with a party, but instead

to attend the special firefighters' memorial event in her town.

It's a very important day for everybody.

And... it's a very important day

for a lot of the people who have lost their families.

It means so much to me

because this is the first time that they're actually doing this.

It's a small town and we don't have a lot.

BELL TOLLS

The fire station has managed to pull in quite a crowd,

and Lexi is right at the centre.

We're here at the fire station to ring the bell

and they're reading off the names from people who have died on 9/11.

It's a pleasure for me to be here.

Each toll of the bell represents one person who lost their life on 9/11.

Because so many people died in the attacks,

the bell rings all day long.

When the local radio station find out that it's Lexi's birthday today,

they ask her for an interview.

I think it's one of the most important things about history

and about our lives and what changed the world

and how... How it changed New York City.

Anish has a special way of celebrating his birthday too.

'We don't choose to go out anywhere.

'As a family, we decide to stay in together.'

What we do that day is we do a prayer to remember that scary day.

That horrifying day. And try to put some hope into the future.

'What I think about during my prayer

'is that I hope that this stuff never happens again.'

Johnny's big moment is almost here.

What you can do is stand off to the side.

-That way you don't...

-Yeah, then I don't have to be here,

cos I'd be like... I wouldn't see.

The seats are filling up,

and our main speaker has been given a very important place to sit -

right on the stage.

APPLAUSE

My family and I wrote this poem, and it is called I Am Hope.

Terrible things happened in our country on September 11, 2001.

I don't know why.

God chose for me to come into the world on September 11, 2001.

I don't know why.

What I do know is that heroes were made on September 11

and I want to be like them.

I know I am a face of hope, and I want to bring joy into the world

and help people and make them smile.

APPLAUSE

'It was cool, because at first I was a little nervous,

'but then when I got on stage I just did it.

'It was... fun.'

But Dad isn't going to let Johnny's birthday go by unnoticed.

On this sombre day I would also like to do something

a little out of the ordinary here -

I wondered if we could all sing Happy Birthday to my son.

LAUGHTER

# ALL: Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday, dear Johnny

# Happy birthday to you. #

Anish, Johnny, Lexi and the twins

were amongst the 10,000 babies

born in America on 9/11.

You can't change the day you were born, but it's always

important to celebrate your birthday, no matter when it is.

I love that this is my birthday

and I can show kids how wonderful a birthday can be on 9/11.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd