Criminal
09-12-2002, 02:27 AM
The question is always asked: Where were you on that day? What was your reaction.
Sept. 11, 2001 began as an ordinary day for me. I dont even remember what day of the week it was, was it a Monday? I think it was but I cant be sure. I started out as normal, got in my car and drove off to work. I started early that day. I had an hour long commute so I turned on my radio. There was nothing but **** on and those obnoxious morning "radio personalities" each trying to out do eachother with how obnoxious they can be. I then turned to NPR news. I was half awake and barely paid attention. What I did remember hearing was about a plane that crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania killing all aboard. There was a report of another that crashed into the Pentegon. It did get my attention but all the same my mind was on other things. I had a full day of work ahead and at home I was trying to renegotiate my mortgage.
Well I was at work and was one of the first to arrive. I was busy taking calls and doing my work. Then I heard people talking about some plane that was hijacked. I mostly ignored it. Then my supervisor turned on a TV and it showed an immage that I was to see many times over, the World Trade Center twin towers were on fire... then one of them collapsed. I could not believe what I was looking at...."What the hell is going on?" was all I could think of.....
For most people in the US, the attack on the WTC and the Pentegon was something they thought would never see happen in their homeland. It is true that bad things happen in America. There are murders, rapes, carjackings and accidents. There are plane crashes, earthquakes, fires and disasters of all sorts. What made this attack so shocking is hard to say. I dont rightly know what it is that made me so shocked. Was it that this act was a premeditated act perpetrated by human beings? Was it that it happened in the US? What was it about the events that happened in September that impacted the collective psyche of US citizens?
One obvious thing about these events were that it ether directly or indirectly affected all aspects of life in the US. For several days air travel was grounded to the US. The US economy took a downward drop and some sheres of the economy never recovered. Security concerns nationwide changed. Air security is now a vital issue.
What I believe this event has done is to make people in the US feel different than they felt before. Before 9/11, Americans had little reason to fear attacks from foreign terrorism. It is true that the bombing of the Murrow Fed building in New York sent a shock wave into the US but this act was perpetrated by home grown terrorists. We have seen the enemy and it was us. Now after the 9/11 incident, the US knows it is not immune. The US cannot merely seal its borders and feel safe at home. In the past americans had this notion that terrorism was a foreign phenomena. We have seen events happen in places like Africa, Indonesia, the Middle East or Latin America. 9/11 was america's reminder that the world does not end at its borders. On the contrary, the US, by being a superpower is a major part of the world that it trys to forget about.
Sept. 11, 2001 began as an ordinary day for me. I dont even remember what day of the week it was, was it a Monday? I think it was but I cant be sure. I started out as normal, got in my car and drove off to work. I started early that day. I had an hour long commute so I turned on my radio. There was nothing but **** on and those obnoxious morning "radio personalities" each trying to out do eachother with how obnoxious they can be. I then turned to NPR news. I was half awake and barely paid attention. What I did remember hearing was about a plane that crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania killing all aboard. There was a report of another that crashed into the Pentegon. It did get my attention but all the same my mind was on other things. I had a full day of work ahead and at home I was trying to renegotiate my mortgage.
Well I was at work and was one of the first to arrive. I was busy taking calls and doing my work. Then I heard people talking about some plane that was hijacked. I mostly ignored it. Then my supervisor turned on a TV and it showed an immage that I was to see many times over, the World Trade Center twin towers were on fire... then one of them collapsed. I could not believe what I was looking at...."What the hell is going on?" was all I could think of.....
For most people in the US, the attack on the WTC and the Pentegon was something they thought would never see happen in their homeland. It is true that bad things happen in America. There are murders, rapes, carjackings and accidents. There are plane crashes, earthquakes, fires and disasters of all sorts. What made this attack so shocking is hard to say. I dont rightly know what it is that made me so shocked. Was it that this act was a premeditated act perpetrated by human beings? Was it that it happened in the US? What was it about the events that happened in September that impacted the collective psyche of US citizens?
One obvious thing about these events were that it ether directly or indirectly affected all aspects of life in the US. For several days air travel was grounded to the US. The US economy took a downward drop and some sheres of the economy never recovered. Security concerns nationwide changed. Air security is now a vital issue.
What I believe this event has done is to make people in the US feel different than they felt before. Before 9/11, Americans had little reason to fear attacks from foreign terrorism. It is true that the bombing of the Murrow Fed building in New York sent a shock wave into the US but this act was perpetrated by home grown terrorists. We have seen the enemy and it was us. Now after the 9/11 incident, the US knows it is not immune. The US cannot merely seal its borders and feel safe at home. In the past americans had this notion that terrorism was a foreign phenomena. We have seen events happen in places like Africa, Indonesia, the Middle East or Latin America. 9/11 was america's reminder that the world does not end at its borders. On the contrary, the US, by being a superpower is a major part of the world that it trys to forget about.