On this tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, I feel sad when I remember that day; the sorrow, the horror, the confusion about what it meant for the future.
I remember the contrast between the sweetness of life with a first grader: lost teeth, Legos, learning to read, and the rage and fear and sorrow from all sides that were wrapped up in the attacks.
I also feel cranky; alienated and at odds about two phrases that were used often at that time and have returned as news media remembers.
There was a loss of innocence.
Whose innocence? About what? No one really said.
I assume this refers to a sense some folks had, before 9/11, that the United States was invulnerable to outside attacks.
But that kind of innocence only seems possible if one identifies so strongly with one's own country and point in history that the suffering of people from other parts of the world, or in this country at other times, never made any impression.
How can anyone have felt "innocent" if they knew about slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, apartheid, rape as a tool of war? The Oklahoma City bombing? I could go on, but...duh.
I think of myself as a positive, cheerful person, and I've lived a privilege life, but honey, my "innocence" was lost a long time ago.
Nothing will ever be the same.
Again, I wonder, for whom? And from what? This statement strikes me as histrionic.
On Sept. 12, 2001, we went to pick up kitty #2 from the Animal Shelter.
Gotta tell you, things were the same there. Animals in cages, needing homes.
At my son's school, there were happy kids at recess.
The traffic on I-5 was still bad.
I didn't have direct information about this, but am 100% sure that women in abusive relationships had been living a nightmare and continued to after 9/11.
If "the same" meant life had had a certain glow and security, life hadn't been "the same" for lots of people for a long time.
True, I had a stronger emotional response to the 9/11/01 attacks than I have to other terrorist attacks in other parts of the country. But I consider this due to my own ignorance, U.S. chauvanism, and lack of imagination. If I paid closer attention to other attacks and thought about the people they affected, and watched news reports about them, I imagine I'd have a similar reaction.
I guess it isn't exciting and dramatic enough, doesn't make people feel important enough if we say, simply; This was a horrible loss and trauma; the shock from that and the time it takes to recover are universal experiences. Some things will change, some things will stay the same.
That, however, is what is true for me.
I remember the contrast between the sweetness of life with a first grader: lost teeth, Legos, learning to read, and the rage and fear and sorrow from all sides that were wrapped up in the attacks.
I also feel cranky; alienated and at odds about two phrases that were used often at that time and have returned as news media remembers.
There was a loss of innocence.
Whose innocence? About what? No one really said.
I assume this refers to a sense some folks had, before 9/11, that the United States was invulnerable to outside attacks.
But that kind of innocence only seems possible if one identifies so strongly with one's own country and point in history that the suffering of people from other parts of the world, or in this country at other times, never made any impression.
How can anyone have felt "innocent" if they knew about slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, apartheid, rape as a tool of war? The Oklahoma City bombing? I could go on, but...duh.
I think of myself as a positive, cheerful person, and I've lived a privilege life, but honey, my "innocence" was lost a long time ago.
Nothing will ever be the same.
Again, I wonder, for whom? And from what? This statement strikes me as histrionic.
On Sept. 12, 2001, we went to pick up kitty #2 from the Animal Shelter.
Gotta tell you, things were the same there. Animals in cages, needing homes.
At my son's school, there were happy kids at recess.
The traffic on I-5 was still bad.
I didn't have direct information about this, but am 100% sure that women in abusive relationships had been living a nightmare and continued to after 9/11.
If "the same" meant life had had a certain glow and security, life hadn't been "the same" for lots of people for a long time.
True, I had a stronger emotional response to the 9/11/01 attacks than I have to other terrorist attacks in other parts of the country. But I consider this due to my own ignorance, U.S. chauvanism, and lack of imagination. If I paid closer attention to other attacks and thought about the people they affected, and watched news reports about them, I imagine I'd have a similar reaction.
I guess it isn't exciting and dramatic enough, doesn't make people feel important enough if we say, simply; This was a horrible loss and trauma; the shock from that and the time it takes to recover are universal experiences. Some things will change, some things will stay the same.
That, however, is what is true for me.
You and I think alike sometimes.... I think 9/11 was HORRIBLE. And, I think we weren't the same after that like we weren't the same after the Challenger exploded or when JFK was shot or MLK, Jr. And, it was AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWFFFFFUUUULLL. But, I'm not so sure I think we should hold onto 9/11 like we're worshipping it. I think it's fine to remember it -- but I'm torn about all the hype that it's rec'ving on it's 10th anniversary. (i'm confused).
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