Photo by Dov Harrington (Flickr)
Everyone remembers where they were when the heard that the Twin Towers had been hit by terrorists. Last year, I reflected on the actual events of the attack. This year, I am reflecting on how the world has changed for all of us since that day 10 years ago.
At 8:46 am ten years ago today, I was in an elevator with my professor and we were heading into my first class of the day – Ancient Civilizations. I was a freshman in college and it was early on a Tuesday morning. I had barely rolled out of bed, let alone looked at the news or gone online yet. When I overheard my professor talking about the attacks, I thought I must have heard her wrong. Her Russian accent was thick and I was always misunderstanding her.
When the reality of the situation hit me, I went numb. For the entire day, I sat glued in front of my little TV set in my dorm room watching the events unfold. I saw the footage of the towers falling and of people crying out in anguish. I saw people on campus frantically trying to reach their loved ones that lived in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. I watched everyone as they all tried to come to grips with what had happened.
Today, I look back at my 18-year-old self and I see that was the day I became aware of just how fragile the world is. Ever since that day in 2001, I thought war was something that other countries dealt with. I thought bombs and attacks were things that happened in the Middle East, but not here in the “civilized world.” I quickly realized that there is no such thing as “safe” and that bad things can happen any time and to anyone.
Many say that America became a truly united nation on September 11, 2001. They say we became stronger and more proud of our country. And while I think those people are absolutely right – we are definitely stronger and prouder today than before those attacks – I think there’s a flip-side to that. We are also more frightened; constantly on high alert and waiting for that next attack. It seems that fear and enmity are always in our minds as a country and we may never escape that as long as terrorists remain in this world (and they will).
I hope that we, as a nation, never forget the strength and unity that September 11th brought us. I hope that the fear fades away and we can continue to move forward as a people united in the knowledge that we will prevail and overcome. We will not lay down and cower before intimidation, but we will stand tall and be indivisible.
We are the United States of America and we will never forget.
