Have you changed since 9/11?

[BonosSaint]

Okay, I have a slow response time. I know how my country changed, but I've recently been monitoring how I've changed.

1. I'm much less political now. I have very little faith in
the political process.
2. Right after 9/11, I felt very American, very attached to my
country. As the years have passed, I have felt less American
and more global. I understood what we went through, so
many countries have gone through in their own ways. I
see America's strengths, but I see her limitations more clearly
now. I don't dislike my country. I'm just less enthralled with it.
3. I've become more reflective. Less sure of my absolutes.
I felt ungrounded because of it at first. Now, I am pleased
I am letting go of those sacred cows. I've gotten more
personal than abstract, both more and less selfish.
4. I've stopped watching the news. Not because I'm afraid of
bad news. I've just stopped believing what I hear. I've
learned opinions, including my own, are cheap and there
are too many people giving their opinions as truth.
5. I listen more to people than I used to.
6. I listen to music more. It's one of the few things that still
makes sense to me.
7. I'm more curious than I used to be.
8. I watch people's logic more closely--not what they think
but how they arrived at what they think.
9 . I do not trust very many people on a personal level now.
That was a change. I used to trust more. I'm not talking
terrorism. I'm just talking people in general.
10. I've become a better friend and a worse acquaintance.
11. I'm aware of how fleeting everything is, how everything
changes in an instant and I am more aware of those changes.
I'd like to say it has made me more compassionate, but it
has actually made me more distant.

Not all of these changes are consistent, but they have happened and I think much of it has been triggered by 9/11 and the aftermath.

Have you changed?

 

[LoveTown]

yeah i think I have changed. I've always wanted to travel the world and see everything. I've always had the desire to soak up other cultures by seeing the world.

Now I don't feel safe to travel. Not just because of 9/11 but because of the war too. As an American I do not feel as though I would be wanted in other countries. I feel as though I would be hated in many.

 

[BVS]

It affected me greatly, but I don't think it changed me anyway personally.

 

[Dulce de Leche]

Now I don't feel safe to travel. Not just because of 9/11 but because of the war too. As an American I do not feel as though I would be wanted in other countries. I feel as though I would be hated in many.

I hope you will still travel if that is what you want to do. I have travelled more than ever since 9/11 and I can tell you I have never had any problems nor personally seen or heard of Americans having problems. Most people around the world are smart enough to know that 1 American does not represent their country's governmental decisions.

I would say I have changed in that I worry less about things and try to take advantage of all possible opportunities and esp. travel a lot. 9/11 is the perfect example that you never know what day might be your last and you don't want to have any regrets that you didn't do things.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I have changed my views on religion and politics.

As far as traveling? Well I went to Ireland in May of 2002. People I knew thought I was crazy to take an international flight which made me laugh because I started flying 3 weeks after the attacks on domestic flights. If it wasn't for the lack of funds I would have no problem traveling abroad. However I too as an American would be cautious about where I traveled over seas.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

2. Right after 9/11, I felt very American, very attached to my
country. As the years have passed, I have felt less American
and more global. I understood what we went through, so
many countries have gone through in their own ways. I
see America's strengths, but I see her limitations more clearly
now. I don't dislike my country. I'm just less enthralled with it.
6. I listen to music more. It's one of the few things that still
makes sense to me.
7. I'm more curious than I used to be.
8. I watch people's logic more closely--not what they think
but how they arrived at what they think.

These in particular apply to me, although the last one's been a part of me for a long time. But the first three were definite changes in me after 9/11. And I actually have a stronger interest in politics. Sure, I think most politicians are up themselves on a regular basis, but I'm more interested because I feel I deserve to know what's going on.

But I'm opposite you on a lot of other stuff. Crazy as it seems, I'm still as trustworthy of people as I was before that day. I will admit sometimes my trusting people constantly may be naive, but I just refuse to lose all trust and hope in humanity. I didn't react with vengance and retaliation after 9/11-oh, sure, I wanted the people who did it to be punished, but I didn't act the way some did-instead I pushed more for peaceful resolutions to problems. And still do. And I've generally been a pretty flexible person on a lot of issues, rarely ever had absolutes on things, and that hasn't changed, so...

I still intend on traveling, too. I do have a fear of flying, but not because of 9/11-I've had that fear since 1997, 'cause of a bad trip home from visiting relatives in California (which can be summed up like this: It seemed that everything that could go wrong did). But regardless, I'd still definitely want to travel to other parts of the world, and hope that I can get that chance someday.

Angela

 

[U2democrat]

I guess you could say 9-11 has made me more driven to be in politics. Those terrorist bastards made a big mistake by lighting a fire under this little ass

 

[A_Wanderer]

I had an interest in politics and history prior to the atrocity, but I suppose that they gave a decent ammount of focus.

I have every intention of visiting some of these far flung places and frontiers.

 

[Pearl]

originally posted by BonosSaint
8. I watch people's logic more closely--not what they think
but how they arrived at what they think.

I've changed in this sense. Before I used to think people's logic came from simply how they thought and how they want to present themselves to people, but now I realize it has a lot to do with how they react emotionally to an issue.

I also have been willing to learn and understand the Middle East and Islam. I haven't done thorough research, but I've learned more after 9/11 than before.

 

[Halifax]

Even though I’m not American, 9/11 has also affected me in several ways. I could remember that day like it was yesterday…

I was 15 when it happened. It was in the morning when I woke up and prepared to go to school. I turned on the television and I saw the planes crashing into a building. At first I was shocked, but dismissed it as just another piece of footage of violence in the Middle East. “Crazy nuts fighting over petty little things, what’s new?” I thought back then. I was about to turn off the television when I thought “hang on…weren’t there supposed to be early morning cartoon shows showing right now?” I turned to the other channels…and they showed the same thing: two planes crashing into two large buildings. I watched the footage more closely. “This doesn’t look like the middle east at all” I thought. I sat back down and absorbed every detail from the news reports I could. When I realized what it was, and what happened…

I arrived at school that morning and EVERY SINGLE PERSON, students and teachers alike, were talking about it. Our whole entire school stopped for a two minute silence. Many of my fellow classmates grabbed any newspapers they could find, making sense of the senseless.

Fast forward till today. 9/11, and the Bali bombings which killed 88 Australian’s, have changed my in many ways:

Religion: I went to a Catholic Primary and Secondary school. Even though I was exposed to religion almost daily, I never cared much about religion or spirituality, neither interested. Our Religious Education classes were simply dole ordeals where we sift through countless Bible versus. When 9//11 came and gone, and Osama Bin Laden and his cronies came on the television and said “We did it for Allah”, “We did it for Islam”, “We killed the infidels” etc, I was shocked, but also curious. Thus it began my fascination with religion. Throughout then till now, I had a look at the history and the relations between the monotheistic big three: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. I simply looked at those religions through a historical/secular lens, and I was amazed and shocked at the hatred between those three institutions. Even though religion has produced countless acts of good will and charity, and has saved countless lives, it has also produced countless acts of intolerance and hatred, has spurred countless wars, has massacred and destroyed entire populations and cultures, and has ended many lives. I discovered how religion could also be like corporations with guns and swords: each of them fighting against each other for a monopoly on “The Truth”. I read about the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the Jihads, the messy creation of Israel, etc. Heck, I could go on, but 9/11 has made me very suspicious, even cynical, about organized religion. Sometimes I even think religion has done more harm then good. What could stop a psychopathic maniac from thinking that they are commanded by God to destroy this country/culture/people. I’m an Agnostic. Sometimes I see things that make me think “wow, there is a God”, while at other times I think maybe it’s simply a man made concept. It was only until recently that I stepped back from the historical perspective and looked at it from a spiritual lens.

Politics: 9/11 began my interests for politics. I subscribed to TIME, paid a closer attention to the news and the words of our leaders, read any books I could find and debated and discussed the many issues which affect our lives with anybody who is interested. It’s an interest which continues strongly till this day. Like many people, I’m now very suspicious of the actions and words of politicians. I’m forever fascinated about what happens when the news cameras turn off and the politicians enter the meeting rooms behind close doors and discuss the actions which will affect millions of lives.

The Media: I’ve become more questioning of the news media. Every single time I turn on the television, or sat down and read the paper, I wondered what’s behind those headlines. Is it truth, or merely a spin from the Karl Rove’s out there?

Fear: Whenever I start to lapse into fear about a possible terrorist attack occurring near me, I always think to myself that throughout human history, humans have always lived in fear. In World War 2, we feared that the Nazi’s will take over the world. Throughout the Cold War, we feared that there will be a nuclear war between us and the Soviet Union. Now, we fear that the train we will step on in the morning will be the final moments of our lives. Face it people, if there is a time when we do manage to defeat extremist Islamic terrorism and if the “War of Terror” is finished, a brand new “bad guy of the free world” will take its place, and the fear machine kicks again. Now, I would either quiver in fear at the corner of my room, our simply just enjoy what life has to offer, thinking that humans have always feared some kind of threat within and/or afar.

Well, there are many other aspects within me that have changed, but to sum it all up, 9/11 taught me to wake up and take a look around.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I got on a plane 2 months after 9/11, I couldn't really believe I was doing it but I was sort of proud that I did. If something was going to happen there wasn't anything I could do about it, and I had to try not to let the fear control my life.

I've flown a few other times since then, I'll never forget flying over NYC and seeing the New York skyline, flying right over the WTC site. That was surreal. I thought about the people on those planes, what they went through.

I would say I am more aware that life is so precarious and that hatred is so much more alive than I ever thought it was. I am more cynical about humanity. I'm more aware of the potential for terrorism anywhere and everywhere.

If I had the money I would travel more, yes I'd be afraid but I'd try to face that fear. If people are going to despise me simply because I'm American w/ out even knowing me, well that's their problem. That doesn't speak very well about them in my humble opinion. I judge people as individuals, not based upon their nationality.

 

[Irvine511]

i am much angrier, at both the world and at people who support policies that i believe make us much less safe and totally ignore what's really the problem.

i always look around the Metro for anything "suspicious" -- what that might look like, i don't know.

i am far, far more tuned into my own mortality and i have moments where i focus, too intensely, on what that moment of firey death must have been like in the WTC, and imagine, while walking around DC, where a similar attack might happen, what it might look like, and what it would feel like for the people trapped inside. knowing people who died, and knowing people who ran out of the buildlings, screaming, will do that to you.

has only deepened my sincere distrust of organized religion, because we now see what religion is capable of in a way that nothing else on earth is.

has connected me back to the idea of a permanent soul, and thus underscored how spiritually unnecessary most of organized religion is. thinking back to that day, the phrase "what if not but for the Grace of God that were me" is quite resonant -- i think it's precisely the randomness of a terrorist attack that truly lets you know how life turns on a dime, it can be shattered in a second, and how we are all interchangeable and utterly devoid of meaning beyond what we create for ourselves. yet, if we put ourselves in the shoes of someone on one of those flights, in the WTC, in the Pentagon, or in a buildling in Baghdad, and we take our feelings of our own uniqueness and realize that, 1) we are no more special than anyone else, and 2) everyone is just as insignificant and miniscule and beautiful and precious and unique as we are.

we are all connected to the 82nd floor.

 

[Liesje]

I'm not sure if any of my core values and religious or political opinions have changed, but since Sept 11 is my birthday, it's really hard not to think about. Also, I went with a group of 600 other people to NY once month after Sept 11, 2001. We split into various groups and since I wasn't 18 yet I was not allowed to work with the Red Cross at Ground Zero, but our job was sorting ALL of the donated goods in warehouses on a military base across the river. I've never seen so much stuff in my entire life!! It was mostly bulk supplies like water, batteries, snacks, medical supplies, and supplies for the working cadaver dogs, but once in a while you'd get a box sent from a nice old lady with a handwritten note and some random food items you can just tell she took out of her own cupboards. The letters were really special to see and everyday we sent a box directly to the workers at Ground Zero. Anyway, the whole experience was humbling for me, not having any close friends that were directly effected by the plan crashes, and also just showed just the HUGE amounts of stuff people from everywhere were sending in and how quickly the rest of the country responded. I'm quite sure there were enough supplies in those warehouses to maintain a small third world coutry for five years. Rest assured, those volunteering at Ground Zero were well cared for!

 

[Irvine511]

I'm not sure if any of my core values and religious or political opinions have changed, but since Sept 11 is my birthday, it's really hard not to think about.

while it's not quite the same, my brithday is september 13th. i think i totally forgot about it in 2001, though now the two events are linked.

 

[LadyRhia]

I'm not sure if any of my core values and religious or political opinions have changed, but since Sept 11 is my birthday, it's really hard not to think about. Also, I went with a group of 600 other people to NY once month after Sept 11, 2001. We split into various groups and since I wasn't 18 yet I was not allowed to work with the Red Cross at Ground Zero, but our job was sorting ALL of the donated goods in warehouses on a military base across the river. I've never seen so much stuff in my entire life!! It was mostly bulk supplies like water, batteries, snacks, medical supplies, and supplies for the working cadaver dogs, but once in a while you'd get a box sent from a nice old lady with a handwritten note and some random food items you can just tell she took out of her own cupboards. The letters were really special to see and everyday we sent a box directly to the workers at Ground Zero. Anyway, the whole experience was humbling for me, not having any close friends that were directly effected by the plan crashes, and also just showed just the HUGE amounts of stuff people from everywhere were sending in and how quickly the rest of the country responded. I'm quite sure there were enough supplies in those warehouses to maintain a small third world coutry for five years. Rest assured, those volunteering at Ground Zero were well cared for!

(((Hugs))) to you along with all the other volunteers.I can imagine how I would feel if my birthday was on 9/11 too!

I remember how I felt the first time I was back on a plane after 9/11 but I knew I had to just get on with it....

All the emotions that I had that day has in time dissipated in time,but 9/11 will always be a part of me.

I think that we united in the pain of that day,and put all our disagreements aside.

 

[Liesje]

while it's not quite the same, my brithday is september 13th. i think i totally forgot about it in 2001, though now the two events are linked.

and it's not just on my birthday either. Anytime I have to give my birthday for any service over the phone or here at school, I think about it....

 

[verte76]

I don't feel like I changed personally after 9/11.

 

[financeguy]

It certainly made me more interested in politics and current affairs. This would have been the main change. It did not make me afraid to take aeroplanes or anything like that.

My birthday is September 12 funnily enough.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Yes, but not because of 9/11 exactly. It just so happened that my best friend of 20 years died suddenly about a month after that so the two are forever linked in my mind. That was my personal 9/11.

I suppose there are other ways I've changed but that's what comes to mind first.

 

[cell]

only thing i can think of is that i was such a tv junkie before 9/11 happened. then when the news were filming people jumping from the towers, i stopped watching tv on a regular basis.

and i am more defensive of, and attached to my country.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

If people are going to despise me simply because I'm American w/ out even knowing me, well that's their problem. That doesn't speak very well about them in my humble opinion. I judge people as individuals, not based upon their nationality.

Bingo.

Also, you more cynical of humanity? Funny, your posts in FYM and all that tended to make me think otherwise, 'cause you're always trying to find happier stories to talk about and stuff .

to all those whose birthdays are forever linked with that day. My birthday's October 6th, which isn't even a full month after that day, but it's far enough away that I can still keep the two things separate.

And to LivLuv and all the others who volunteered around that time. See, that's another thing-people talk all the time about being proud of their country and stuff, but I could put a flag on my front door and that alone wouldn't show my pride.

No, when I saw images of people helping carry others out of the rubble of the buildings, when I heard stories of people holding others' places in the lines where people stood to find missing loved ones so that someone could sit and rest for a few minutes after having been on their feet for so long (or, in some cases, random people would help someone look for a missing loved one), when I heard stories of donations and people risking their own lives to save others, be it on the planes or in the buildings while the event was happening, or afterwards when there were areas that were still dangerous to tread into, and things along that line...those were the kinds of stories that made me proud to live here, made me proud to be American. Nobody was judging anyone else by their race or religion or political affiliation or sexual orientation or gender or whatever else. Everyone was just working together to get through a hellish event, everyone, for a time, really seemed to give a damn about each other and cared about each other. Why that kind of thing isn't more common in the news and in the world, I don't understand. Why does it seem it only takes a tragedy for that kind of thing to happen? Why can't people be like that all the time? People say it's not possible, it can't happen-I dunno, seemed pretty easy then. How hard is it to smile at someone and say a kind word to them?

One other thing that will stick with me regarding 9/11, something I've mentioned on occasion before-the pictures from my New York City trip will never be the same to me. We went to that city in April of 2001. And by September of that very same year, that city was forever changed. It was the weirdest feeling ever when I saw the towers falling on the news that day. I look at those photos now...those towers stuck out like sore thumbs, you couldn't escape them, they were in practically every outdoor picture I had. It's really eerie to look at them now. But at the same time, I'm glad I got to have those captured, it's a nice trip back to a happier time, and something for future generations to see, too.

Angela

 

[BAW]

I'm not sure if any of my core values and religious or political opinions have changed, but since Sept 11 is my birthday, it's really hard not to think about.

Same here (my birthday is also 9/11)

For a while, I dreaded giving anyone my date of birth because I either got a look of pity or someone would say "I"m so sorry" or "that must be weird"

And it just feels strange to want to celebrate on a day like 9/11, especially the first 2 years afterward, so I guess my birthday will forever be changed in that regard.