“I may never be normal again. But this is my life now. I have to live it.” — Manu Dhingra, 27, a securities broker who suffered burns over a third of his body on 9-11
A 10-year Perspective
The Twin Towers, March 2001 .. Wikipedia photo
How did 9-11 change your life, I was asked.
It was a question I found difficult to answer. No sudden revelations came to mind on how my life was different today than it was that horribly bad day in 2001. I lost no loved ones, although I mourned because of the senselessness that took so many innocent lives and disrupted so many families.
I continued living my life as before. My job went on, as did those of my children. My grandchildren continued graduating from school, marrying and having children of their own.
And then the “what if” questions hit me.
What if there had been no 9-11? Would we have still gone to war with Iraq? How many American soldiers and innocent civilians would still be alive today if 9-11 hadn’t happened?
Would the Patriot Act still have been passed, causing Americans to lose many freedoms on which this country was founded? Would our country’s leaders still have resorted to torture with the excuse of keeping America safe?
9-11 -- The horribly bad day that changed everything.
Nasty questions. Nasty answers.
Yes. I have changed. I’ve lost the mom-and-apple-pie image of America that I grew up believing in. My ever-optimistic attitude toward life has been charred. My trust in human nature has dimmed and my sense of security is dampened.
But life goes on, and I have no intention of giving into fears so as to turn the world over to the bad guys. I live my life as before. Perhaps that’s why on being asked how had 9-11 changed my life, the first thought that popped into my mind was “It didn’t.”
But of course it did.
That Patriot Act scares me, too.
My reaction is similar. My first response is “it didn’t” change my life, but of course it did. My life had already changed from the Murrah Bombing. Just as with 9/11, I personally knew no one who was killed or injured, but I had lived in Oklahoma City. My daughter was born there and lives there now. The next time I went to Oklahoma City atfer the bombing, my husband, daughter, & I went by the Murrah Building. In March 2002, during my only trip to NYC, two friends, my daugher, and I went by the site of the Twin Towers. Both experiences were similar, yet I have difficulty describing them. Each was horrific and senseless, yet life went on and still goes on. I just feel a bit less safe and with less control over my life. But I feel less alone. .
You pose a great question. Like you I did not alter the way I live my life. But the world changed, and I have had to deal with a different world. Airport security, nieces and nephews in the military, muslims added to the list of those who get profiled by their race. I dont see many ways in which the world is a better place.
My world is a little shabbier in material terms. But it is a better because I hold those dear to me ever closer.
Its hard for us outside America to reconcile, the loud freedom citing politicians, with the normal, family life and real world people. All of the freedom that they say they want for others, is being eroded at home. The Politics of Fear has had a resurgence. Its sad that it has such a cost.
Take care everyone big brother is alive and well.
Jim
It’s sorta like “Beware the enemy. It is us,” as Pogp used to say.
Keep writing … Pat Bean https://patbean.wordpress.com