September 11, 2011 marked the ten-year anniversary of the attacks on the U.S. by Al-Qaeda. A whole decade has come full circle since the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and America’s peace of mind went up in smoke. This anniversary, in particular, has given me a new perspective on the tragedy, and it has molded my mind into understanding the significance of these attacks. It has affected New York, and it has affected America as a whole. When it first happened, I was young and in middle school so I couldn’t fully comprehend what had actually transpired, but over time I have made sense of it all. The phrase “terrorist attack” has placed a dirty taste in the mouths of Americans, and it has stayed there, slowly fading away over time, but on this ceremonial day we remember the lost souls who had so much potential to change the world.
Innocent lives were taken from thousands of workers and travelers. To this day, the attack has the largest number of recorded casualties ever. The city of New York is still recovering from this catastrophe. They will be for the rest of their lives. Now that I am much older and wiser than I was in the sixth grade, my sense of empathy has skyrocketed. I wasn’t there when the buildings were falling to the ground, but I know what it’s like to be in the wake of a national disaster.
At Camp Abbey in 2003, I met a girl from New York whose father had an office in the World Trade Center. He was working on that fateful day. She told me how she was in class taking a test when she got the news of what happened. When she shared her story it had only been three years since the attacks, and there was no sign of weakness. Witnessing her courage made me realize how thankful I was for my own life.
Ten years ago, September eleventh was just a date to remember a horrible incident, but now, in my mind, it represents a day of service for all those who fought so selflessly. Serving one’s country shouldn’t ever feel mandatory it should begin to feel natural with time and age.
Time is a funny concept and age goes hand in hand with it. Time is precious and it cannot be taken back, just like we cannot step back into our preteen bodies and relive our wonder years. As I have grown older, my thirst for knowledge on this tragedy has shaped who I am today. I have learned to question even the most self-explanatory instances and to challenge even my own beliefs.
The experience of watching 9/11 unfold took me by surprise. I had to assimilate the information into my brain without the shock factor. The growth of my knowledge has come from my curiosity of the behavior of Al-Qaeda. I wonder what makes people want to commit such heinous acts. However, even though I have a couple of psychology classes under my belt, that concept will never be made completely clear. A lot can happen in a short amount of time. The day after the attacks, American flags were everywhere. It made me very proud to be an American.
Over the next ten years, I hope to gain more enlightenment on the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001. Even though the anniversary may bring pain to the victims’ families, Americans remember the victims with adoration and respect. This day, no matter the year, will always have a symbolic meaning. It was the day that Americans came together as one by showing their love for this country.
They flew flags in their front yards and businesses placed them in their windows. Schools held memorial services for the fallen. Showing an American flag became an epidemic, flooding neighborhoods across the country. The streets never looked so colorful. I couldn’t walk down a street without being bombarded by red, white and blue lawn gnomes and umbrellas. The only logical step for Americans to take at that point was to turn the negative into a positive. No matter people’s differences, they were all able to get along.
Every different political party, race and religion united as one body to show their loyalty to this country, as well as the firefighters and EMT workers who lost their lives during the aftermath. We may have been millions of miles apart, but on that one day we were all standing right beside each other. On this day, every year, we are truly the United States of America.