iamashamed: (Default)
While everyone's lost, the battle is won... ([personal profile] iamashamed) wrote2010-09-11 02:03 pm

Writer's Block: The day the earth stood still

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It's a day of reflection, mostly. I think about the victims of the attack, the families of the people who died in the attack, the survivors of the attack, and all the soldiers, from around the world, not just America, who have been fighting, and sometimes died, ever since the attack, to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again. I think about where I was when it happened, and what impact it has had on America, and the rest of the world.

I don't remember much from 9/11, or even before 9/11, because I was only a 10/11 year old girl when the attack happened. 9/11 was the first big news event I remember hearing about, but I was so young, that I didn't really understand what it was about. I grew up in a post-9/11 world, so I only remember the day through child-eyes. It was only years later that I actually began to think about it, and understand what happened on that day.

This is what I remember from that day:

It was around afternoon here, because of the time differences between Denmark and America, and I was playing with a friend. After my friend went home, I went into the living room, and saw my parents watching the news, where the images of the twin towers burning caught my eyes. I thought it looked like a movie, so I asked what it was. My mother told me that some really bad people had attacked some famous buildings in America, and killed a lot of people. I also remember seeing the buildings crumple, and being a little bit afraid, but the rest of the day is a blur. Next day in school, we talked about the attacks, and held 5 minutes silence for all the victims. I remember asking, angry and disgusted, "But if these people wanted to kill themselves, why did they have to take so many innocent people with them?!" because I was too young, and too innocent,  to understand the horrible fact, that goal wasn't to commit suicide, but to cause pain and hurt to others. It was only years later that I found out that this was the case. I also remember days after the attack, seeing pictures of people falling from the towers in the magazines, and being shocked. It still haunts me.

[identity profile] queer-theory.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:12 pm (UTC)(link)
It was really interesting to read this. I was 19 when it happened, so I've wondered what it would have been like for someone younger, someone who would ultimately grow-up post-9/11.

[identity profile] iamashamed.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:18 pm (UTC)(link)
wow, you were on my age, that's so weird to think about O_o. Yeah, it's weird, it's like I reacted years later, when I realized what it was. Like, it broke my heart, and made me sad, which it hadn't really done before, because I was too young. I also remember growing up with all these references to that day, and I never really noticed what changed after the attack.

[identity profile] queer-theory.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
In my town, the change was immediate and obvious. I lived next to a major military base. Everything was locked down. People I would have normally seen that day weren't allowed to come into town. I had two classes that day and I remember my art teacher walking in, writing on the board "Tell me how you feel and then you can go," and then sitting down with his head in his hands. Most of the class was missing. The rest of us drew or wrote or just left because we felt nothing.

The other class I was taking was Comparative Religion. We had been leading up to studying Judaism before 9/11, but we ended up spending the next month going round and round about Islam and extremists.

There were a couple of people from my town that died, either in the towers or on one of the planes. There were vigils. A local highway was renamed. And in the years that followed, people I went to school with went off to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm happy that I was aware of the differences though. I think as a child, I wouldn't have understood and that would have made me very afraid.
Edited 2010-09-11 12:23 (UTC)

[identity profile] iamashamed.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:27 pm (UTC)(link)
wow, holy crap. That's scary. I can't even imagine that.

[identity profile] queer-theory.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
At the time, it wasn't exactly scary. It was mostly... I don't know. I felt numb. I think that's how a lot of people felt.

I didn't really feel anything beyond that numbness until years later, when my high school science teacher's son died in Iraq.

[identity profile] iamashamed.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that's a natural reaction I think. Oh my God, I'm sorry.

[identity profile] queer-theory.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
My experience was nothing compared to what many other people went through. I think I had what was probably a typical reaction and experience for a lot of Americans who didn't live in New York or personally know anyone involved.

I read the accounts of what happened from people like Neil DeGrasse Tyson and John Hodgman, and just can't imagine what that must have been like.

[identity profile] iamashamed.livejournal.com 2010-09-11 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I've read a lot of accounts as well, and I can't even process it.