Six Years Later

I'm writing this post at 5:45 PM Central Time on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007. Exactly six years ago to the minute, I was standing out on my deck and I was struck by two things. One was the stunningly clear blue September sky. The second was the absolute silence. You see, under normal circumstances there is a good amount of air traffic flying overhead. Not today. For the first time ever, all air travel in the United States was shut down. The reason for this, as you know, is that 19 hijackers picked this day to fly two airplanes into the World Trade Centers in New York, one into the Pentagon. One more was tragically, yet heroically, flown into a Pennsylvania field before reaching its destination, which was apparently the U.S Capital or The White House. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on that day, and the nation experienced it's worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in American history.

I have told many people that when it comes to "negative experiences" in my life, only the death of my mother and father have had a more profound affect on me as what happened on September 11th, 2001. On September 10th, 2001, I (foolishly) felt that the United States was an isolated land. The Soviet Union was no longer an enemy. Any "casualties of war" would be in a far off land, right? Then September 11th happened. I don't think the events of that day would have had such a profound effect on me if I was not a father. In a 24-hour period, I realized that my children will grow up in a much different world than I did as a child. I realized that our "new enemy" does not wear a uniform or have a flag. I realized that we are now fighting an "idea" instead of an army. The individuals who subscribe to this "idea" do not mind killing civilians or dying themselves for the cause. I also realized that they will never go away. It actually made me miss the Soviet Union.

Six years later, we find ourselves in an endless war (which I am not here to debate as right or wrong). We've become a paranoid nation when it comes to security. It still is surreal to me to drive to the airport and see a sign that says "Threat Level Orange." Any feelings of cohesiveness, patriotism, or solidarity that we felt after the days that followed 9-11 are gone. We're back to arguing, fighting, blaming, etc. Everything is political again. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton command headlines in the paper over world events. We're back to September 10th, 2001 in many ways.

That, to me, is what is scary.

Peace,

Jeff