My wife just made an exceptional post on 9/11/01.
9/11 for me does not represent tradegy. It represents glory. It represents life. When someone mentions 9/11/01 my mind doesn't jump first to seeing world famous landmarks demolished (although it angers me that my children cannot visit the top of the Towers as I did nor can I or they see the statues of Budda). My mind jumps to the little wheel my wife's GYN was holding when she said, "Do you want to know what you were doing on Sept 11?" and to all the giggles, messy diapers and lessons of the wonders of life, learning and growth that followed. September 11, 2001 represents my fulfillment as a human being to leave a legacy.
As for the political side of things, it represents a loss of freedom as a coverup of a government mistake. Terrorism has always been present. I used to be proud to say that the only time the United States had ever been attacked on its own soil was during the Civil War (granted there were some pot shots from U-boats and Japanese subs during WWII). I saw the terrorists won. Their goal was to change the way we live. Most Americans live unrealistically in fear. The fear is irrational but it is what the terrorist wished to achieve. They have won. I feel like I'm living in George Orwell's book.
The silence in the skys on September 12, 2001 was wonderful and eerie. It was complimented by the silence on the roads. If we could have turned off all electricity and moved momentarily beyond the horror, I think it would have given a nation a day to be incredibly introspective, relate better to the ways our forefather's lived when they founded this nation, and appreciate more the modern conveniences on which we have come to depend.
I can no longer carry my pocket knife on an airplane. The pocket knife which is a reminder of achievement, safety, acts as a worry stone and fidget toy, and can be an ice breaker since I can do a great magic trick with it; However, I can drink from a coke can which can be ripped into a razor sharp weapon and I can wear a necklace of garrotable steel and I can carry eye stabbing pens and I can allow my fingernails to grow long to enable me to rip out your carotid artery bringing a messy rather instant death and I can hold my hand with my index finger and pinky straight out with the other two fingers bent and punch really hard into a mans neck crushing his Adam's apple giving him about 3 minutes to live (you can recover from this by painfully pushing your hands on the side of your throat to pop the Adam's apple back into shape) and I can cite many other examples from keys to belts to lady's products. All these added security measures that are great inconviences are simply misplaced funding to put on a dog and pony show for the American public and give them a false sense of security. It simply keeps an honest man honest.
We no longer refer to our emergency service as 911. It is now E-911 to distinguish from "the event." Some schools no longer run field trips to Washington DC to allow our students to learn about our government (it's easier for the dictators to supplant our lifestyle if a whole generation doesn't know how its suppose to work).
Our way of life as changed. The terrorists won.
