Nine-Eleven: The Aftermath

Nine-Eleven Memorial In Lower Manhattan

For the past few months, and especially the past week, the term Nine-Eleven has been on most people’s lips and nearly everyone’s mind. I tried desperately to avoid dwelling on this. I failed.

I am beset by the images of ten years ago seared into my mind. I turned the TV on in my Oakland apartment to catch the weather. It took a while to understand the horror I was witnessing. No one in our office accomplished much work that day. Life, as we knew it, came to a standstill. I saw people jumping from the smoking, crumbling towers to escape fiery deaths; mayhem in the streets of New York City as citizens tried to outrun stifling, toxic clouds; hopeful people holding pictures of loved ones still lost; and the face of Mohammed Atta.

There are other unpleasant images I am desperate to banish, like ‘America’s Mayor’ Rudy Giuliani declaring, “Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president!”, or our smug POTUS declaring into his bullhorn that those who “knocked down” the towers would “hear from us.” Knocked down? How folksy! The public was inundated with color-coded terror alerts, but encouraged to spend, spend, spend! God forbid we allow capitalism and consumerism to suffer because of this tragedy. No! We must show the terrorists that no matter what they do, they will not curtail our latte consumption and shopping sprees. So, off we scurried to Starbucks and Macy’s to do our patriotic duty.