Seven years after 9/11: I have not forgotten, but I have moved on

I was always somewhat bewildered by seeing people in rural Kansas say that "9/11 changed us forever", even if they had no personal connection to what happened on that day (like a relative being killed, etc.). All of my friends in NYC have taken great offense at the people in flyover country who purport to understand terrorism better than they do. The truth is that New Yorkers are some of the toughest people you will ever meet. They are the ones who pay the price for the cowboy foreign policy that Red staters demand.

We should not ever forget what happened on 9/11/2001, but a lot of other bad things have happened since then, and continue to happen as we speak.

Hard to move on from that.

typing from Ground Zero before it was Ground Zero.

I lost friends and colleagues. I was there the whole time. I saw people jump, die, scream and cry. I walked home in a suit of soot.

And I'm really sick of 9/11.

:hug: :cry:

I know NY had the highest number of vctims, but there are 9/11 families here in the Boston area, as well as greater DC area. You're right that it seems that other parts of the country have swallowed the 'Terra! Terra!' meme hook, line, and sinker. I rarely hear anyone talk about it here in the Northeast.

who was in office on 911. Who was in charge of the city of NY on 911. What Party had control for nearly one year on that day?

To say "even if they had no personal connection to what happened on that day (like a relative being killed, etc.)." is rather short sighted.

I live 3000 miles away and it is an event that seriously impacted me and every one I know who gives a sh*t about their country. As I was getting dressed for work, I turned on the news like I did every other morning before work and I shouted at my wife to come look at the news, a plane flew into the WTC. At that time, it was thought that it was likely and accident similar to the plane which hit the Empire State Building years ago. As the day events unfolded first in NY, then DC, then PA, I thought "MY God, how can we not be at war now." I'm too young to remember Pearl Harbor, so this was not something I had ever experienced before. "Oh my God, we're under attack." was all I could think about. I get to my office and everyone is surrounding a TV and half of the people were crying. The owner of our company was due to fly from Boston to NY and no one had heard from him (he wan't on one of the flights). Then as the days progressed and it was clear that we were at war, though a war against terrorism not a country, everything was different. No planes in the sky, the entire street in front of our airport closed. An Indian or Hindu store keeper was killed in a small town nearby because some idiot thought 9-11 was his fault. My wife was worried because her son lives in the Bay Area of CA which was thought to be a likely target - and he is half Arab.

No I didn't loose a friend or have any direct connection to anybody in NY, but I would say it changed me and my family forever.

No planes above, everyone in their homes glued to the TV, even though the weather was gorgeous. It was really unnerving.