Every American who was old enough at the time will remember the events of September 11, 2001. It was a day that shocked the entire nation. I remember exactly where I was on that day, I was in 4th grade, sitting at my desk and waiting for class to start with the rest of my classmates. Our teacher rushed into the room and turned on the television, telling everyone to be quite. We all saw the second plane hit the towers as it occurred live in New York. The rest of that day is a complete blur, but I’ll never forget seeing that plane hitting the tower.
There is definitely no doubt that 9/11 was a traumatising day for the US. It was the beginning of a period of escalated fear and caution, especially with the anthrax scare and pipe bombings that occurred afterwards. People were afraid to get on planes, no body wanted to open their mail, and on top of that, our military was getting ready to go to war. Although it is only remembered on the one day, 9/11 did not end on September 12, it was the only focus of America for the rest of 2001 as well as over the next couple of years. Not all of this focus was bad, however.
While 9/11 is considered to be one of the worst days of America’s history, it did manage to unite the country and restore the sense of patriotism that we pride ourselves on. While everyone was on high alert over the next couple years, most of us refused to allow ourselves to be overcome by the fear that the attacks tried to inflict. I can’t really describe the state of America as a result of the attacks, but my best attempt would be to say that America was on a patriotic high for the next two years.
It’s difficult to fit into words the exact impact of 9/11 on the US. There’s no way to give justice to the people who lost their lives in the initial attack or even in the war that followed. The only thing that I can think of to do is to give my respects every year to all of the people who lost their lives and every family who was torn by it.
Read more by Jacob
