Editorial published on Sept. 12, 2011
Do you remember where you were 10 years ago? Most likely, you do.
This is the most momentous anniversary of our time. A decade has past since our nation came under attack, but it will not be the last time we look toward this day with heavy hearts.
Like Pearl Harbor, this day changed the course of history, like Dec. 7, 1941, Sept. 11, 2001 will always be mourned, but unlike the attack that brought us into World War II, the terrorist attacks happened in our lifetime.
This was much more tangible than learning about world-changing events in the stale halls of a history class. History no longer consisted of dead soldiers and wars that took place a millennium ago. Rather it was unfolding before our eyes.
“Now, we’ll have our own story. We have our own moment of horrific history to rehash for the rest of our lives. We have witnessed the greatest change in American history — ever,” read the Sept. 12, 2001 State Press editorial.
Our perceptions of the world changed as we grew up trying to comprehend what happened that day. The notion of an indestructible America from the 1990s vanished alongside any view we had of living an innocent childhood. Our false sense of security fell alongside the Twin Towers that day.
Our understanding of what it meant to be an American changed on 9/11 as well. In such a dark moment of history, this country dug deep and found the resolve to continue, to do otherwise would be to let the terrorists win. We threw our support behind then-President George W. Bush.
“We must rally behind our president. Whether you hate him or love him — whether you’re a pacifist or a soldier ready to kick some terrorist ass, we must at least put our faith into the — gulp — leader of our country,” the editorial read.
This view faded as time passed though. Now, vitriolic rhetoric and gamesmanship is alive and kicking in our national discourse. The patriotism and unity that bound this country together in such a tough time may still be there, but if so it is currently off the map.
Our entire way of life changed on Sept. 11, 2001. Security at airports tightened and the federal government’s surveillance power grew at alarming rates. America was thrust into conflict with the Middle East, something that has characterized our foreign policy ever since. There is no going back.
“The next day, the next week, the next 20 years — everything has changed and we must change with it,” the editorial read.
Life will never be the way it was before 9/11. What we can say is “normal” has a new definition. It is no longer the unrivaled dominance of America from our childhood, and it hasn’t been for 10 years now.
Even though a decade passed, many Americans still can’t find the words to describe this act of terror.
“We apologize for the disjointed nature of this editorial — clear heads and lucid thoughts aren’t exactly bedfellows to tragedy,” the editorial board wrote.
But 10 years later, our heads remain cloudy and thoughts convoluted.
Editorial published on Sept. 12, 2001
We’ve all heard our parents lament about where they were when Kennedy was shot. We’ve listened in ignorant disbelief to horror stories about Nazi concentration camp survivors or how our grandfather fought in the Navy when Pearl Harbor was bombed.
We looked at their sullen faces and tried to grasp the pain of remembering something so catastrophic. We tried, but we couldn’t … until now.
Now, we’ll have our own story. We have our own moment of horrific history to rehash for the rest of our lives. We have witnessed the greatest change in American history — ever.
But we sure wish we hadn’t. We, as politically driven college students usually strive for change in the American “system.” Even our own campus has been rife with anti-capitalist protests and filled with voices devoted to something other than the status quo.
Well, this is not the change we wanted. We’d give anything not to be writing this editorial right now. For once we wish we were in class being bored to death by trigonometry instead of glued to the TV being terrified by tragedy. For once we wish the MU was overflowing with chaotic chatter about parties and meaningless events instead of the eerie silence and somber mutterings of the crash. For once we wish that Tuesday was just another day.
But it wasn’t, and now we are actually witnessing our country change forever — something most us can never have claimed before. Most of us woke up yesterday, stumbled out of bed, and then watched in denial the footage of two hijacked planes crash into New York City’s World Trade Center — and of black smoke billowing from our mangled Pentagon — and of New York residents running for their lives as part of their city crumbled above them — and of confused reporters speculate about who’s responsible
We stood comatose with our bowls of cereal and wondered if it all was really happening — if this was really America and not one of the war torn Third World countries we’ve all been jaded into seeing on the news every day. Pictures of bloody New Yorkers scattering through a dust-covered Manhattan are unreal to us. It could only happen in a movie, right? None of want to accept that the day has come.
Until now we’ve been living with the false sense of security that America could never be harmed. We watch safely from our living rooms each night as other cities in other countries far away from here get ripped to shreds in far less violent acts of terrorism than this one. And we sigh because, thank God, it wasn’t us.
We’re tortured in history classes with the events that led up to wars — assassinations, sunken ships, political threats. We read the text and hear the lectures, and we can’t believe how these things can happen. What it must have felt like to live in that time, we think. How scary it must have been, we wonder.
Well, unfortunately, we need wonder no more.
But unlike history class, where we sleep off whatever we did the night before and go for a beer after, we can’t simply shrug off what has happened. We are living one of those history book moments right this minute. It is very real.
But while we’re paralyzed by the sheer terror of this act, we must not live in the shock that was Tuesday, and we must take complete control of what is to come. The next day, the next week, the next 20 years — everything has changed and we must change with it.
First, it’s time to get over the belief that we are untouchable. We shouldn’t live our lives in fear, but ignorance is no better. We are not invincible. So when similar attacks against other countries happen in the future, we’ll finally have a little sympathy and perspective. We’ll finally give those victims more than a passing thought because now we have the misfortunate of saying, it happened to us too.
After hearing the news and seeing the footage of a fiery World Trade Center, the first thing everyone did was run through a mental Rolodex of who they possibly know in New York. A friend, a relative, a friend of a relative. It all becomes more real when it happens on our own turf. It’s obvious why we care more when it happens closer to home, but it gives us no reason to stop caring when it happens to other people we never knew.
Second — and in another moment of history, for us at least — we must rally behind our president. Whether you hate him or love him — whether you’re a pacifist or a soldier ready to kick some terrorist ass, we must at least put our faith into the — gulp — leader of our country. We can’t even muster the sarcasm to mock him or call him anything but our leader, because our lives are truly in his hands now. We will follow his every move in the days to come and hope that he doesn’t stumble over his actions as much as he does his words.
We were drawn to the television yesterday evening — wide-eyed, dry mouthed and drowning in the surreal, slow motion pace of the events — as President Bush succinctly labeled Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, a day that “evil happened.” He stiffly affirmed that the terrorists “might be able to shatter steel, but they cannot attack the steel of the American resolve.” Regardless of whether he gave us goose bumps or not, we will remember that speech for the rest of our lives. We will tell our grandchildren about the “day that evil happened.” It’s one story we wish we didn’t have to tell.
And amid all the shock and tragedy, we must recognize that this could lead us into war. Other events in the past 10 years have slowly tip-toed us toward that reality, but this may have just catapulted us toward the front line. In fact, as we write this, we can’t keep up with the news fast enough. We can only imagine — or rather, fret — what has happened by the time this is printed.
Again, we are witnessing a first for our generation. And again, we wish that those who complain about the normalcy of everyday American life understand why the rest of us will now rejoice for it. We’d give anything for “normal” right about now.
We know the people of New York do, too. And while we must take control of our feelings on the matter, we must not forget the lives that were taken in this attack. This is not just about the threat to our nation as a whole, but the loss of each individual life that ended so senselessly yesterday.
We apologize for the disjointed nature of this editorial — clear heads and lucid thoughts aren’t exactly bedfellows to tragedy.
It’s just that we’ve been inundated with stories and pictures of horrific events in America’s history, but no one has ever prepared us for this. No one has told us how to answer the question: Where were you when it happened?
