That Day
Anyone who is old enough to remember will be able to tell you where they were and what they were doing when they found out about the terrorism acts of 11 September 2001. My story is not remarkable, and I have no actual connection to the event with the exception of being a citizen of the world and witnessing an event that will forever be etched in history. Today, 20 years on, I am taking the opportunity to reflect on the repercussions for the world we live in because of those hours of terror.
New York City does hold a special place in my heart. I am not widely travelled and I have never lived more than 10 kms from the house I was born in, with the exception of a 3 month period living and working in New York when I was 24. It is still the highlight of my career (I peaked very early). As someone who has been fascinated with money and finance the opportunity to work on Wall Street was a dream come true. I recall the enormity of the twin towers in the financial district of Manhattan. They truly were a symbol of power like no other.
Watching those planes crashing into those buildings was unfathomable. Would I wake in the morning to find it was all just a nightmare? As a mother of two very young boys I was watching one of my favourite shows, The West Wing, when the show was interrupted with the breaking news. I woke my husband as we sat glued to the TV into the night trying to comprehend what was going on. The reports kept coming. It was not just those two planes – planes were crashing into other things as well. I still recall the fear that we all felt at the time. Perhaps this was the beginning of the end.
The attack only lasted for one day, but that was just the start of the fear. Plane travel has never been the same and we take comfort in the security checks even if they do feel a bit inconveniet. For the first few years I had family members who refused to travel on trains or drive into tunnels. Major events felt like prime targets. Those searching our bags as we entered stadiums were looking for more than just the vodka you were smuggling in hidden in your drink bottle. While that fear has certainly reduced from those first few years, we are always so much more aware and cautious.
But there was also a very sad side to this one act of Terrorism that we are still very far from overcoming -that of racism, particularly towards those of the Muslim faith. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for Muslims who were suddenly considered to be terrorists simply because of the way they looked, dressed or demonstrated their faith. In the 20 years since the attacks we have made some steps towards understanding that Terrorist are not necessary Muslim, and that being Muslim does not mean you are a Terrorist, but we still have a long way to go.
It is difficult to talk of racism when you are not from a cultural background that is a target. Ironically one of the greatest perpetrators of terrorist hate crimes in recent history was a white European male. Just because I have Eastern European heritage does not mean I have the same opinions as Hitler (far from it), and I am fortunate that no one makes that assumption. Yet we assume anyone from the Middle East shares the views of ISIS or Al Quaeda. It is as crazy as the Asian hate crimes we are seeing which somehow blame people of Asian appearance for COVID-19.
Yes, 9/11 did change the world. On that day 2,977 people were killed. In 2018 according to the website Statista.com 32,836 people died of terrorism. We continue to find ways to hate each other for our differences, and kill each other for that. However we only seem to take notice when the terrorism feels real to us. In 2019, according to the Statistica website 8,681 people died as a result of terrorism in Afghanistan. They would have been innocent people – fathers, mothers, children. Yet we barely batted an eyelid if the media even bothered to cover the story.
Terrorism is not new. Terrorism did not start on 11 September 2001, but for many of us that was the day we took notice because the victims looked like we do. Today when you reflect on the anniversary of 9/11 remember all the victims of terrorism all over the world..