<p>I was certainly shocked by the events of 9/11. However, I lost my American “innocence” with the assassination of John Kennedy. I know many posters here are too young to remember that event.</p>
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<p>Very well put, atomom. That’s exactly what I meant by loss of innocence. Yes, in hindsight, it can well be called naivety. But, most Americans are good people with good intentions. We really don’t fathom the kind of hatred that spawned the 9/11 terrorists.</p>
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<p>You misunderstood me, golohague. I was saying that flying has become a stress-filled hassle for all the reasons I listed. I didn’t say the events of 9/11 are responsible for the all those changes. I may be just a parent, but I do watch a bit of the news, and got the memo about what the airlines have been doing to prop up their bottom line in recent years.</p>
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<p>I remember the Kennedy assassination, though I was only 7 yrs old at the time. But, Kennedy was not our first assassinated President. The only difference between that one and the ones that preceded it, was that it was caught on film and televised over and over.</p>
<p>Innocence? mmmm… i wouldn’t call it that, i’d call it naivety, as this was something the US could have stopped had they looked into the doings that group sooner.</p>
<p>Same thing could be said about pearl harbor (except they DID have the intellagence of that attack before hand).</p>
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<p>A sad day never forget.</p>
<p>I followed the news with interest before 9/11, probably started when I saw coverage of the Persian Gulf War from a hotel room at Disney World when I was almost 5. But 9/11 was the event that lead me to decide on a career path. 10 years later, I am at the point where I should have multiple job offers in my target field (national security) next May when I finish graduate school.</p>
<p>poetsheart, I was 10 when Kennedy was assassinated, and I remember it vividly, the funeral in particular and our teacher’s reaction when she announced it to the class. I still remember hearing about 9/11 from S1 who was on the runway waiting to take off for a flight lesson when they closed the airport. He called me from the terminal and we were talking when the first tower fell. He kept saying “it fell down,” and I just couldn’t comprehend. What do you mean? It can’t just fall down. The Internet was jammed, and I couldn’t get anything to “see” for myself. </p>
<p>I remember trying for several hours to reach DH who was spending the year working in MD. I knew he was safe, on a military base no less, well north of DC. But since DC was the closest place known to MIL, we just told her he was in DC. He finally got through to me 12 hours later and told me to call her immediately. She had been panicked all day, thinking he was in the thick of it.</p>
<p>All those feelings come back when I see even bits and pieces replayed on TV.</p>
<p>goluhaque- you need to live here to understand our culture, not pick up bits from songs. India is not Bollywood, nor is the US what you pick up from pop songs/TV/movies.</p>
<p>goluhaque, look to history. This is always the way empires decline and new ones emerge. </p>
<p>“One Market” global economic processes have accelerated the process. Western workers must compete with equally talented workers across the world. And those workers have much lower expectations in regard standard of living values. </p>
<p>Only western government workers can expect an increasing standard of living under this new economic paradigm. And that is how authoritarian, non-democratic regimes evolve into being.</p>
<p>Books don’t give the real USA as lived by the people either. Won’t bother with your quotes. You need to experience the US firsthand to understand it- and then your view will depend on where you end up (just as India varies from state to state, city to rural et al). Don’t bother trying to impress with your reading. </p>
<p>Back to the topic. I saw the NGC episodes Tuesday. Enough, too depressing a topic to dwell on further.</p>
<p>I’ve been watching the Discovery Channel all evening, and I’m glad I did. It does bring back the horror of that day, but it’s inspiring to know all that has been done to rebuild the area, and to honor the victims with what looks like a beautiful memorial. Out here in the west, maybe we’re not as conscious of the daily, monthly, yearly changes that have happened. </p>
<p>May the build, and especially the memorial, bring the long-delayed peace that these families deserve.</p>
<p>goluhague–just wondering what your purpose is on this thread? your comments are disrespectful. If you are planning to attend college in the U.S. I hope you have a wonderful experience, and have roommates who introduce you to real life here. </p>
<p>I too hope the memorial brings some measure of peace to all who lost a loved one…</p>
<p>I agree 9/11 represented a loss of innocence for us. When I fly, and deal with the small inconveniences of security, I always think of those who lost their lives and keep it in perspective.</p>
<p>So the song won various awards. So what? It might be a great song. That doesn’t mean it is the definitive statement of American culture.</p>
<p>Let me clue you in, though. The song describes aspects of culture that are predominantly linked to one region of the US – the south. Not America as a whole.</p>
<p>If more Americans paid attention to international news or spent any time in foreign countries 9/11 would not have come as such a shock. I’ve been in the embassies that were bombed in Africa. I’ve been on Pan Am Flight 93, but obviously not on the day it was shut down. I was in Germany when the Israeli Olympic team was murdered. I never thought the world was a particularly safe place.</p>
<p>What I remember though was right afterwards the heartwarming response from my friends from around the world. A German classmate sent me the headlines from a Berlin paper that said “Wir sind alle Amerikaner.” (We are all Americans.)</p>
<p>I never thought that the world was a particularly safe place either, but I had the illusion that the US was.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping that golu’s inappropriately snide remarks in a thread where people are expressing their grief come shining through in his college essays.</p>
<p>A friend of ours was on flight 93. He left a wife and 2 young daughters. On the morning of flight, read NY Times with his older daughter like they did everyday. We went to his furneral. The song they played at the service was, “Let there be peace on earth.” I have that on my ipod. Both of his girls graduated from top colleges, one just got married. The wife (who is also a friend) is just beginning to think about new chapter of her life, because in the last 10 years her life the girls have been her main focus. She kept the family home, but now is thinking maybe it is time to let it go.</p>
<p>D1’s English teacher got a call from her H on the cell phone. She didn’t pick up because she was in class. Her H was a trader at Cantor Ftizgerald. The message she got was, “Please don’t delete this message, this maybe the last time you hear from me. I love you…” The whole school went to the funeral, the church couldn’t fit all of us, many people were standing outside.</p>
<p>Where we lived, many people died on that day. It touched us personally.</p>
<p>I was at work that day. I remember being on the train, and when it got to Grand Central, someone got a call on their cell phone about the first plane hitting the Trade Center. I had a Junior League meeting scheduled for that night. One of the girls on my committee had a husband who worked at Cantor. Two little boys. So terrible.</p>
<p>My goodness, oldfort and Classof2015…</p>
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<p>Must be a moving song 10 years ago or even today. May peace upon earth.</p>
<p>^ a lovely idea, but I think the real lessons of 9/11 are: we need eyes and ears on the ground in countries that hate us. We need Americans who can speak a foreign language well enough to reliably decipher and anticipate threats. We need vigilance in this country to spot the package left behind; to wonder about the new neighbor who’s taking flying lessons; to ask questions about the person who is suddenly interested in your husband who inspects bridges for a living.</p>
<p>I would venture to say that no one who lived through that terrible Tuesday (emotionally, visually, physically) wants to see it again on TV interspersed with commercials for Tide.</p>