It’s interesting how much lower-key the coverage of this anniversary was than last year’s. The only specials I found on TV were on the History Channel–my mom and I watched them with interest. The more lugubrious reenactments weren’t very touching (I take issue with overt emotional manipulation), but every time they talked about the firefighters and other people who rushed in to do the right thing, I choked up.
I was really pleased to hear (for the first time) about how all the tugboat operators pitched in to get people off the island of Manhattan when they were stuck there. And the story of how flight controllers around the continent went about grounding all the flights, especially in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty of that day, was interesting as well.
I remember those eerily quiet skies, except for the occasional pass of the fighter jets doing a CAP (combat air patrol) over Seattle…
But most of all, I was reminded of what it was that I’ve been trying to do in my time since then. Yes, join the military and combat our nation’s enemies, but also, to plunge in and study what happened and where it came from and who did this to us so that whenever something like this happens again, it won’t be that horrible feeling of shock, powerlessness, and horrified uncertainty. If nothing else, all the research about world events I’ve done in the past 6 years means that if/when something bad happens again, I’ll have some idea of where it came from. No more horror descending from clear blue skies, please!
I do think that we’ve lost a sense of what we felt back then. However, it’s big and scary and I think a lot of us are too frightened to face it in its full horror. Better to push it away and reduce it into being something understandable…
Posted by Kjirstin 
