So today in class we talked a little about 9/11 and how the media affected that event. I can still remember that day and everything about it, which I have no doubt is due to the trauma about the day, especially living 45 minutes outside of the city. That day, my school decided not to tell anyone until right at the end of school, where we had an emergency meeting. Everyone reacted in horror, as almost everyone knew of someone's family that worked in or near the World Trade Center. On the way home you could see everyone had the news on watching and rewatching the clips, and you couldn't help but doing the same the instant you got home too.
The paranoia set in thereafter because of our proximity to the city. Every plane that went over our heads made us look up, not in wonderment of where they were headed but just to see that they weren't going to crash into us. My great aunt lives in an apartment building just across the river from the World Trade Center and she witnessed first hand the second tower being hit and both of them falling. She knew no one in the towers, so her account was just facts and emotion. After almost every sentence she would say "I don't believe it". The next thing that seemed to happen for everyone in my area, was that there is one road that gives a panoramic view of the city skyline and the smoke. Everyone seemed to be on this road just to get this view of the smoke, as if just to ensure what they had heard on tv was correct.
Soon after they put up the powerful beams of light in rememberance of the towers and all the people lost. If we turned off all the lights in our house and look in the general direction of the city, we could see a faint glow in the sky, like all the people lost that day were trying to re-enter the world through the pillars of light to finish their lives. By this time, we all got used to the planes passing overhead, for the most part. We still looked up, but we swore that it was just because we were seeing where they were going, but inside we knew we were still a bit paranoid.
A few years later, near Christmas, my family went into the city to see the tree and see how the city was recovering from the devestation. I remember on a building right next to the tree a massive American flag, so there was no way you could look at the tree without seeing it. This made me happier because the city was still remembering its loss, but still trying desperately to keep up traditions. On the way out of the city we stopped by the memorial site. It was an odd feeling to be there because the rational part of your brain said it was just a piece of land, but the emotional part took over and reminded you of how many people died here and the paranoia you felt during and right after the event.
I'm really excited I found this picture because I remember it from a news article I read soon after the event. I was struck by the positioning of the Statue of Liberty, like she was looking at the smoke and wishing she could move to help those people that died that day. The second thing that struck me was how bright the Statue of Liberty is considering the amount of smoke around her. This was used to boost the morale of the people of America by saying that liberty and freedom still shines through, even in the face of a major traumatic event.
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