Reflections on 9/11 Part Two: We Are All Americans

Every generation has an event that forms its identity. The assassination of John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. Pearl Harbor. Armistice Day, November 11, 1914. For my generation, that event is September 11th. It is the kind of event that permanently marks people, an anniversary that incites solemn conversation and remembrance– and questions. Some of them are questions that were asked a decade ago as the smoke cleared. Why us? Why the Twin Towers? Will there be another attack? But the most important question, I think, is one that has perhaps grown in importance over the last ten years: How does this event—and our reaction to it—define us, as a generation, as Americans?

Wreckage after 9/11. | Photo by Andrea Booher, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

It is a sad fact that 9/11 became the grounds for at least one war. It could be argued (and has been) that 9/11 was the basis for the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It is also true that Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims increased after 9/11, a trend that has continued. Conspiracy theories abounded.

But it is also important to remember the immense sense of unity we felt as Americans afterwards. The outpouring of support from around the world. The days of mourning held in Israel and Ireland; the statements of support from leaders around the world, as well as the United Nations and NATO; the newspaper headlines all over the world, such as the one in the French newspaper Le Monde on September 13 that pronounced, “We Are All Americans”. American flags dripped from every office building. Donations flew in from around the country and around the world.

Ten years on, that unity is a distant memory. In many ways, America seems divided. But on Sunday, we will again share the experience that comes just once a year. Come Sunday, the question I ask myself will be simple. How do I choose to let this event define me? I choose to remember it all: the shock, the horror, the drawing together; the anger, the retribution, the invasion; the use of 9/11 as a political pawn to incite fear; the experience of 9/11 as an primal bond. Everyone knows where he or she was the day the towers fell. It is our responsibility to choose how we view the results of that day, and to choose how we want to move on as a generation, as a nation.

This is part two of the Quad’s Reflections on 9/11. To read part one, go here

About Amalie Steidley

Amalie Steidley (CAS '13) is an International Relations major and the Campus Editor for The Quad. She cares way too much about the proper use of the semicolon.

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