I completely agree with what Quindlen said. My favorite part was when she said, “...called our friends a little more often, hugged our kids a little tighter. And then we complained about the long lines at the airport and obsessed about the stock market in lieu of soul-searching. Time passed.” This “spoke” the loudest to me because not only is it absolutely true, but shamefully, that’s exactly how most of the people in the US think; including me. Although I hate to say it, I’m just like those people who were affected by it, but I also don’t even think about it as much. However, it’s probably because it didn’t affect me so vastly like it did for those who were in the twin towers, or the family members who had loved ones die on 9/11. Nevertheless, I feel that September 11^th was a life-altering event. Just like she said in her article, if I were flying over New York City, I would be looking down to see if the towers’ rubble were still there, or cringing in my seat hoping that there wouldn’t be terrorists hijacking the plane. We wouldn’t be as cautious in the airplane terminals, and security wouldn’t be as austere.

When Quindlen asked the questions of if they hated us or if we liked ourselves beforehand, the question that popped in my head was whether or not we Americans hate them now. I remember hearing people talk about how they were stopped before boarding the plane, and how security searched them, just because they were Middle Eastern. We look at them in a different light now as well. It’s not fair clumping them with terrorists just because they look similar, but I digress. I think we have a choice on if we look upon September 11^th as a day or celebrations, an ordinary day, or a day of grieving and remembrance. Like any person’s death, we have that decision to look at that day as the day they went to heaven where they no longer suffer, another monotonous and average day, or we could sit at home and bawl our eyes out because of what transpired. Now, I’m not saying that we should just move on with our lives and forget about what happened, but like the apathetic quote, “Life moves on.” Time doesn’t heal the hurt completely for the loved ones of the deceased, but with each passing day, I believe the pain relieves a little. It makes it easier for them to go on with their lives, but also be reverent about what happened on September 11^th.