Rebuilding from rubble after September 11th

So long as terrorism remains a threat to the American population and way of life, September 11th will never be too far from mind for many Americans and for New Yorkers in particular. Every time a suicide bomber launches an attack, thoughts and emotions — fear, anguish, anger, pride — all start to rise to the surface. The constant nature of the threat posed by insurgents makes the healing process seem drawn out.

Perhaps constant threat is not the most accurate way of describing how most Americans feel in the 21st century.

I think I can speak for a majority of the population when I say that I wake up feeling entirely safe. I place my wholehearted trust in the American government to prevent any assault of that magnitude from ever happening again on U.S. soil. Rather it is an uncertainty over if and when the next attack will come and what damage that will cause.

As a resident of Manhattan, the World Trade Center attack holds a special place in my mind and heart. Furthermore, because of my age, September 11 marked the beginning of my awareness of terrorism. It obviously was not the advent of terrorist activities. The same building (the north tower of the World Trade Center) had already been the target of a large-scale attack in 1993 at the hands of Islamic radicals.

However, nothing had prepared me or anyone my age for the life altering events of 9/11. Indeed, had those events never occurred, I most likely would not have even known about terrorism until I came across it in a lesson at school.

As it was, I was in class in the 4th grade when the planes struck the two towers. I remember the unprecedented level of shock and pain on the faces of the adults, but I was too young to piece together the severity of the day. My teacher told us that a terrible event had occurred but refused to explain anything in further detail.

Our parents were aware of what had transpired and many had come to my school to check on their kids, but we were not going to be let out of school early. I was simply told that we were safe and that our parents would explain what had happened- and why human beings would do such a thing- at their own discretion.

I had planned to spend the afternoon at a friend's house, and so that is what I did, as if it were any other day.

We watched the news and I will never forget the first time I saw the footage of the planes colliding with the majestic buildings at top speed. It was not until a few days later that it finally sank in.

On the next Sunday, five days after the attacks, I ventured down with my family to Ground Zero and the magnitude of the destruction became apparent to me.

Fortunately, the sorrow I felt for the people who lost their lives and for the city and country I loved did not also include the sorrow of losing a loved one. No one that I knew personally had been in the World Trade Center that morning.

A friend's mother who worked in the south tower had been running late to work and was coming out of the subway when the planes hit and was badly shaken. A girl in my school lost her stepfather. And a staggering 343 New York City Firefighters lost their lives.

One story I heard from September 11th speaks volumes — a kitchen worker who worked the afternoon shift in the Windows on the World restaurant in the top floor of one of the World Trade Center towers had to take his daughter to the dentist that afternoon so he switched his shift with a co-worker. It was the only time he had ever worked the morning shift, and it cost him his life, but spared his co-worker's. There were countless stories like that, but I am struck about how minor, inconsequential details of everyday life, can have such far-reaching consequences.

And the consequences of September 11 were more than just far-reaching; they were world changing.

September 11th caused Americans to open their eyes to world terrorism, and to unite at least enough to take strong steps against it. You may agree with, or you may deplore, the details of that strong response —the prior administration's decision to invade Iraq, or hold prisoners incommunicado, or waterboard them or the domestic surveillance of the Patriot Act.

But despite such differences, Americans overwhelmingly support the necessary diligence that we must exercise against terrorists, even if it is costly or inconvenient. We know that in order to be strong, we must learn all what we can about terrorists and their methods, and we are far more knowledgeable and aware than we were before September 11th.

When the subject of September 11th or terrorism in general comes up, especially in the media, the question one hears over and over again is, "Are we safer?" We may or may not be. That depends at least in part what the terrorists' next move is. The better question is, "Are we stronger?"

The answer to that question is a resounding, "Yes".