What was the most monumental event in the world in your lifetime?

The most monumental event in my lifetime was definitely the attack of the twin towers on September 11^th. It happened when I was small, but most Americans would agree that it changed everything for our country and that it has caused the changing attitudes in America today. If September 11^th had never happened, I believe our country would be completely different.

Something about 9/11 that most people agree on is that we all remember exactly where we were during the 9/11 attacks. This, in my experience, also includes Japanese people, especially if they were in the country when it happened. In my daytime job I have a Japanese coworker who was actually living in New York when it happened and it was perhaps even worse for her because not only was she living in New York, but she was working for an airline company. She says she remembers the day being absolutely crazy. She said at first there was a lot of confusion as people figured out what had just happened, but confusion quickly turned into chaos.

She lived the attack in real time, but as I am from California, the news reached me a little later. I was a very small child at the time and what I remember most was waking up to go to school and having the same news broadcast on every channel. You could change the channel as many times as you wanted and to whatever channel existed, but they were all playing the same footage and news broadcasts from the attack. Of course, being so small, I didn’t understand what was going on. I just remember my mother dressing me for school and that the weather was cloudy. Also, because the attacks happened in New York at roughly 9:00am, the time differences meant that California mostly woke up to the aftermath since we are 3 hours behind.

When I went to school that day, all the children were put in the auditorium. I remember there were many teachers crying. As the day settled and we learned more about the attacks, what I remember was that the adults were in a state of panic. There was a fear that more attacks could follow. We stayed in the auditorium until lunch and then later on that day, our parents had to come pick us up.

As a result of September 11^th, America (and the rest of the world) changed flight safety rules drastically. I’ve heard before 9/11, airport security was relatively relaxed, and you could get away with carrying more things in your carry-on luggage, but after the attacks, it all became very strict. Though the attacks were unfortunate, I think increased safety measures were a good thing. However, many bad things followed. Most notably was the increase in xenophobia that followed the attack, especially against people from middle eastern backgrounds. I believe 9/11 planted the seeds for the xenophobia that has taken rise in the US. It's likely not the only factor, but it was the first push.

Another notable effect that happened after 9/11 was the strict rules that were put in place towards the movement of money. I’ve heard prior to the attacks, you could move your money in the bank fairly easily and you could buy things like pre-paid credit cards at the store, transfer money easily, etc. However, after it was found out that people connected to the terrorist organizations in the US were transferring American dollars abroad, the government also cracked down on that and made any type of account you could open difficult to get so that they could connect it to you personally in case they had suspected something.

I think it would be too difficult to name all the things that changed in the US after the attacks, but being so young at the time myself, I also have very little recollection of what the US was like before it happened. If we could go back in time and prevent the attacks from happening, I think it would have a drastic change on our modern world.

Dolores

Vocabulary

auditorium (noun) - a large room where a crowd can gather, usually to watch performances

state of panic (idiom) – a sudden strong feeling of fear that prevents normal thoughts and actions

drastic (adjective) - extreme in a way that has a sudden, serious or violent effect on something

xenophobia (noun) - a strong feeling of dislike or fear of people from other countries

plant the seeds (idiom) - to create a situation in which (something) is likely or certain to happen or develop

recollection (noun) - the act of remembering something