Like most Americans over the age of 13, I remember 9/11 distinctly. I was in 2nd grade, going to Beverly Gardens elementary school on an air force base located in Dayton, Ohio. We were sitting in class when we were told we had to go home. Our parents had been notified and arrangements were made for every child to go home or somewhere they could be taken care of. Living down the street from the school, I walked, quickly. I had no idea what had happened, but from the way the teachers were acting, I knew it was bad. My mom was home from work early (she and my step dad were in the air force), and when I went to turn on the TV she said, "There's nothing on. The news is on every channel." Of course, being in 2nd grade, I didn't believe her. I soon found her to be telling the truth, every channel was showing the same thing: two planes crashing into the Twin Towers. I didn't understand, but I was scared.
John Updike's account of that day is outstanding. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rising as he told of what he and his wife were witnessing. The way he explains it in the first paragraph like watching a TV that has perfect reception is a dime. How could you witness something like that without the thought that it was unreal? Something so horrible couldn't possibly be happening right in front of your eyes. The sentence that really caught my attention in that first paragraph was, "it seemed, at that first glance, more curious than horrendous: smoke speckled with bits of paper curled into the cloudless sky, and strange inky rivulets ran down the giant structure's vertically corrugated surface." On TV, you had the choice of turning it off, but for most of the people of New York, it was there in front of them, in plain view, and they had to watch it. Not knowing what to expect, of course they would watch, slowly realizing they were in the midst of a nightmare.
And then it hits them, "we knew we had just witnessed thousands of deaths; we clung to each other as if we ourselves were falling." I can't imagine that feeling, realizing you were in the front seat a Hollywood movie come to life.
Updike goes on to make many good points about freedom in America. While it is a good thing and should never be taken away from anyone, it comes with its risks. You can board any plane you want, get on any bus, walk down any sidewalk, but there is always the risk that something bad will happen to you. The plane or bus can crash, and while you're walking someone could come up next to you and hurt you.
I also like Susan Sontag's essay. She was very straightforward with what she had to say. Right off the bat she said that while some say the men that caused 9/11 were cowards she highly disagreed. She also felt that the politicians were lying to us, they kept saying the United States was fine, when quite frankly, it wasn't.
The paragraph that really caught my attention from Sontag's essay was the conclusion. She makes point after point after point. The strongest point of this paragraph for me is, "lets by all means grieve together. But let's not be stupid together." She is so right! It's alright for any group of people to be said together, help each other up again, but there is a line. Don't lie to make the others around you feel better. I'd rather know the truth and what needs to happen than a lie to make me feel better at the time.
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