My history professor started the semester with an analogy which, though easy to understand, was difficult for us as a class to draw his conclusion. Let’s say you were in a bus accident. While no one is injured everyone has amnesia. We sat in class calling out words to describe the situation and how we would be feeling; what it would be like with no past to remember. The words we chose were symbolic: chaos, confusion, uncertainty. With no past we would be unsure of both our present and our future. I think Gavin DeGraw said it best in the song “I Don’t Want to Be”: “Part of where I’m going is where I’m coming from.”
Maybe it is just that I am a Middle Eastern Studies minor, but almost every one of my courses begins with a reference to how today we are living in the “era of 9/11.” Seven years later I feel my mind has fully recovered from those images, but I know this “era” they speak of is more than an extra 30 minutes to get through airport security.
All it takes is for me to look again – a reminder of Sept. 11 is everywhere in today’s culture. I am not just talking about a war or the veterans I sit in class with. In The Time Travelers Wife, the author, Audrey Niffenegger, ignores almost every other current event or headline. Yet the main character (knowing what will happen) finds himself awake early on Sept. 11, 2001, wanting to enjoy the world as normal for a few more hours before everything changes. It is the only event Niffenegger mentions – a move that made me stop reading and consider how things have changed – which says more about the U.S. consciousness than opinion polls ever could.
The political pundits claimed that when Giuliani dropped out of the Republican primary the “brand of 9/11” died with his candidacy, but the terrorist attacks haven’t disappeared. Keith Olbermann will no longer co-anchor MSNBC political night coverage after the comments he made about his disdain for the Republican National Committee sharing videos of the 9/11 attacks.
However, the collapse of the World Trade Center is not just present in the political realm. Sex and the City changed their opening credits, Spiderman changed its movie posters and in the movie Reign Over Me, the 9/11 attacks helped create the main character’s life. For some reason it is more offensive to be reminded that it happened than it is to ignore it. However, these cultural references aren’t what Niffenegger was trying to convey – these little things aren’t the change from normalcy.
Maybe we are too young to realize the differences in society. I was only a freshman in high school when I watched the buildings crumble before me on TV while my mother sat across on the couch and said “There is going to be a war.”
But to me, seven years ago feels like an insignificant part of my childhood memories rather than a piece of history that will never be forgotten. It is difficult to watch the footage from the day without shifting uncomfortably and asking myself why they are showing it. Why are they showing it, again? They have to keep showing it so we remember. There was a time we stood together in mourning. As a country we were so united for those few days – months even – and now we are more divided than when we started. Seven years ago needs to stay fresh in our minds, because where we are headed depends on where we came from.
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