The most important thing I learned from 9/11 is that we are at war and that we have a long, hard road ahead of us.  We need to stop bickering amongst ourselves and start using that energy against our true enemy, Al Queda.

The events of 9/11 changed my life. I felt compelled to find a job close to where I live.  I want to be close to my family, I don’t anticipate another attack but if there is I want to be nearby. Family is the most important thing.

I was getting ready for work when the plane crashed through the World Trade Center Buildings.  I work for the Transportation Commission (local bus) and since everyone in the US was trying to make phone calls our phone service was down all day.  We worried about the fact that we were a Transportation Agency and whether we would be a target.  It has changed my life because every day when I go to work I still worry about terrorist attacks on the Transportation Agencies in the DC area since we are only about 25 miles from DC.

How has my life changed since Sept. 11, 2001?  I was very nearly made a widowed mother.  My husband was in the Pentagon and had left the area where the plane hit the building just minutes prior to impact.  Regardless of what’s selling tickets at the box office, I don’t need to see movies about the events of that day.  I’ve lived with it every day since.

On the morning of September 11th I was late for work. As I pulled in to park at the Huntington metro station I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As I stood on the platform I heard a boom and saw a black cloud rise into the sky somewhere north. My train made it all the way to National Airport before announcing that it couldn’t proceed through to the Pentagon because of a terrorist attack. I got off and stood at the platform. The smoke from the Pentagon was drifting overhead. I took a couple of pictures of the smoke and as I was looking up an F-15 streaked across the sky.

How has my life changed since then? My feelings about my country have changed.

I am angry that the liberties I defended throughout a career in the military are being taken away and my fellow citizens are standing by in ignorance or silence and letting it happen.

I am horrified that my country has invaded and occupied a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and 130,000 Iraqi’s have died, 2,642 of our soldiers are dead and 80,000 more have been severely wounded, and ‘for what noble cause’?

I am amazed that a general testified before the US Senate the other day that 2/3 of our military is unfit for duty and that we have raised the maximum recruiting age to 42 because we can’t meet our recruiting goals.

I shake my head with wonder that five years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is free, we have withdrawn our military from Saudi Arabia as he demanded and have overthrown the government in Iraq that he despised. We gave him everything he wanted and more, if you include the countless new recruits who hate America more than their fathers ever did.

I am incredulous that after 5 years, and billions of dollars spent, the 9/11 commission report says that we are only marginally safer now than we were on 9/11.

I am ashamed that my government has turned my country is a human rights abuser and that we practice torture.

I am furious that a Congress that inherited a budget surplus created by ‘the other party’ has driven us $8 trillion dollars in debt while giving tax cuts to the rich and cutting veterans benefits to the bone at every opportunity.

Yet I love my country. One of the things I love most is that when incompetence, greed and corruption take power, it can only stand as long as ‘we the people’ will stand for it.

The events of 9/11 changed my life as it reminds me of the importance of those people you love in your life.  Life can be so fleeting, that we SHOULD NEVER let go of those we love.  No matter how far away they are, you should always express your love.  We all make mistakes, but we should never let those mistakes overshadow the love we have for those closest to us.

M.

It’s time to move on.

The events of 9/11 have changed my life in the form of me taking more responsibility for the community I live in. I have since become a volunteer firefighter/emt, spent time with the emergency 911 center in my area, and taught my sons how to respond in an emergency. I think we should all do what we can and always be prepared. Everyone has something to offer the community in an emergency no matter how small.

The events from 9/11 hasn’t changed my living pattern as I refuse to bow down to anyone be they terrorist or not. One thing I refuse to do, however, is fly commercially because I will not agree to be humiliated by screeners at airports. If I can’t drive to where I want to go then I really don’t need to go there anyway.