An Author and A Young Woman - Chapter 9: 9/11
Chapter 9: 9/11
She was not quite sure what to do next after she quit her job, but she started looking for a new job; it seemed to make sense. She wanted to stay in New York and she was still interested in advancing her career; she simply didn’t like her last job. She took about a week to update her resume and started looking for a job.
When she looked for her first full time job, luck was on her side; however, luck wasn’t on her side at all this time around. This was shortly after 9/11, and US economy was in the worst recession in years. After a month of job search, she had not received any job offer; not many companies responded to her inquiries about job openings, either.
She didn’t know what to do exactly, so she decided to go take a walk in the city to refresh her mind. She took 7 Train as usual, got off at 42nd Street and walked north; after another long walk, she reached Upper West Side. She felt a little tired, so she walked into a coffee house to take a little break. As she sat on a chair, she saw a magazine in the magazine rack next to the chair; it had a photo of World Trade Center Twin Towers on its front cover; they were gone now. She recalled that day.
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She got off at Prince Station in SOHO at around 8:45 pm. She walked up stairs from the platform and reached the ground level; she suddenly saw a bunch of people standing and looking up; no one bothered to move. It made no sense, but she just walked toward her office. More people were just standing and looking up toward the direction of Wall Street. She paused and wondered what was going on. Then, she looked up and saw one of World Trade Center Twin Towers on fire. She didn’t understand what was happening. It looked like fire, but it was so bizarre to see one of towers on fire; it was surreal. She wondered, “How did it start? Why do I see holes in the building?” She then went to her office and looked at towers from her closest window. She checked live news on her computer and tried to find out what was going on. Shortly afterwards, she heard people screaming; she moved to the window and saw an airplane falling apart in the sky. The other tower was on fire now; it took a short while to figure out what was going on, but she understood now. Two airplanes hit twin towers. The rest of the day was chaotic. No one worked and Brian told her and other employees to go home shortly after 5:00 am when things were settled down a bit in and around the office.
She met with her friends including Rene and talked about 9/11 the same week; Rene talked about attacking the enemy with full force, and that irritated her profoundly. Many of other Americans who were born and grew up in US shared the same opinion; they said that they’d need to strike back. They also talked about how they could not stop crying.
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That was the week of 9/11. She sipped a cup of coffee and thought about what happened then. How Americans responded to 9/11 did not make any sense to her; it was not that she supported hijackers or terrorism. She did not observe any objective analysis of the event; she found that so many Americans were responding to it emotionally. Also she found that they just didn’t have the right perspective. She was obviously saddened by the event, but she was no stranger to terrorism as she grew up in India; it was not a regular event, but it was not exactly out of ordinary. Immediate family members of victims obviously responded emotionally, but the rest of people in India did not respond so emotionally, which was the right response; no one should respond so emotionally. Objective analysis was critical; also it needed to be understood that the use of military force had to be the very last resort even in that instance, never mind attacking a country half way around the world. Another thing was that over 30,000 people got killed in this country each year because of gun violence; the number was alarming high. Yet, Americans did not respond to this so emotionally. When she thought about all these, she realized that she was not American; there was a profound difference between the way she thought about things and the way American thought about things. She then asked, “What now?” She loved New York and she wanted to be there, but she did not exactly think or act like the vast majority of New Yorkers, Americans. She felt slightly confused. She did not have to think or act like Americans to be in New York, but she wondered if she truly belonged to US or New York.
Then, she wondered why she was thinking about 9/11 all of a sudden. She should be thinking about finding a new job; that should be a more pressing matter.
