911- a number that once rescued people and represented safety and security, suddenly became horrific and took a dreadful turn to symbolize agony and fear. Who knew it’s meaning would change so drastically and painfully? A single day became so historic as made its way to newspapers, movies, books and even magazines. New York was shook with an earthquake of infinite magnitude as the terrorists ruthlessly hit the Twin Towers. The sleepless and miraculous city of lights that inspired awes and wonders was suddenly forced to a foreign feeling of piercing silence. Looking back, one would wonder how much NYC has changed since the attacks…I would say, so much has changed yet so little is different.
Growing up in New York City and having almost all of my memories constructed after 9/11, my perception of NY lacked a true before and after effect. I was too young to notice New York’s unique aura and life. Every city was filled with yellow cabs, bright lights and wondrous skyscrapers, wasn’t it? Like any other city, we were terrified and enraged by the attacks. The event was difficult to swallow as we fell in a state of chaos, grief, and commemoration. I knew that the attacks were a harsh reality all along. Overtime however, I came to learn that the post 9/11 perceptions and atmosphere of a unique city such as New York were worth noticing as well.
At the very beginning when the wounds of 9/11 were raw and vulnerable, the world realized that it took a serious hit such as these attacks to truly stop the NYC. A sudden fear for safety and terrorism was born, and NYC’s image of being undaunted and full fantasies was shattered. This city too could be touched and attacked; it was not as amazing as the world drew it to be. New Yorkers themselves drowned in confusion, for what they thought was a highly admired place was now being attacked. They lived in a never-ending state of fear and alarm, for their city was no longer safe. Overtime however, the city slowly began to take its original shape again. It walked out of its darkness and confusion by taking the tragedy and pain to become even stronger. It proved its miraculous nature by keeping its inhabitants and even attracting more tourists than ever. People began to marvel at NYC’s phenomenal strength to continue as a fashion, business, art, and cultural capital. People’s perceptions today highly revolve around the city’s ability to overcome its loss. Granted that the city takes paranoid and strict measures to avoid safety today, it can be seen that it learned from its experience and made sure to keep the colorful bubble of NYC floating.
9/11 is definitely much more meaningful to New Yorkers compared to those who don’t live here. Watching an attack unfold solely through television miles away is nothing like experiencing hysteria and attack in one’s home state. To an extent, a television or newspaper story is just like that of a history book. It’s filled with facts and perhaps forced emotions that one cannot possibly grasp unless they stand amidst the event. We lost friends, family members, and an icon of NYC. People who don’t live here can express sympathy, but condolences fall too short to fill in the gaps of members lost and the throbbing pain of the incident. Only a New Yorker can understand how life has changed and he/she will experience it every single day. The world will forget this incident and newspapers will begin covering crime and finance again, but NYC will remain forever changed. It will not be the same for the New Yorker who has either lost a family member or was just too used to the twin buildings towering over the city. Whether it’s the tragedy of 9/11 itself or the post atmosphere of NYC, every New Yorker has been affected by 9/11 and his/her experience cannot match that of someone who does not live here.
Artists can uptake different lens to portray the traumatic events of 9/11 in an impacting and tearful way. However, I don’t think any artwork can embody the ecaxt heart felt shock and emotions that actual 9/11 footage stirs. Artwork is after all, a work of art that’s created to represent something. It cannot ever be the actual thing. In the same way, books, paintings and movies can recreate characters and stories of 9/11, but they can’t possibly come to represent the true trauma of the event. Every person experienced 9/11 extremely differently. Artwork can’t represent the very experience and emotion experience by an individual. The Mercy Seat is just one example of an uncommonly displayed, yet probable experience of people. All sorts of people were affected. People lost loved ones during the attacks, whether the victims were workers at the buildings or firemen just trying to help. People suffered from diseases and serious traumatic disorders as a result of the attacks. People became victims of post 9/11 racism, despite being innocent and equally grief struck. Seeing racism inflicted on my fellow Muslim friends and family as I grew up, I emphasize that there is this other world of victims that don’t come to mind when an average person thinks of the 9/11 attacks. Hence, only the actual 9/11 footage can evoke those strong emotions within each type of victim, because it is that sole scene that caused so much to happen in people’s lives in different ways. It is that sole scene that every victim wishes to undo somehow. Different artworks cannot do justice in delivering the trauma of the event for everyone.
