Although more than ten years have passed since September 11, 2001, it still feels like a very recent event. I still find it hard to believe that everything that has happened from the War on Terror to our $15 trillion in national debt has been the effect of a single day. The issues that have sparked from that attack continue to be left unsolved. How do we win a war when the enemy does not show us their face? Do we just invade countries on a hunch that their governments may be harboring terrorists and weapons of mass destruction? Does the new age of technology mean less privacy and more surveillance? When we finally kill the man responsible for the attack, does it end there? No? How far are we willing to go to “win” a war? In the world that we have drifted towards after 9/11, anger and terror are spread like butter on a hot piece of toast. The day of September 11, 2001 will not feel like history until the world decides to let go
Everyone who was in New York on the day of the attack has his or her own story of the event. Although I only began the third grade at the time, I remember vividly what happened. From my classroom in Bayside, Queens I could see the New York City skyline in the distance. It was a sight that felt so special because I thought Manhattan was extremely far away. Although I didn’t realize it till afterwards, on the day of September 11 I gazed at the skyline and saw an excess of black smoke. I was so excited with joy I said, “Hey, look a factory!” I was only eight years old at the time and I didn’t know what was really happening. When I was finally picked up from school that day my brother told me the World Trade Center blew up, to which I responded, “COOL!”
Cool wasn’t the word I should have used, nor was it the word anyone else was using. They all used words like attack, tragic, terrorism, and Muslim. As a Muslim, I’ve never felt differently than anyone else until the word terrorist was coupled with the word Muslim. My parent’s families lived in the United States since the 80s and I was born into this Pakistani-American Muslim family. I felt it was only until after the attacks when Muslims began to be recognized as a separate group. A group that contained a smaller group of radical terrorists hell bent on destroying America. The separation between Muslims and terrorists although obvious, was not apparent to many Americans protesting the recent “Ground Zero Mosque.” I was astonished like many other New Yorkers that these protesters actually believed that the people building the place of worship were the enemy. I like to blame the outsiders who came into New York City just to protest their hatred of Muslims in general. My friends and I did not take any of these protests to heart. It was a real “haters gonna hate” type of moment. It did open my eyes though to the affect that the fear of terrorism had somewhat led to the fear of the Muslim American population in America.
Although the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001 is a national issue, post 9/11 New York City started an era of its own. I believe New York has drastically changed in terms of its message to the rest of the world. It changed from a city of dreams to a city that will continue to dream no matter what the world decides to throw at it. The point of the attack was to show everyone that even the best city in the world could have a bad day. They wanted to destroy the iconic image of the city of dreams, but instead they did the opposite. New York after 9/11 is a stronger city with stronger people. Americans living outside of New York did not witness the way in which our city recuperated and was back on track to being the best city in the world. We overcame our loss in a way that no other city could have done. I do not necessarily remember ever living in a city before 9/11. What I have seen is a city that has gotten back on its feet and continues to express its glamor to the rest of the world.
I believe artists can express the traumatic events of 9/11 in a meaningful way only if they tell a real story. After watching “Fahrenheit 9/11,” I felt that Michael Moore effectively portrayed his hatred towards the government in the handling of the attack and its aftermath. Although his story was extremely biased, I felt it was also true in many aspects. It showed some of the shortcomings of George Bush’s presidency as well as the misinformed decision to invade Iraq. The documentary told a story that was not told before and it was a story that people wanted to listen to. The attacks of September 11 are still a current issue and any type of artwork that elucidates the reality of that day in a new way will be successful. I feel like works such as “The Mercy Seat” will only be successful when September 11 feels more like history. Because the issue is still current, a documentary that elucidates the government handling of 9/11 is more effective than a fictional story about a man pretending to be dead.
