Reflect, don’t blame, on Sept. 11

I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was before Sept. 11, 2001. I was in the sixth grade when hijacked planes driven by Al-Qaeda-funded terrorists struck the twin towers, killing more than 3,000 innocent people. Anyone who was old enough to understand that our nation had experienced the worst terrorism attack on home soil since Pearl Harbor knew that 9/11 wasn't going to fade away from national memory – it was too hurtful, too unbelievable. Still, I don't think we knew how much our day-to-day lives and more importantly, the nation's mindset and attitude, would change.

It's overwhelming to know that this weekend, Saturday, Sept. 11, it will have been nine years since this nation was harshly awakened to a threat we didn't think could hit so close to home. Since then, America has engaged in two costly wars, lessened individual rights, enforced strict airline precautions through the Transportation Security Administration and adopted a generally defensive (even paranoid?) attitude towards any group that remotely poses a threat to traditional American values.

Ceremonies and memorials will be held throughout the country and President Barack Obama will mark the ninth anniversary in Washington, D.C. at the Pentagon. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to New York, while Michelle Obama and Laura Bush will visit the Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Here in El Paso, U.S. Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, D-Texas, urged school children on Sept. 7 to participate in the National Day of Service and Remembrance, which is Sept. 11, by volunteering in their communities and schools. On campus, the College Republicans plan to set out about 3,000 flags on Memorial Triangle, beginning on Sept. 9 to Sept. 11.

Maybe it was the scale of the attack or the images of people throwing themselves out of the towers' windows just to avoid burning to death. Maybe it was the endless loop of video footage showing the hijacked planes getting closer and then dangerously closer to the towers before they collided into one, then the other. It still stings when the news media replays that flaming footage. Maybe it was the hoards of gray, debris-covered New Yorkers running in horror down West Street. For any and all of those reasons, Sept. 11 changed America and Americans in a deep and profound way.

Sept. 11 made America worse. We invaded Iraq out of fear and lost thousands of American lives fighting a war that was ill advised. We stooped to the level of tyrannical governments, when we physically tortured prisoners of war – we did that out of fear too. A growing anti-Muslim sentiment in America has become so pronounced that it's warranted a new name, Islamophobia. The plans for a mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero has many people in this nation, one that was built on freedom of religion, in an angry uproar. In Gainesville, Florida, a conservative church plans to burn Qurans on the anniversary of Sept. 11. A fearful intolerance, fueled by misunderstanding, has many Americans hating and stereotyping Muslims.

Sept. 11 made America better. Americans from all over the country pulled together in the wake of the attack, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to families of people who died on 9/11 and joined the military. Americans woke up when 9/11 took place and became more conscious of Middle Eastern struggles and this country's reputation overseas – repairing our foreign policy is a task recently undertaken by the Obama administration. Despite all of the inconvenience that comes with flying, I can't help but feel a bit safer as I stand, barefoot, stripped of accessories and travel-size liquids in hand, at the airline security checkpoint. The creation of the Transportation Security Administration shortly after 9/11, filled a previously empty gap in preventative safety measures. TSA was created to strengthen the security of transportation systems in America, while also ensuring that people and commerce could move about. Overall, I think Americans are less complacent and don't take the freedoms we have for granted.

Regardless of the politics, rhetoric, anger, blame and bickering surrounding 9/11 and its far-flung effects, this weekend is about remembering the innocent lives lost, the heroism and sacrifices of the New York Police Department and the New York Fire Department and the sacredness of the lessons we learned on and since 9/11.

Vanessa Juarez may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.