Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Of all the days I could have picked to begin my one-year study abroad term in Europe, I managed to pick perhaps the strangest day in my lifetime: September 11th, 2001. As an educational experience that I had been planning for several years, I arrived with a number of uncertainties in mind. I felt very small and weak as an individual so far away from home, so distant from anyone that I knew. Little did I know, the nervousness surrounding my arrival abroad would soon fade among the awful images of the frantic situation in New York and the devastating headlines. Now just hours after my arrival in Switzerland, I was like any jet-lagged person. It was a beautiful afternoon, but I certainly didn't have the energy to do any exploring. I had lugged my year's worth of luggage to the hostel, and I had no desire to go any further. While I was waiting for my room to become available, I figured I could kill some time sitting in the lobby. Little did I know, I had chosen what would soon become a theatre for the tradgic events. The first five minutes or so that I saw the images on the hostel's television, I had nothing to say. It truly was difficult to digest what was actually happening. After all, I was badly jet-lagged and still a bit caught up with analyzing where I was in my own life. The next five minutes I started to realize how closely connected I was with these events....I flew from Dulles airport one day earlier than the attacks. I had been at both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center several weeks earlier. My father had worked at the Pentagon but had luckily retired a couple years earlier. Several of my close neighbors still work in the Pentagon. The next five minutes was dominated by a sense of disbelief. How could this be? How could I have picked such a strange day to arrive in Switzerland? Is there any way this could just be a bad dream? As time continued I became really sad and for a variety of reasons. First and foremost I was sad that anyone could ever be convinced that this type of action would advance their cause. I continue to be haunted by very thought of being one of the people on those planes. I was deeply saddened by the thousands of people in the World Trade Center that lost their lives as nothing more than participants in a system that millions of people live within each day. As an American surrounded by mostly non-Americans, I felt a genuine sense of sympathy from almost everyone in my presense both that day and in the weeks and months following. The only exception was actually a Canadian who made what I felt was a truly inappropriate remark on the day of the attacks, basically suggesting that this sort of event was something that the US brings upon itself. Even if that was someone's opinion, September 11th wasn't the time to express it. I never forgave him for that. Many conversations and months later, I'm still very saddened by the events of the 11th. I continue to feel that the average person fails to see the strength of the economic connections between advanced nations. While I am a rather strong critic of some aspects of American culture, I feel strongly that the government and the system of markets that it backs is made of people who do care about solving international problems. As pointed out in a recent edition of the Economist, poverty is being reduced at a faster rate than at any point in history. Advanced nations have a responsibility to work harder to solve international problems like poverty, but the type of mindset that lies behind terrorists should not be underestimated. The US is right to react with a thorough military response and as superpower, should continue to lead in this fight with whatever means available...intelligence, military, security measures, foreign policy, etc. There's work to be done on all levels. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story47.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. anonymously Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-02-06 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 128.178.50.59 Annotation Annotations to this item. Americans overseas Foreign Policy Premonitions/Coincidence/Fate Television Coverage Terrorism U.S. retribution WTC, pre-911 INTERNATIONAL