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: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online Description An account of the resource Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002. NMAH Story NMAH Story: Story How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. "Witness history?" That's rather bold. I didn't "witness history;" I saw things happen. I remember sitting in class, surrounded by hicks (it's a Tennessee high school, go figure). At first, some people thought it was a joke. Must've been some sick joke, if you ask me. Later, once everyone had a chance to see the towers collapse on TV, things went from bad to ugly. People were freaked out, but not in the way you'd expect. In the hallways I heard shouts of "We's goin' to war wit' Palestinia!" and "I can't wait to get 'em back!" (excuse the approximate vernacular). Even then, it was an instant reminder of the absolute stupidity of man, especially of the American teenage male. NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. Yes, but not in the way most people claim it's changed their lives. If anything, I am far less patriotic than I was before, after seeing my fellow citizens become nearly feral with rage against people they don't know, all the while managing to somehow retain their superiority. It made me realize something I'd never really thought of before - WE ARE NO BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. (And that's putting it modestly. On another day, I might have written that we are the scum of this planet. Today, however, I've decided to retain a bit of tact.) Then came the wave of "No other nation can truly understand what we've gone through." Yeah, and George W. Bush was fairly elected the president of the United States... But I digress. Essentially, the events of September 11th, or more specifically the actions of most American citizens after September 11th, have shown to me just how vacuous American patriotism can be. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? I think we all need to remember that IT CAN HAPPEN HERE, TOO. Maybe now we can try to sympathize with people in the third world, where this stuff happens all the time, often on a much larger scale. Approximately 3000 people died in the attacks on September 11th (according to howstuffworks.com); 5000 to 7000 people have thus far died in our latest war on the people of Iraq (according to iraqbodycount.net as of June 9, 2003). And now, we've just added more fuel to the anti-American fire. I don't know when the next retaliatory attacks will come, but they probably won't be too long. In short: what goes around, comes around; what comes around, goes around. But maybe, just maybe, we can break the cycle of hate. Maybe we can just stop worrying about who's killing who, and start worrying about who's helping who. NMAH Story: Flag Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? No, I did not fly a flag. Yes, my feelings have changed; when I see the flag now, I am immediately and thoroughly nauseated. 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 nmah5542.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. yes 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. 2003-06-09 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.158.211.11