Ten Years Ago

9/12 on Flickr

I'm hesitant to write something special for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Like most people living in the middle of the country with no close ties to New York or DC, I experienced 9/11 almost exclusively on TV and online. I didn't really grasp the gravity of the attacks until everything here seemed to shut down also, even with no immediate threat in sight. It's easy to forget how disconnected and how isolated we are as a nation until something of this magnitude happens.

Flag on Flickr

Another thing I'd almost forgotten was how many flags were flown throughout my town until I started going through pictures I had taken in the months after 9/11. After a while, those flags became part of out collective wallpaper. But the most salient memory I have is being part of a small, online community -- remember, MySpace, Facebook, and especially Twitter were still years away -- and authoring check-in threads for the New York and DC members. It was an incredibly small way of connecting, but it was something I could do, and everyone felt pretty helpless than morning.

Flags on Flickr

My life didn't change in any immediate way. I wish I did have that "9/11 changed me" post, but I'd be lying if I said my life was vastly different after 9/11 except in the same ways every US citizen's life changed.