On September 11, 2001, I was 7 years old. Although the world around me was falling apart, I can’t even remember what I was doing on that catastrophic day. As I grew older I realized what exactly took place in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania on that September morning, but I honestly never really knew many of the details until October 9, 2012 in Extreme Fictions. What I saw in the video "Inside 9/11" opened my eyes not only to what happened that day, but also to how I live my life today. The same question kept reoccurring in my mind – do I take the precious gift of life for granted?
"Inside 9/11" was an extreme eye-opener. I thought the film was simply amazing. For the duration of the film I found myself continuously informed and shocked from the information I was learning. I discovered details about the terrorist attacks that I never knew existed. There were 2,973 total deaths. All of these deaths occurred in one morning. That completely blew me away. Of all the people killed, a big amount of them attempted to save others. Amidst the chaos, not even knowing if they were going to make it out alive, there were selfless people trying to save the lives of someone else. It inspires me to see that there are still decent human beings in our world, especially in a time of such distress. If I was there in one of those airplanes, or in the twin towers, or in the pentagon that day, I wonder what choices I would have made. I could say all I want that I’d be selfless, but I’d never truly know unless it happened to me.
As inspiring as the film was, I still found myself angry at times. I was surprised to find out that Michael Tuhoy, the ticket agent for Flight 11, had extreme suspicions of the terrorists when he was checking them in. Instead of acting on his gut feeling, he decided to ignore his suspicions, ultimately leading to the 2,973 deaths that day. The terrorist attacks still might have happened had Tuhoy acted on an impulse, but we’ll never know how that day might’ve changed for sure. It made me extremely irritated to discover that knives were allowed on airplanes in 2001. Not just the fact that these weapons were allowed, but the fact that there were 10 men of the same race that day that were carrying knives and no one thought that they might be up to something. It goes back to human beings being indecent, not wanting to be the one to speak out. The information I learned that angered me the most was that the south tower told its workers to go back to work after the north tower was hit. It completely disgusts me that material things have become such a priority to us that we’re willing to risk our own lives and the lives of others to stay on top of it.
As I’ve previously mentioned, I have learned so much as a result of watching this film. The biggest thing I learned was that I’m oblivious to what goes on in the world around me. I had no idea that there was a bombing in Indonesia in 2002, that explosives blew up trains in Madrid in 2004, and that in 2005 trains in London and cars in Egypt were bombed. I guess I knew disaster existed, but I didn’t comprehend how often it occurred. Also, being born and raised a strong Catholic Christian, I’ve been pretty shut off to knowing anything about any other types of religion. I did some research on the Muslim religion, and I was shocked about what I saw. I read that Muslims believe in killing those that do not believe in their religion. It said that every practicing Muslim knows that killing in the name of Allah is the ultimate act of holiness. That explains quite well the incentives behind the terrorist attacks on the U.S. I just can’t wrap my mind around that concept – killing to praise their god. It makes me sick. Although I am a pretty opinionated Catholic Christian, I just believe that any decent human being would agree that believing in killing people is wrong. It just makes the reasoning behind 9/11 make more and more sense. This tragic day could have been centered primarily on religious affiliations.
The film also seemed to affect me on a more personal level. I found myself choking back tears almost the entire time, even letting a couple tears fall during the interviews of some of the widows. It made me think about how I live my life currently and if I’m living my life to the fullest. I came to the conclusion that I am not. If I was one of the people who had died that day, or one of my close family or friends had, I know I wouldn’t be satisfied with the way I have treated them or the way I had been living to that day. So not only was Inside 9/11 an eye opener for me in an academic/informative perspective, but it also gave me a greater outlook on life. I realized that I need to make changes in my life to ensure that when it’s my time to pass, I am positive that I have lived my life to the absolute fullest – that I will get to go home to Heaven. Every day since we watched this film, I have been conscious of what I’m doing and the things I’m saying. I’m trying to implement a more positive lifestyle for myself and for those close to me. This film really touched my life.
September 11, 2001 can easily be classified as the most horrendous event that has happened in the time that I’ve been alive. Although I now have a better understanding of the complicated world I live in, I know I’ll never be able to fully grasp why people choose to make the decisions that they do. I plan on continuing to use this film as an everyday reminder to be more conscious of my surroundings and to live my life with no regrets. After all, with every tragedy comes a beautiful new beginning.
