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by somewhat_drunk
1019 days ago
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I was a landscaper on 9/11/2001, on a job, riding a big lawnmower at a customer's house, when the first plane hit. I remember the customer ran outside, frantically flagged everyone down, and invited us all in - she said we just had to see the news for ourselves. There were six of us standing in her spotless living room, dusty and dirty and stinking from working hard all day, watching the recorded footage of the plane fly into the first tower, when the second plane hit. We were all aghast, shocked as the gears in our brains slowly turned into the realization that this was not an accident, it was an attack. Eight months later, I joined the US Army. While in basic training, my drill sergeant told us we'd declared war on Iraq. I somehow managed to avoid being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan while in the Army, but 9/11 would affect all of our lives profoundly going forward. From the Patriot Act to TSA monitoring, that was the point where we collectively decided, as a society, that we would in fact sacrifice a little of our freedom for a little more safety. It was unavoidable, perhaps. If Benjamin Franklin could only see us now. |
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