9/11 and the new, new jet-age.

One thing 9/11 taught us (as Westerners) is that sometimes the fighting, which is going on thousands of miles away, can appear at your doorstep in an instant. I have observed that one of the strange reactions to 9/11 is for people to place themselves in context relating to the attacks. This is more than a “where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?” question. Because of the magnitude of the attacks, it’s not uncommon to hear “a friend of a friend” story, where the “friend” was 85 stories up that day. I have noticed people take ownership of the attacks, and you might hear, “I work in a skyscraper, so you can imagine how scared I was that day….” I’ve seen or heard many stories of sudden twists and near misses; the “almost flew from Boston that day” story, or the tale of the “woke up late for work” man. Sadly, you don’t have to get too close to ground zero to find people who were a lot closer to those sad events than just a missed plane ticket.

And with the lessons of 9/11, we have a new view on globalization. The jet age hit us, literally, where it hurts and all of a sudden, the events in the middle east seem a lot closer than they would have six years ago.

My brother-in-law, Aaron, has a close friend who has been studying in Haifa, and was there the day katyusha bombs began raining down from southern Lebanon. Stories like his give weight and texture to an event which would normally be so easy to ignore, on account of the distance. I appreciate every story I read from every angle which enlightens me about the realities of violence and conflict. The pity of war, and the sadness of death and injury seem to be a common thread in these close-up stories.

If there is one good thing we can learn from 9/11 (and I believe there are many), it is to never look on human life glibly or dismissively. To those of you who know the smell of burning jet fuel, I doubt you ever will.