Remembering 9/11/01 from eight years out

As I was driving into work today, I saw some people holding a sign, "Remember 9/11." While the thought is never far from the surface on September 11, I started to think about where I was and what the day had meant.

Looking back at the last eight years, I find it amazing how much the events on September 11, 2001 changed my life in fundamental ways. At the time, I had virtually no interest or knowledge about international relations. Even though I was living in Boston at the time, I barely knew New York. I had never been to Washington, DC. I didn't directly know anyone who worked in the World Trade Center or in the Pentagon.

When the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I was in an art history class learning about the Taliban (at the time I thought they just sounded like a bunch of sexist creeps - Okay, I got that one right, but didn't know the history behind them) blowing up the Colossal Buddhas of Bamyan. Walking back to my apartment from class, I had no idea that something horrific was happening. Around 9:30 that morning I checked my email. My inbox had a ton of forwards about planes and the World Trade Center. Since chain letters were popular at the time, I thought it was a sick joke or a virus and deleted all of them. Then I got the same email from my mother (she never really forwards anything so I realized at this point I should probably read it). I was floored. My first thought (and one to this day that still embarrasses me) was that the planes taking off from Logan airport hit the World Trade Center in Boston. It is right by the airport so maybe the plane (at this point there was only one) had a mechanical problem and hit the building. I had no idea.

As the day continued, everything became clear. As everyone is now aware, two planes hit the World Trade Center in Manhattan. It collapsed. There is tons of horrific footage of people running away in terror. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon - something was still evident that years later when I lived three blocks from the Pentagon in Pentagon City. A fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, DC.

No one I personally knew died in September 11. However, it had a profound impact on my life. I started to see cultural misunderstandings and prejudices that I had not previously seen. Muslim students, including my best friend, were harassed on campus. One student even had his room broken into and his wall spray painted with anti-Muslim graffiti. This became an emerging trend throughout America and the western world.

I started to see a shift in my career possibilities and interests. Before September 11, I was planning to move to New York and work in the advertising field. With the fall out of 9/11, those opportunities evaporated. My future became uncertain. We went to war with Afghanistan because the Taliban had sheltered Osama bin Laden and allowed al-Qaeda training camps in their country (we still conveniently ignore these camps in Pakistan since they are a U.S. ally). I realized I needed to have a better understanding of international relations. I felt that since I was having a hard time with the direction the United States was moving it was important to expand my knowledge base and perhaps, even contribute to changing this course. This lead to my decision to move to Washington, DC in 2003 and attend American University's School of International Service. I got a master's degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution with a mixed focus of human rights and intercultural communications.

Ironically, my master's degree led me back into the communications field. I love international relations and human rights work, but I feel that the work and messages are often lost. I feel that the working as a communications professional I can help reshape perspectives and shift paradigms in a positive way that allows these messages to be heard.

So, September 11, while a horrific day, changed my path and opened my mind to new possibilities and world views.