Reply #14: it marked a change in my view of the USA [View All]

[ginnyinWI]

We were no longer a separate, safe island in the world, but a part of it. And I became much more aware of world events, because they mattered more personally to me and my family. In the Midwest we had little fear of an attack here, but I worried more for my two big-city kids off at college (at the time) anyway.

I can remember going to the grocery store that afternoon, and everything looked exactly the same--but it wasn't. Now we knew for sure that we had enemies in the world. People who hated us simply because we were Americans. That's not fair, but that's how it is. Now we were all little Salman Rushdies. Show up in the wrong place and you might be killed.

This awareness led me directly to paying a lot more attention to the next presidential election. I already knew the chimp was a chump, but this time it was serious--we needed grown-ups in charge! And wonder of wonders, a real grown-up, John Kerry, did show up. Sigh. If only, if only.