It’s hard to believe – ten years. Ten years since the face of America changed. Ten years since America’s zenith as a superpower, when America was the clear victor of the Cold War. Since Francis Fukuyama’s triumphalist but sadly fallacious statement that we were witnessing “the end of history”.
How much has happened. Afghanistan. Iraq. American lives lost in the two wars. Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan casualties. The successful deployment of drones. Saddam Hussein captured and tried. Osama bin Laden targeted and assassinated. And those are just bullet points directly related to events of 9/11. What about the global economy imploding? The explosion of the internet? The election of a mixed raced person as US president? It’s been one hell of a monumental decade, unfortunately mostly for its trauma.
Our lives as Americans were permanently changed on that day. When reflecting on just how much – even small things, like nightmarish trips to the airport – it’s easy to feel overcome with despair. We’ve all learned to live with a heightened sense of security. But is it all bad? Has the decade also been fruitful? Has the war on terror made the world safer? We’d like to hear what you think about our world, ten years post 9/11.
In the meantime, make sure to check out the features in this and last week’s IJN about the impact of 9/11 on our lives.
- Chris Leppek speaks to Frank Schiff, a former Denverite who was in New York on that fateful day
- IJN Editorial: “Osama bin Laden won” on our changed lives and country
- Columnist Tehilla Goldberg on the changed nature of this September
- Two New York rabbis on dealing with the unique problem of agunot in the aftermath of the attacks
And make sure not to miss this Sunday’s commemorative event at Civic Park, hosted by John Hickenlooper.
