Hey friends,

I was four years old when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred. Being so young I don’t remember what I was wearing or who I was with or what song was playing in the background when I heard the news, frankly, I don’t remember it at all. However, I do remember the sudden shift of world emotion and the birth of American fear culture.

The first few weeks of this new term, my ASTU class has been reading the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is a story of trauma and absence, specifically focussing on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001. Foer illustrates the chaos and confusion that can happen when a young child experiences such a major event. Oskar, the main character, is a young boy who lost his father in the attacks. The novel follows his adventure of healing, displaying the seemingly impossible task of coming to grips with what has happened to the world and resting with unanswered questions.

I am lucky enough to not have been directly affected by the events of 9/11, although even at such a young age, I knew something was not right. My mother is a flight attendant which requires her to fly all around the world and be gone for extensive periods of time. For as long as I can remember I thought that was the coolest job and I would proudly tell everyone of her occupation. On September 12th my perspective changed. My dad was so anxious seeing my mom go off to work and my much older brother’s were clearly scared. I knew something about her job had become dangerous. Fifteen years later I understand why my mom always flying unsettles me. I understand why my dad is so adamant on my mom calling whenever she lands. I understand why my fully grown brothers always text her before she gets on a plane. I understand the concept of fear culture.

Personally, I find fear culture disgusting. It is able to limit our actions and segregate us from the rest of the world. It teaches us that flying in planes is risky and that Islamic people are bad, which is horrific. I don’t understand how we are supposed to progress if we allow this fear to stay so deeply rooted inside us. Change will not come about if we continuously feed into the fear culture that has been created.

Until next time!

Devon Coady