Extremely Loud

I saw this movie this weekend: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, as I understand the idea behind it but I'm really not fond of the storyline (who let's their little kid run around NYC by themselves all day going into homes of complete strangers?). But, either way, it got me thinking about 9/11.

9/11 sucked. I'm pretty sure there really isn't a better way to put that. Everything about wars and terrorism sucks. But, this particular event--9/11--sucks more than the rest of them just because it happened and I/we/my generation was there for it. There's always Pearl Harbor, all of WWI & WWII and other wars, numerous battles etc., and even the completely-non-war-related Titanic that were horrible events where so many people were killed. We hear about them, and read about them, and we know they sucked too. But, we weren't watching the news or reading the papers or listening to the radio when these things happened like we were for 9/11.

Instead the halls in our schools were very hush hush while non-descriptive "letters" were passed out to us and we were sent home early to empty houses where we then turned on the news alone and tried to make sense of what was happening. Was it a coincidence? Was it a terrorist attack? Where even ARE the twin towers? Do I know anyone there? Many of the news stories, at least for me, will be the things that stick around forever as memories. Especially the stories in the days that followed where loved ones cried out at the cameras waving flyers and pictures at the camera of their missing family members.

We weren't there to see the aftermath for the others.

And I think it makes us stronger as a generation.