Sunday 11 September 2011

Where Were You on Sept 11?

Today is the 10th Anniversary of Sept 11 - the day the world will remember as a day of carnage and sorrow.

The media is having a field day featuring interviews with people on where were they on Sept 11. So I thought I'd share my story too.

It was 10 pm and I was sitting in front of the telly waiting for The West Wing to start.

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The West Wing is a drama series about people who work in the White House. It was one of my favourite drama series at that time as I learned alot about the American political system.

Suddenly broadcast was interrupted for special breaking news. It's extremely rare for any Malaysian station to interrupt the usual programmes to feature breaking news. So, it's GOT to be important.

Then the images started appearing on screen. By the time the broadcast reached Malaysian telly, both planes had already hit the towers and thick smoke was billowing from it.

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A reporter in the background was giving a description of what was happening and they kept repeating footages of the planes crashing into the towers. And then the towers came crashing down ...

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Since 9-11, and probably after a few other attempted terrorist attacks in other countries, travelling on planes have never been the same. You can't bring in sharp items in your hand luggage and the maximum volume of liqud allowed in a container is 100ml.

Sometimes I forget these rules and almost had my pen knife confiscated on a Qatar Airways flight to Egypt. Thankfully the officials allowed the flight attendants to keep the pen knife for me and I could collect it when I land in Egypt.

But there was one time when I tried to push my luck, and my expensive sunscreen got confiscated in Bali. I pleaded with the officials but they were strict. Thankfully the sunscreen was not as expensive as some facial products that costs hundreds of ringgit.

Even boarding flights have become a nuisance as some airports require passengers to remove their shoes and belt. On a Ryanair flight to Oslo, the guy in front of me almost dropped his pants literally when he removed his belt for inspection. I had to giggle.

9-11 sparked off a series of events that ultimately led to the death of the man himself - Osama Bin Laden. However there're probably many more Osama wannabes being trained to mastermind more terrorist attacks around the world.

I pray and hope that humankind will never have to experience another terrorist attack that is as horrifying and catastrophic as 9-11.


2 comments:

ChopinandMysaucepan said...

We have to live with faith and hope our world will be a better one for future generations to come.

Julie Lim said...

Hi ChopinandMysaucepan,

That is my hope too. I think living with faith and hope for our world begins in the family. Thanks for dropping by :-)

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