8 Years Later and We Still Wonder if Today, is the Day

Doubt I will ever get over the events of that day. I was living in Washington, DC when the attacks were taking place, and one thing I still remember to this day was the feeling of helplessness. It was a very bizarre feeling considering how living in the USA provided feelings of strength and pride.

Not that those same characteristics aren't there now, but the feelings have 'shifted'. There is the fear of what many say is an inevitable attack by an Islamic fundamentalist group; a fear that sticks in the back of your mind that--yes--something will happen, again. I'm not sure how the feeling is for those who were living in other geographic regions of the country on 9/11/01, but for those that were there and personally knew victims taken from us on that day, you can't help but always wonder is today, the day.

Mostly all of the people I speak with about September 11th are still in one of the earlier stages of emotional recovery--nobody has even come close to the 'uneasy acceptance' phase, and I doubt they ever will. The ancillary outcomes for those not killed that day are still occurring. I always think of two friends (in their 40s) who still work in lower Manhattan and have suffered heart attacks because they keep asking themselves: is today the day.

But what makes the attacks so disturbing: The fact that the only thing 2,993 people did that morning was go to work, or board a plane--that's it. These were not people committing crimes or protesting or even carrying weaponry. All they did was wake up that morning and be an American.

It's unfathomable to believe that the only thing 2,993 people did that day was wake up in the USA.

This message will be posted at 8:46am NYT.

Todd M. Schoenberger, Managing Director
LandColt Trading, Inc.