9/11

I had a different blog entry that I was hoping to post soon, but I thought today I'd write a little impromptu one, brought on by the fact that I've been talking to so many Vietnamese people who have asked me about this 10 year anniversary of the attacks, which was surprising to me. I don't know if it ought to be or not, but until another staff member at the university mentioned a few days ago that Sunday was 9/11, the thought hadn't occurred to me (this might be because my brain hadn't yet processed the fact that it was now September instead of August, but oh well). Since then I've had a few more Vietnamese people talk to me about it, especially when they hear that I'm from New York. One man even asked if I was going back to New York for the anniversary!

I've brushed most of these encounters away, because while they are well intentioned, the interactions are usually a somewhat superficial questioning, as in, these people seem to feel that they have a duty to mention 9/11 and ask about it. However, last night I met the student of an American friend of mine (who has chosen Clark Kent as his English name) who, after the usual conversation starters (where are you from, what do you do, how long are you in Vietnam for) looked at me and said "I am very sorry about what happened. Where were you that morning?" in the most sincere manner possible. It was very simple, but very touching. I think what struck me the most is that I can't remember anyone ever actually asking me what I was doing or where I was, what my experience of the day was, who wasn't actually American. Let me explain why this felt different to me. When an American asks "what were you doing when the towers fell?" it is an opportunity to explore our mutual experience of that day. We are acknowledging mutual suffering and the sense of community that results. When I am asked by a non-American about that day, the selfless desire to hear about the event and how it affected me, and the compassion that is coming from someone who was halfway across the world on that day moves me in a different way. While I know from having talked to people while I was in Argentina that people in other countries felt affected by 9/11 as well, the fact that they are still displaying compassion ten years later is incredible to me.

That having been said, this is a very intense article from the NY Times that goes through that day using the recollections of various New Yorkers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/us/sept-11-reckoning/escape.html?_r=1&hp