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I think the reason it affected everyone in America so much is that we've been a major world power in the world for a few generations now. We're not used to terrorist attacks. So we feel quite safe here, at least from things like that. I mean, the last attack on U.S. soil before 9.11 was (to the best of my knowledge) Pearl Harbor. And we went to war after that one, didn't we. I mean, I know we're pretty much constantly at war with some odd country. But this is rather personal to us. My own godfather (more like an uncle to me than anything) was going to be in the World Trade Center on the 12th. Imagine if the attack had waited a day, or if he had to come earlier. I'd be one of those thousands who were affected, wouldn't I? and I'm at the very oposite side of the country. And I could have easily seen that day just like those poor relatives of the victims. It's terrifying. We can imagine dying in a car accident, or disease, or even something like a mugging or drive-by shooting. But the idea of dying due to terrorism is just utterly terrifying to us. Then there was our reaction to the situation. We went from a country where everyone was against everyone, where you didn't trust anyone just because. And in one day we forgot all it. We waved our flags, we sang our songs, we donated all kinds of things to those poor people who lost loved ones(be it money, food, time, and some even donated their own lives to help). People who hated the president were suddenly commenting on how well he was handleing the situation. For a short while all that mattered was that everyone was affected. Even if it was just by the sight of watching people jump from those buildings. It's just a scary thing ingeneral for us. We weren't really emotionally ready for it. It affected everyone. I think 9.11's going to stick around for a good long time as a horrible day of terroism for us americans. Yeah, I almost forgot about it too, but I don't think it's the excact day that's so terrible to me. It's just the fact that it happened. I can remember being in my first period class and students were trying to sneak out to watch the news. I had no idea what was going on then, I thought they were just going to go out to get food or something. Then in my 2nd period, my teacher wrote in big red letters on the white board "America is officially under attack" I wrote it on my note book and still have that same note book at home. Then by the time my 5th period came around my teacher gave up and made us watch the news. She said this was a day that we should remember that we would always remember. And I think I will. It was scary. We had no idea what was going on, really. People kept talking about other attacks that are supposed to happen. That they would go for California next. Go for Hollywood because of it's fame, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Disneyland. Well... I have relatives in San Francisco. My big sister was living in Hollywood and was going to an acting academy half a block down the street from Grauman's Chinese Theatre where stars have always been known to put thier hand and feet prints in cement and could have easily been a target as so many other great Hollywood buildings monumnets are only a building or two away in every direction. And I live about 15 minutes away from Disneyland, have friends and family that work there, and go there quite frequently myself. When Terrorisim usually attacks places with high populations and you live in one of the most highly populated parts of the country, you get very nervous indeed. (I mean, after all, the state of New York and the state of California together make more income than the other 48 states do. If New York was a target, we had no choice but to assume we could be too)