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HOME > PUBLICATIONS > Exclusive: American Families, Seven Years Later

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Five Sept. 11 Suspects to Face Trial in New York

The Obama administration has announced it will try 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9-11 Gitmo detainees in a civilian federal court in New York, allowing them the protections of the U.S. Constitution even though they are not U.S. citizens.

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Four Radical Chinese Muslims Transferred to Bermuda

Four Chinese Uighers (radical Chinese Muslims) were recently transferred to Bermuda. Do you think it's a good idea to release Gitmo detainees to idyllic vacation retreats?






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September 11, 2008

Exclusive: American Families, Seven Years Later

Susan Konig

This September 11th falls in the middle of our daughter’s first full week of high school. Seven years ago, it was the first Tuesday of second grade. I must have called her school a dozen times that day, trying to figure out if I should bring her home to me or leave her there, blissfully unaware of what was going on 28 miles south of our suburban Westchester home.
 
I’m still in awe of the demeanor of her teachers that day. They kept a game face on until dismissal even though some had spouses working in the city, loved ones in law enforcement and emergency services.
 
I sat at home clinging to my young son and weeping as the television pictures showed what seemed like science fiction but was real. The Pentagon news soon broke, followed by Shanksville. A hundred false reports would air before we knew what really happened.
 
Today our daughter is a young lady who landed a scholarship to a private school in Manhattan. Would any parent in my town want a 14-year-old making that commute every day back in 2001? We were probably too scared.
 
But even though the September 11th attacks are not any less terrifying or shocking than they were seven years ago, we are not scared anymore. Our resolve has returned, our determination to enjoy the personal freedoms of this country, going to school or work wherever we want on our own terms.
 
My husband volunteered for the New York Guard seven years ago. He and his fellow soldiers back up the National Guard, so many of whom are in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
My young boys know that the soldiers who fight the war on terror here and abroad are doing a good thing.
 
My daughter has emergency instructions should there be a blizzard, train strike, or terrorist attack.
 
The attacks on our country changed the way families do things – but not who we are.

FamilySecurityMatters.org contributing editor Susan Konig (Susan@FamilySecurityMatters.org) is a nationally read columnist and author of "Why Animals Sleep So Close to the Road and Other Lies I Tell My Children." www.SusanKonig.com

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