9/11

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. I was six months pregnant with Samantha at the time and living in Singapore. It was late at night (there is a twelve hour time difference between New York and Singapore) and I was checking my email right before I went to sleep. My Yahoo homepage had a one-line intro about a plane flying into the World Trade Center. I assumed it was a small commuter plane that had lost control and bumped into the building and figured I would read more about it in the morning. I turned off my computer and crawled into bed. Just a few moments later I got a call from Shauna asking if I had heard the news. She was on her way home from picking up Eric from the airport and had heard the news on the radio and wanted to know what they were reporting on CNN. I ran downstairs and turned on the television moments before the second plane hit the other tower. I stayed up for hours watching CNN just shocked by the images and information they were showing.

Helmut was out of town on business in Kuantan, Malaysia (a predominantly Muslim country). His company halted all travel for a week not allowing anyone to fly home or anywhere else. The Muslim Extremists in Malaysia were calling for all Muslims to join the Jihad, which made his situation and location even more dangerous. Kuantan sits in a region of Malaysia that is ruled by the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (or PAS party), known for their extremist activity and associations. His company set a group of locals and Americans in charge of devising an escape plan if an attack occurred in a nearby area. It was pretty complex and involved helicopters, boats and airplanes to get them back to Singapore safely. Days after the 9/11 attacks the man in charge of the escape planning did not show up to work. After management asked around as to his whereabouts, it came to light that he was a high ranking PAS party official (probably not the best person to put in charge of the foreigners’ escape plan). Helmut continually reassured me that he felt safe and nothing bad was going to happen, but I was a stressed out, pregnant mother of two trying to keep it together by myself.

My two boys attended Singapore American School at the time, which sits right inside the border between Singapore and Malaysia. The American Embassy saw it as a marked target and closed school for a few days. Once school reopened, Gurkhas (Nepalese/British Military Police) guarded the entrance to the school armed with large machetes and machine guns. It was a very frightening and confusing time for the boys (they were seven and five at the time).

I often think of the ways these terrorists acts have changed our lives, seemingly forever. A few weeks ago we went to the Mickey Leland Building in downtown Houston to renew our passports, much like we had in 1997 before going overseas the first time. The difference was night and day. You can only enter the office with an appointment. You are solemnly greeted on the ground floor by three armed officers and shuffled through a metal detector one at a time. Once you enter the office upstairs, there are two more guards in the room in addition to one at each of the exits. The kids kept asking me why there were so many policemen there. How do I really tell them without scaring them? I assured them it was only for our safety and protection.

I am reminded every time I have to take Helmut to the airport too many hours early for his flight. I have often sat in the security line at the airport myself and thought, “In a way, the terrorists have won. We are living our lives in continual fear and terror.” Then I snap out of it, as I have to take off my shoes as well as make sure all my kids’ shoes are off and they are waiting quietly for their turn through the metal detector. Our lives may be changed forever, but I see it as my job as a mother to protect and keep my children safely naive of that fact for as long as possible.