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the Effects of Nine One One It’s strange, has everyone even thought about the fact that the terrorists decided to destroy greatness on nine one one? It’s strange, how close I came to losing friends and family: my friend didn’t happen to go to the Trade Center on business that week, my brother-in-law lost a slew of contacts who died in New York, the Pennsylvania plane landed a mile from my sister-in-law’s house, my friend in D.C. wasn’t hurt but he talked about how different streets would be closed on different days and that there were so many military guards there you felt like you were in a war zone, which in a way, you were. And these terrorists, they had a masterful plan, they were stopped that day from starting at different flights, and one of them was slated, I think, to run into the Sears Tower. I mean, think about the emotional effects of these disasters. I know different people had different reactions... I know that for months afterward whenever we were driving toward the loop, taking the kennedy where you could see the Chicago skyline get closer and closer, I know that every time we drove by, I would be sitting in the passenger seat and I would imaging seeing a plane fly right into the side of the Sears Tower, toward the top, to the side, exactly like how it happened to the World Trade Centers. Like how you saw it over and over again on television, when we were flooded with images of it on the news. I’d see a plane flying right into the tallest building, this landmark to Chicago. I still see that sometimes, whenever we are driving into the city, imagining witnessing the destruction, seeing it all, and thinking, what do you do then? Copyright Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.