How strange to think that it has been twenty one years to the day since our collective trauma. It still feels so vivid to me, as though it had just happened.
When I think about the odd twists and turns that my own life took in the several years that followed the attacks, I suspect that I was, in my own way, dealing with my own personal reaction to those events. I made decisions that puzzle me today, as though part of me was sleep walking through each day, as though part of me was afraid to be fully awake.
When a person experiences a severe trauma to the body or the mind, it can take many years to fully heal. And if the wound is not properly tended to, healing can be incomplete. The mind or body may not heal well.
When an entire nation of several hundred million people experiences a severe trauma to its body and its mind, very bad things can happen. Large numbers of people can lose track of reality, and can retreat into paranoia and conspiracy theories.
When people are in need of healing, they will turn to whatever eases their pain. And then they can be talked into pretty much anything by the right smooth talking con man.
We are still far from healed. And we may not end up healing well.