With all of the 9/11 memorial stuff, I can’t help but think about how perplexing I found peoples’ responses to the tragedy at the time. Sure, I was shocked by the attacks, and of course I completely understood how those who knew of people who died would be deeply affected. But aside from that, I just found it so strange that so many people would become so emotional and tearful for folks that they didn’t even know.
I remember that during my junior high US History class, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, one of my classmates expressed the same sentiment, to which my teacher responded by saying that people felt a deep connection to those who had died because they shared a common American identity. This seemed pretty obvious, but I was a selfish 12-year-old at the time, and I wasn’t a citizen, nor did I have a developed conception of national identity or being American or whatever.
Now, after ten years, I have come to understand my own Americanness. Even though I’ve only recently become a citizen, I’ve lived here my whole life; this country is all I know. Being an American is every bit as integral to my identity as being Pilipino. Now, I can completely understand why people responded in the way they did. Would I have cried for those who passed, even if I felt how I feel now? I don’t know. And I hope there wouldn’t ever be a time where I would have to.
