"I had just been released from hospital the day before and was still on sick leave. My father called me on the phone and told me to turn on the TV at once because there was something going on in America. Swedish television was broadcasting live.
Just a few seconds after I had turned on the TV-set - and before I understood what was going on - the television screen showed a passenger airplane flying suspiciously low close to the tower that had been hit first. Then I saw the plane steering right into the second tower, flames erupting around the hole that had been caused in the structure halfway up on the building.
I was baffled, shocked, sad, angry, and frightened. After seeing that I remained in front of the television all that day and well into the night to follow the news. There were many speculations concerning the number of casualties, so once the true numbers were released, I was strangely relieved that they were much lower than the initial speculations.
2,977 people died in the attacks (and 19 hijackers committed murder–suicide), and more than 6,000 others were wounded, it's a scary thought that I could feel relief at such a high toll.
In my mind's timeline there will always be a before or after 9/11, Everything changed, or at least my outlook on everything changed."
(The above has previously been posted in 9/11 - In Memoriam.)
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We must also always remember that the terrorists are an extremely small minority in any community, religious group, or society. In the words of the American president Barack Obama, "We don’t differentiate between them and us. It’s just us."
