I think it's fair to say that if you aren't from New York, you will never have the same perspective as a New Yorker, but I don't think it's fair to say that's the only legitimate perspective on the event, especially since the underlying issues affect much more than a single city.
which is not to say that every perspective is equally legitimate, either. You need well-informed reasoning at the very least.
Every year of my life I have been looking out of the car window as I've passed by the NYC skyline. From the time I was able to speak the words Twin Towers, I looked on in awe at those two buildings and that city skyline alone was my inspiration for applying to an engineering program for college. Maybe it's because my mom's side of the family is from Yonkers, but even though I've lived my entire life in Alexandria, I feel like a New Yorker at heart. I "got" September 11th the second I saw the smoke rising from the first building on TV. And I certainly got it when they both fell. Every year that I've looked out of the car window since that day and haven’t seen those buildings, I've gotten it. When I stood with my friends on the top of Tower 49 looking to the south and watching the building engineer break down in tears saying how he had lost so many friends that day, I got it. And the four times I've stood at ground zero, I've gotten it
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Believe me, I have many of the same memories as you do from the second paragraph. My oldest childhood's friend's father works in the Pentagon. Both my parents work downtown. I get it.
Unfortunately, I'm asking because I have some friends here who are from New York who have vaguely stated that if you're not from NY then you don't "get" it. (Here's the article that prompted discussion: This is the article that prompted the discussion.) I thought it was incredibly unfair. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
I have friends who are not from the urban areas/the East coast who acknowledge that their experience was nothing like my own. But I don't think that's saying it affected them less.
I agree with everything above (I was actually just talking about the Tower 49 experience the other day with one of the other RA's here), for the most part. That said, I do think how much one "gets" 9/11 depends to some degree on their connections to the affected areas
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I really don't think so. I mean, as I've already told you, I was very surprised at how the day just came and went here. Aside from the requisite headlines, I honestly did not hear one single person reference it in the least (of course, Hanna Roman '06, who lives down the street and is a native New Yorker, did tell me today that she was sick of the anniversary being fetishized). At one point my roommate asked me what the date was, and I said "September 11" with this kind of "Um, duh" tone, expecting him to say "Oh right, of course" but he just said "Thank you" and kept working
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Bah! I just realized that in editing my comment down to make it short enough for your comments I deleted the part that tied it all together-- I don't remember exactly what I said, but basically I think the reason that New Yorkers get so upset when people across the country make a big deal about September 11 (from my vantage point of being in Texas when it happened, Texas and Iowa for the first four anniversaries, and now in New York for the fifth) is that they all seem to be recognizing the holiday very quietly and solemnly... and in Texas, for example, people just put their flags everywhere and wear yellow ribbons, and I think it it strikes New Yorkers as disrespectful or at the very least ridiculous because they (non-New Yorkers) weren't actually there and didn't have as visceral a feeling as having their lives threatened... but am I going to tell some of the people I knew from Texas who were extremely upset over September 11 that their grief is not valid because they weren't there? Of course not.
I think you can "get it" if you're not a New Yorker, but the significance might be different. I mean, the significance is likely slightly different for everyone. You and I have discussed this, and specifically what it means to you, which is decidedly different than what it means to me. We discussed it a little here, and we all have varying concepts of what it means to us. Love you.
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I think it's fair to say that if you aren't from New York, you will never have the same perspective as a New Yorker, but I don't think it's fair to say that's the only legitimate perspective on the event, especially since the underlying issues affect much more than a single city.
which is not to say that every perspective is equally legitimate, either. You need well-informed reasoning at the very least.
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Unfortunately, I'm asking because I have some friends here who are from New York who have vaguely stated that if you're not from NY then you don't "get" it. (Here's the article that prompted discussion: This is the article that prompted the discussion.) I thought it was incredibly unfair. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
I have friends who are not from the urban areas/the East coast who acknowledge that their experience was nothing like my own. But I don't think that's saying it affected them less.
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You and I have discussed this, and specifically what it means to you, which is decidedly different than what it means to me.
We discussed it a little here, and we all have varying concepts of what it means to us.
Love you.
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