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The morning of September 11 2001 I was woken up to find that the World has irrevocably changed. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center had been destroyed by Muslim terrorists bent on instigating a worldwide jihad. Like many people in the US and around the world I was shocked by the brazenness and insidiousness of the attacks. It took me a moment to fully realize that the World Trade Center was in fact completely gone. When the realization finally hit me I could not help but cry. Ever since I had first arrived in the United States as an exchange student in high school I had tacitly assumed that I had left war and destruction behind, and that they belonged to a different, less orderly, world.

I had only seen the Twin Towers once, during my first year in the US when a bunch of us foreign exchange students had been taken on a field trip. I still have a few pictures of me and a couple of friends standing on Ellis Island, with the World trade Center in the background. Today those pictures feel surreal.

The tragedy of 9/11 revealed a few things to me that I was up to then not fully aware of. I realized how Americanized I had become and how personally I had felt about the attacks. This realization was additionally reinforced by callous and insensitive e-mails that I had received from a couple of friends that I had known from back home. For the most part my friends and family were completely sympathetic and shocked with what had happened, and were in complete solidarity with America on that day. But there were some who were less understanding, to say the least.

At the tenth anniversary of 9/11 it is important and appropriate to reflect on those shocking and tragic events. They were transformative on many levels, and have been seared deep in the memories of those who had witnessed them. For the better or worse, they have brought a major change in the US foreign policy. In subsequent years political debates over the exact nature and effects of those policies have managed to take away much of the spotlight away from 9/11 proper. It would be desirable to for at least some time put aside politics and solemnly reflect on tragedy that happened a decade ago.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier this week I sold my car. It was an old car that has served me well over the years, but has seen its better days. Its engine finally failed completely some time last winter, and since then it was only a question of when, and not if, I'll sell it to someone for parts.

This was my first, and so far only, car. When I bought it I anticipated spending a lot of time on the road and I wanted to buy a sturdy, safe vehicle. Seeing it gone after all these years is a bit sad, not unlike the time I sold my bike at the end of my college years. Aside from being my first car, it also had a lot of sentimental value for several reasons. I bought this car with the money that I inherited after my mother's death. In a way, this was her last gift to me. That money she obtained after selling out old house in Sarajevo. For all of the war we had no access to that house or any of the few positions that were left over there. Most of those possessions were pillaged by the Serbian forces shortly after we had been forced to leave, but the house they could not take with them. Thanks to the US military intervention we were able to reclaim the house and sell it. In a way, my car was thus an indirect yet very tangible reminder of the virtues of US military engagements around the world. Thanks to one such engagement millions of people in my neck of the woods alone were able to go to their homes and reclaim what was rightfully theirs. My car is gone now, but its symbolism remains with me. It is after all our memories that make us into who we are.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)