Split Decision: What has changed since 9-11?

I remember being in Mexico in 2000 and feeling ill at ease in the airport because there were plenty of police/military milling about, wearing all manner of weaponry. It’s not that I didn’t feel safe; I just felt like it was crazy that a country had to live like this. Were things so dangerous that these shows of force were needed?

“Thank god it’s not like that in America,” I said to my future wife.

Yeah, well, so much for that. Been to Penn Station lately?

Of course, things changed post 9/11, and, quite frankly, I’m a little ill at ease when I don’t see heavily armed personnel at what appear to be soft targets for terrorists. Sure, airports and Penn Station are well-guarded, by come on - what about the mall? And the ballparks? And my front lawn?

Man, I see a backpack laying around somewhere and I call the police. Have done that a handful of times.

So yeah - has 9/11 changed me? You bet. I’m more suspicious today than I was before 9/11, and my eyes are always scanning crowds for weird stuff. Sure, some of this can be chalked up to becoming a parent, and you better believe some of it is because of domestic terrorism, but overall? The aftereffects of 9/11 have changed me. I want more security, not less. I want more police/ military presence, not less.

I’m not happy about this, as I’d much rather live in metaphorical daffodil-filled fields, but there are plenty of lunatics out there who think the way to heaven is through blowing up innocent people, and until we can weed out that particular form of mental illness, I’m just going to keep my guard up.

TRENTONIAN FILE PHOTO Hamilton leaders place a memorial wreath at the townshipís 9-11 memorial during a service on the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001. In the foreground is a beam from the wreckage of the New York attack.