“What were you doing on 911?” the first sentence of a news article I read this morning asked. This simple sentence was poignant enough to set me recalling to the date that many said has changed the world. 11 Sep 2001 was the exact date when the world witnessed massive forces of destruction on human civilisation or more exactly on the world’s No. 1 leader which was not seen before since World War II.
I still remembered the day vividly. I was at my living room preparing heart and soul for one of my first examination papers, a subject which I was terribly at then when a causal flicking on the remote control brought my family and I to Singapore’s regional news channel: ChannelNewsAsia. My family and I were shocked at the TV footages we saw: fire, smokes and plumes billowing from skyscrapers, the hysteric of the masses, devastation and before long, we realised America was under attack! Acts of carnage seemed to be everywhere as it was reported then that another aeroplane was heading to Pentagon!
We could not really figure out at the scenes we saw. We thought it was World War III for history has taught man that only countries at war would be able to bring about destruction of such magnitudes we saw. My family and the world were wrong for that day changed the world: the world is now at war with terrorism.