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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,400
Registered: ‎03-29-2020

Re: 1) which has had more of an impact...and 2) the biggest shock in our/your lifetime



I didn't say or mean it was "so awful to ask," and it's none of your business why I choose to reply. You're clearly confused.


actually, I think I understand you quite well.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

Re: 1) which has had more of an impact...and 2) the biggest shock in our/your lifetime

Funny you compare this to 9/11 as I was just talking about that the other day. 

 

On 9/11 it was fast and furious and totally unexpected. It rocked our world. But it was very localized. The majority of us were not directly effected. 

 

This came on more gradually. It's going to last longer, and it's effecting everyone to some extent. 

 

They both will/have change things. We all know some of the different things we do post 9/11 (think airports) that seemed so restrictive and so strange, but now seem normal. 

 

I wonder what permanent changes we will institute after this pandemic that seem awful now, but will be routine in a number of years. 

 

My son was 5 on 9/11, and we watched the towers fall on tv. He remembers it and it really did color his ideals during his growing up years. I think kids today living through this will look back on it as a pivotal moment when things changed for them, or will at least be aware of being a part of something so life altering and important in history.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,208
Registered: ‎10-26-2010

Re: 1) which has had more of an impact...and 2) the biggest shock in our/your lifetime

I think 9/11 was horrifying and almost unreal...to see planes flying into buildings and all the other planes that were also hijacked...to see those buildings coming down and hundreds running down the streets...it was like the worst movie you would ever see...yet was real.  This was the most shocking moment in my lifetime, for sure.

 

This pandemic has had the most impact on me personally though...my husband was supposed to have sold his business right before this hit.  We had planned to move to another state after that to be near our son, daughter-in-law and our first grandchild who is now almost 8 months old.  Also, of course, that included selling our house here.  Now everything is on hold.  My son and daughter-in-law both work at the same company and so far, both still have their jobs.  But they still worry they may be laid off any time.

 

As someone else said, I was just thinking the other day that the last horrible thing to happen in our country of any great magnitude was 9/11...but that we all came together and unified when 9/11 happened.   Now so many are divided and with all the protests and differing political views, everything seems so much more chaotic, on top of the uncertainty of the virus itself.  A much different feeling for me and much more complexity than the feeling the country had after 9/11.

 

I hope everyone stays safe and that there is a light soon at the end of this long, dark tunnel!

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,373
Registered: ‎04-04-2015

Re: 1) which has had more of an impact...and 2) the biggest shock in our/your lifetime

In terms of "safety," I am clearly the wrong person to ask which was worse as I worked in the Pentagon on 9/11 and went back to work the next day - while the building was still on fire and you could smell the jet fuel everywhere.  

 

I think we made a big mistake with this lockdown.  As I have noted before in 1968, we lost over 100,000 people to the flu originating in Hong Kong during a time when our population was 200 million - it is now 328 million.

 

The fear, the divisiveness, and the sneering at people who are losing everything they worked all their lives to achieve because they want to return to work- saying oh but lives are at stake.  Yes they are - well beyond those threatened by the virus.