Since the attack on 9/11, how safe do you feel?

Question

Immediately after the attack, I was afraid to fly. I took a train up to Maryland the following June, thinking it was safer. On the traintracks outside of Virginia there was a bomb threat, it scared me. I have done alot of flying since then however, the tightest security was at Reagan International in DC. Two weeks ago, 2 young men from Egypt were arrested for carrying bomb making materials in the trunk of their car. There were students from University of South FL going to NC and got pulled over here locally for a traffic violation. Do you think the government or the press lets us know about the total extent of the threat here in America?

I was deployed by American REd Cross after 9/11 to ground zero. We still have volunteers who are ill from the air quality. Supporting the heros, the first responders was an honor. Comforting the families was truly an honor and heartbreajking event. Particularly when just pieces of DNA were found, I still can smell, feel and hear that sight, never to be forgotten.

Answer 1

I feel like cherishing every day that we still have our freedom. So far our military has kept the bad guys at bay in another part of the world. Yes, many are here that we don't hear about. But I fear that one day, blood will be spilled all over America. What the world need now is love, sweet love.

Answer 2

I feel surprisingly safe, considering that I'm between two major targets: Washington, D.C., and Norfolk Naval Base.

If the government has no idea how to round up and deport all illegal aliens, I don't see how it can keep track of other shady dealings. This is not a slam at our president, but at some of the agencies that ultimately answer to him.

My first reactions on 9/11 were: "It's Pearl Harbor again, but it's here," and next, "My mother lived through Pearl Harbor and I'm glad she didn't live to see this." (She had died that June.)

That's probably the reason I feel safe, though. This was a physical attack, not nuclear and not chemical, so unless I'm in the direct path of a physical attack, I have the illusion of some modicum of safety.

The following June, I flew from Richmond to Oklahoma City, with a stopover and plane change in Cincinnati, and back by the same route. For every plane I boarded, I was singled out for a search! (At the time, I was 63, and the other passengers seemed amused that I was the one chosen to "remove your shoes," raise your arms," etc.)

Answer 3

I was like you. For a while after 9-11 I was very wary of planes and would watch them when they flew over-like-where are they headed? That doesnt happen anymore. I've flown since then and taken other modes of transportation. I keep thinking that since there had to be a very clever plan to bring down the WTC-what have they been doing since? It will be 6 years in a little while. If something is going to happen, worrying about it isnt going to do any good. Sometimes I think we find out more than we need to know. We have the different Terror alerts and for God's sake, this 70 yo great grandma got patted down at the airport. Today I feel as safe as I did 7 years ago.

Answer 4

I feel relatively safe. And it isn't the government which has avoided telling us about the total extent of the threat. Each time they do, people "poo poo" it and try to assign some deep political motive for the announcement. The press hasn't told us much because they are the reporters of reaction, not the purveyors of action. I could probably round up all of the reporters who have ever read "Milestones" by Seyyid Qutb and fit them comfortably into an SUV. That book, by the way, is to the Salafist Jihadist terrorists what "Mein Kampf" was to the Nazis.
I've never been afraid of flying since the attack on America. All that event has done is increase my personal awareness of my surroundings and raised my personal alert level. I accept that there may be hundreds of educated sons of financially well-off Muslim families who have fallen for the siren call of the Jihadists. I also recognize that there may be hundreds of "Beyit Al Shuhada" (Martyrs' Houses) in the U.S. where those self-same men are plotting attacks on soft targets every day.
And I avoid the complacency of the "Ostrich Club" members whose ranks grown in direct proportion to the number of days since that attack on America. I just follow one simple rule: If you see something, say something.

Answer 5

I feel just as safe as I did before. If you think about all the planes, trains and such that go every day the chances that the one I'm on gets blown up or crashed are very, very small.

They probably don't let out all the threats that they hear about but what purpose would that serve? A great majority of them are bogus threats anyway so why have everyone be all scared about stuff that's not going to happen?

Answer 6

Until 9/11 I didn't realize how badly we were hated by foreigners.

I am not afraid of an attack where I am, but I am afraid that we will be attacked for certain and probably sooner than later. Bush has done good by establishing a Homeland Security, Airport security, alert codes, patriot act, etc.
We need to keep finding them and putting them away.

I also think we should cancel student visas from the middle east as well as other portals they use to sneak in.

I am quite sure the Govt. keeps things from us. I recently learned on t.v. that in 1993 a Pakistani got asylum to our country and gunned down CIA employees. I had never heard about it until I watched Discovery Times channel.

Answer 7

Actually, most all my life, I have not felt safe. Why? The Cold war ....at school, we were made to rush into the halls and put our heads down with our arms over them! This was done in case of an attack! So, since the first grade, I was made aware that this world is not safe!

Now, on 9-11, yes I was shocked as we all were! But, it only served to open my eyes to our real enemies. How far they will go and their blatant lack of respect for life...man, woman or child!

So, instead of waiting for tidbits, from the news and government, I have prepared in my own way! I listen to their threats and I watch what they do in other countries as well. In as much, this has driven me to do all I can to protect myself and family. That is all any of us can do!

Therefore, no, I have never been made to feel safe as it is a psuedo feeling in a world where war will never cease!

Answer 8

I refuse to let those terrorist fools scare me. Whenever I travel I keep a head-up attitude, observe the people around me and always - ALWAYS - locate an exit and evacuation path where ever I'm at whether there for just a few minutes or staying the night. To be frightened is to do exactly what the terrorist want. I've made up my mind that if push comes to shove with terrorists, then I am going to be the pusher and not the dead pushee.

Answer 9

There's so many street killings in major cities that makes 9/11 just a piece of history. I see more violence just on city streets by the American public and more death on our Nations highways, to make 9/11 pale in comparison. And we all know we will see violence and death without the influence of terrorists. So I don't feel any safer or less safe because of 9/11.

Answer 10

Truthfully, no, I feel no differently about my safety. That does not mean I am going to get on a plane with what I might consider "profiled possible lunatics," either...I know they cannot profile at terminals, but that does not mean I cannot. When I see 80 year-old women being pulled out of line to do a full body search, while others (who I would have searched) walk by because we cannot profile, I have to question our sanity in general, but then again, I have been questioning the sanity of our Government for some time. Homeland Security is all but a joke in itself. It seems to do but one thing...a false sense of security. But, if we live in fear, the terrorists will have won...and that ain't gonna happen to me. Goldwing.