Stars and Stripes

If you look back, and think hard about the times before that fateful day on September 11, 2001, it seems that so many things have changed. It’s easy to find oneself saying things like, “Why I remember a time before 9/11, when a man could drive across the Mexican or American border without so much as a drivers license. Nowadays you need a passport, 3 forms of ID, and a complete family history in order to even look at either border.” Or something to the effect of, “Back in my day, airport security used to be no more than a five minute wait, and your family could greet you as soon as you got off your plane at the terminal! Nowadays,.... blah, blah, blah” Like it or not, 9/11 seems to be one of the defining moments of our time.
Now what do I mean by that, defining moment? To me it means a date when you can easily distinguish a definite change before and after an event. A time where one can remember exactly where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with at the time of the occurrence. Such a time that I’ve heard my parents and other old timers recant time and time again was when the United States became the first country to put a man on the moon. How many a time have a heard the story where my mother was sitting in her one room schoolhouse in rural Illinois, and her teacher wheeled in their own personal television from home, just so twenty some students could watch this soon to be historical event. Or how my father saw visual fear for the first time in an adults eyes, when his teacher tried to explain the goings on on the T.V. in front of them, as a Russian ship slowly cruised toward a small island in the Carribean. Later that afternoon in the stuffy, overcrowded , urban, Milwaukee school, the entire student body and faculty, practiced “duck and cover”, as the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded.
Unfortunately, so to has 9/11 seared a spot into our minds, thoughts, memories, and diction. Heck, there's even been a handful of country songs written about the date. Why I remember I time not more than ten years ago when you could have asked me what a terrorist was and I probably would’ve scoffed at such a peculiar noun. Now it seems to hold so much power and imagery during the present day; whether it be as trivial as a turbaned, AK wielding, religious fanatic, or as imposing as an embodiment of pure evil. However the usage, its not uncommon to hear someone use such an utterance, whether it be used to describe a common street thug or even a presidential candidate.
Simply put, 9/11 has changed the way things are, and has become a defining moment of our time. It makes me ponder, as I sit and gaze at the illustrious beam of a late-night computer screen, what does the future hold? Is 9/11 the main milestone, by which I will relate the occurrences of my life? Or is there something else that is to be, whether it be as joyous as a nations victory over the heavens, or as heinous as the fiery destruction of a national symbol.