Air traffic

Recently, there has been a great deal of media attention to air traffic controllers.  They have been messing up - sleeping, watching movies, etc.  Now everybody knows that it's someone's job to make sure planes stay on course.

I knew this because as a child, my uncle was an air traffic controller for the airforce.  I always thought of his job as guiding planes to a safe landing.  So imagine my surprise when I heard a plane hit the WTC.  I immediately thought, some air traffic controller is in a heap of trouble.  As we were putting the baby in the car, a neighbor drove by and said they hit the WTC with a plane.  I told him it was likely the air traffic controller.  Then another plane hit.  That's when I thought about The Blackout Effect, a TV movie I had seen about an air traffic controller with a faulty monitor. I thought the FAA is going to go ballistic about this. 

I walked into the doctor's office for my 6-week postpartum visit and the waiting area was solemn.  The TV was on and everyone looked at me as if I had 2 heads.  I said good morning to the doctor and he said "it really isn't a good morning, is it" - I agreed that it was sad but chalked it up to human and technical error. 

For the next several days, images of the planes crashing into the falling towers saturated the air waves.  And no one was blaming the air traffic controllers...they were blaming Muslims, calling them terrorists. 
I thought this was odd because I was certain that someone could have intervened if they had been paying attention.  Also, I thought of terrorism in the context of the Reign of Terror or the People's Retribution.  Now, rather than a leader massively destroying revolters, it has taken on a different connotation - attacking civilians to provoke a government action or inaction. 

That marked the beginning of the Post 9/11 era.  A time when people no longer cared that big brother may be watching...in fact they welcomed big brother in the form of the Patriot Act and Homeland Security...they supported the overthrow of evil dictators...they championed democracy for all...it was about preserving the freedom to pursue our unalienable rights.  Rights that were threatened by terrorists.  Spearheaded by OBL.  Hiding in plain sight.

We never spoke about 9/11/01...we were almost afraid to listen to the various theories about the crash...no one in my extended family mentioned it...my 12 year old daughter only recently learned what happened on that date and who was blamed. 

We knew our lives had been changed.