Effects Of 9/11 On American Citizens

America and its citizens

America is a country where citizens are proud to live and be a part of the great culture. Through many hardships, including the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, 9/11, and Afghanistan, the American population has bonded together and shown that no matter what happens, they will overcome adversity. Time and time again, Americans have proven to the world that nothing will keep them down. When a country is threatened as a whole, specifically America during the events on 9/11, the citizens come together, and they will express a great deal of patriotism while showing their worries towards national security. When the tragedy of 9/11 occurred, Americans came together, not only on that day but after it as well, as a country

Americans throughout the country were urged by themselves to show that they were proud to be an American. My dad, who I interviewed, said “ I had never seen such a great amount of patriotism except for when the Gulf war had just started”. My dad, and millions of other Americans, went out bought flags to put up on their properties, cars, and businesses. He also said, “ It got to the point where if you didn’t own a flag, you looked bad”. The mass expression of patriotism also lead to many people joining the military. There was a huge boost in military enlistment following the attacks. Since the attacks, more than three million people have enlisted to join the military (Winokoor). My mother, the other person I interviewed, had multiple family members that enlisted after 9/11. Three of her cousins joined the Army within a year of 9/11. 2 out of the 3 weren’t even born in America and didn’t grow up in the United States. My mom explains, “ I have two cousins who were born and grew up in Hungary, until the age of 15. They moved the States and became citizens a couple years later. They were 22 when 9/11 happened and they both decided to go and enlist in the military. They loved the way they lived in America and they wanted everyone else to keep living that way. They felt a great duty to keep that way of life for all Americans”. Even

The plane hijackers took over the planes by sneaking scissors and box cutters through security easily. After people realized this, many of them began to fear what else could happen. My dad is an example of one of the many citizens worried. He said, “Obviously it affected me when I traveled. Before this, I never even imagined something like 9/11 could be possible, but, after it, that sort of thing is all I could think about when I got on a plane”. He traveled a lot for his job at the time, and had no problem flying, but after that, he was stressed to go on a plane. He didn’t step foot on a plane for a few months after the attacks; instead, he took a train as his main transportation for longer trips. Actually, about half of grown american adults showed stress because of 9/11 (High Levels). The attacks obviously lead to the government trying to fortify the security of the nation. The government passed a new bill known as the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act gave the government more power in the realm of hunting and finding terrorists. Security at airports were also majorly beefed up to try and prevent another catastrophe. The president, George Bush, also started to conduct military operations in Afghanistan to try and uproot the terrorist groups. Shortly after starting the military campaign, the President’s approval rating soared up to 90 percent,