The scene plays over and over in my head as if the film reel is stuck on the same few frames: A plane is flying directly into a skyscraper and explodes upon impact as smoke and flames billow out of the middle of the building. Stop, rewind, replay. Watching it again and again doesn't make the reality of the situation any easier to comprehend. In fact, it makes it worse.
On Sept. 11th at 10:01 pm in Hong Kong, the shrill ring of my mobile phone interrupted my sleep and I fumbled around in the dark to answer it, mumbling a sleepy "hello" to the caller. It only took a few words to jolt me out of unconsciousness. New York City . . . plane crash . . . World Trade Center towers . . . bodies. Suddenly wide awake, I bolted into the living room of my flat only to see my roommate standing in front of the TV with the remote dangling from her hand and a look of astonishment across her face. I followed her gaze and watched people screaming and running through clouds of smoke. Confusion. Mayhem. Disbelief. I knew this was bad, but at that point I didn't realize that my life would never be the same again.
Between busy signals, dead phone lines and the news from CNN, I remained in shock that entire night. Redial, have to get through to someone . . . need to know, have to know, is everyone alright? I don't understand . . . why? Looking back, I can say that even though tears were streaming down my face, my emotional state was one of numbness. I didn't know how to feel or what to think because I was physically so far away from the situation, but I knew that as an American I would now have to face a different kind of reality no matter where I lived.
The next few days and weeks of my life were filled with uncertainty. Would I have to leave Hong Kong? How would people react here? Would they be supportive of the U.S. government's reaction to terrorism? Were Americans here safe? Hundreds of questions filled my head yet answers remained scarce. At times I wondered if they would ever surface.
My teaching job in Hong Kong had just begun a week before the terrorist attacks, and although at first I was hesitant to discuss this topic with my students because we were still trying to get to know one another, it soon became apparent that the topic was unavoidable because it had become a part of who I was as a person and they needed to know that.
At the end of one of my classes a student raised her hand and asked me if we could talk about "9/11" (a popular Hong Kong catch phrase used to refer to the attacks). I began by discussing my feelings and reactions to the attacks, and soon the entire class was joining in. Some students were visibly upset about what had happened and said that people in Hong Kong were scared for Americans. After many supportive comments, one student raised his hand and offered a different opinion. He felt that Americans meddled in other people's business one too many times and that this was a lesson for them that "their way is not the only way."
His comments stung me a bit, but I wasn't too surprised. Although the mainstream media in Hong Kong has mainly been supportive of America's decision to fight the Taliban and search for Osama bin Laden, one popular weekly magazine here offered an interesting view on the situation. After voicing their feeling of "a general gloom" about the situation, the editorial staff went on to comment on the bigger picture:
"Those of us to have the good fortune to live in the international world - that is, the world outside the U.S. - know that we are not all of one religion, one language or one political system. We live in a big world where people have diverse, and often, diametrically opposed views. And while it's commendable to want to stamp out terrorism, it might also be a good idea to pause and reflect upon some of the grievances that people in the rest of the world have towards the U.S." (Hong Kong Magazine, 9-21-01)
Perhaps there is a point here. It is undoubtedly necessary to send a message to terrorists that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. However, our government should take this opportunity to evaluate its actions towards other governments and think not only about what is in the best interest for the United States during international interactions, but also what the best course of action is considering each individual situation.
Even though talk on the street about the attacks and the war has died down considerably, no one has stopped thinking about what happened. If anything, the news reports and publications make it an impossible topic to avoid.
Although I do not know what it feels like to be living in the United States during this time, I have the privilege to view the situation through a different lens, and this has enabled me to listen to alternative opinions with an open ear. If we are to learn anything from this tragedy, we must not avoid discussing it, but instead make it an international issue and take all viewpoints into account, whether we agree with them or not. Bethany Aquilina '01 is a former politics major. She is currently in Hong Kong and can be reached at baquilina@alumni.princeton.edu.
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