As I’m sitting here eating lunch, I thought back on the events of 9/11/01. I remember walking into work just minutes after a DJ said the first plane crash was not an accident. Our receptionist directed me to a room with a TV set to Fox News. I waked in just as video of the second plane hitting a tower played.

I don’t remember what the anchors said during those long hours. I just remember the numbness I felt watching so many die on live TV. I still felt numb as I walked outside to a sky with no airplanes. It took days for it to go away.

Maybe 9/11 didn’t change everything, but there were changes. It was conventional wisdom that voters would never support a war that lasted too long. Today, the “War on Terror” rages on with no end and waged by both parties. We tolerate security theater in our airports. (Confession: I was a TSA employee for over a year.) The attack’s also made many people question the value of religion and that helped lead to the rise of New Atheism

There will be more changes as 9/11 becomes a distant memory. Some for the better, I hope. There have also been other events that have affected Americans as well. Still, I can’t help but think that attacks on that day helped shape our current state of affairs.