Tony Overman/The Olympian
Daniel Hornick of Olympia walks past a U.S. flag mural in downtown Olympia that has been defaced with graffiti and posters. Hornick says he also feels the need to question America's actions during the war on terrorism. "The feeling I get from people is they are showing the flag in support of bombing," he said. "That ain't in the interest of peace."

Life since Sept. 11

Awareness, perspectives changed more than anything else

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Sunday, March 10, 2002

OLYMPIA -- How could we not be changed? Though 3,000 miles away, South Sound residents felt new degrees of terror, emotion and empathy as the terrorist attacks -- now known in shorthand as Sept. 11 -- made history.

South Sound residents gasped, jaws gaping in shock as their televisions brought unthinkable images.

Some thought life would never be the same as the latest information from newscasts, newspapers and Web sites took attention away from work, play and family.

Yet the business of living went ahead amid a U.S.-waged war, a downward-spiraling economy and anthrax-infested mail.

Now, six months after the disaster, South Sound residents hold different, often conflicting views of how Sept. 11 changed -- or should have changed -- the American people.

Patriotism, fear, peace activism, racism, mourning and -- perhaps, above all -- politics tie South Sound residents to the lengthening, widening wake of Sept. 11.

As troops fight a cold, dangerous war in Afghanistan, Lilia Taoipu of Lacey loops white Christmas lights around her arm and shoulder as she takes them off the roof of her home in The Meadows subdivision.

Not only is business still slow at the Fast Track Chevron where she works, Taoipu said, but also her children are wondering when the world will be back to normal.

"They're still dealing with 'How about if we lose the war? What's going to happen to us?' This is putting a big burden on them."

Sept. 11 is still happening in other ways, too, Taoipu said, as manifested in the recent deaths of American ground troops.

"Still there's American people dying. I don't think it's healing. Our hearts are going out to those families.

"They haven't found him yet," Taoipu said of Osama bin Laden.

But Taoipu said her faith in the country isn't dying.

Though the family's flag was stolen when it was displayed outdoors after the attacks, Taoipu's family still hangs a flag inside the house.

Taoipu's husband, a tractor-trailer driver, displays a flag on his truck, too.

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Sam Rahmati of Olympia, an Afghan-American born in Kabul, said though business is bad at his Oriental Rugs Warehouse and Antiques in Olympia, life overall is back to routine.

"Normally, in times like these, it only takes five, six months," Rahmati said. "People kind of have a tendency to forget about things. I guess we have to. You can't hang on to things forever."

Rahmati, pleased with the war effort, said he's gained respect for President Bush.

"He's the kind of person, when he says something, he goes for it, and he does it -- and I really admire that," Rahmati said. "Can you imagine if they would have left this going on, what could've happened in the United States or around the world?"

Now Rahmati sees children on TV playing freely in the streets of his homeland with the protection of U.S. servicemen and women.

"Did it affect me? Yes, it did," Rahmati said. "It made me, actually, feel closer to home than before. Seeing the people, seeing these kids -- they go outside and they can play. You see the soldiers -- like angels -- guarding these kids."

Though the attacks on New York City and the Pentagon terrified much of the nation six months ago, Rahmati feels more secure now.

"I definitely feel safer," Rahmati said, "There are so many people paying attention to their surroundings. When a car drives by in your neighborhood, you kind of pay attention more than before."

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Jo Love Beach of Panorama City in Lacey said the long-term effects of Sept. 11 have been a little more subtle for her.

Now, almost subliminally, Beach -- who was a teen-ager when Pearl Harbor was attacked -- wants to do more to help her fellow man.

"Suddenly things are becoming more important, more precious to me than before," Beach said. "I want to do more for more people than I have done before."

Beach isn't consciously dwelling on the deaths and tragedies of Sept. 11.

"Life goes on," Beach said. "But I think that subconsciously, at least for me, there's a part of me that really doesn't forget."

Seeing the flag still reminds her of Sept. 11.

"It shoots you back to that, but it also shoots you back to a pride for what people have always done, for the most part, in this country."

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The effects of Sept. 11 haven't totally dissolved for Carrie Day of Olympia, either.

She's still trying to explain a war she doesn't believe in to her daughter -- especially when driving by the local protests against the war in Afghanistan and sanctions against Iraq.

"From a 10-year-old's point of view, she sees the bombing of Afghanistan as wrong, and she's asking me: 'Mommy, why don't we stop?' It's having to explain to her why innocent people are dying, why innocent people had to die on Sept. 11."

Day says Americans could have learned a lesson, could have looked inward for answers about why terrorists so brutally attacked the United States.

Instead, Day said, Americans and much of the news media have ignored the history and horrors of U.S. foreign policy.

"We didn't look at it as 'Why are these countries retaliating against us?' But, instead, we started this whole effort to start pointing fingers," Day said. "I think the fingers should be pointing at this cushy lifestyle that's on the backs of poor countries."

Right after Sept. 11, Day attended a peace vigil in Olympia.

"I think it's an eye-opener for America, but I still don't think that they know why," Day said. "What people need to know is, the United States is one of the highest inflicters of terrorist acts than any other country in the world."

Still, Day is getting on with life. Last week, she helped her daughter sell Girl Scout cookies, and more than fighting for peace, Day is spending her energy combating Bush's welfare reform proposal.

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Jeremy Holien, a student at Olympia's Capital High School and New Market Vocational Skills Center in Tumwater, remembers Sept. 11 well.

"My bus ride to school was especially subdued that day, with no conversations going on," Holien said. "As soon as I stepped into my classroom, nobody was in there. My teacher said they were in the classroom next door watching what was going on. I stepped in the other classroom, and everybody was focused around the TV.

"Soon, after a couple days, I stopped watching the news altogether," Holien said. "It had just gotten too depressing."

He said he still has an aversion to topics related to Sept. 11.

"I'm even sick of the TV talk shows showing the babies that were born on Sept. 11," he said. "I think it's really sad that something like this had to happen to bring our country together."

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Debe Edden of Olympia said Sept. 11 and the ensuing war prompted her to examine her identity as an American.

Edden's theater group, the Heartsparkle Players, addressed the issue of Sept. 11 in its latest performance, titled "Stories of What It Means to Be an American After September 11."

"I think there's some distance that folks have because it's been six months," Edden said. "We've seen how our country has responded. We've seen what's happened in the world. We've had a chance to reflect and not just react emotionally.

"If you're an American, it's always a good question: What does it mean to be an American, and how does that change over the course of your life?"

Despite the swell of patriotism since Sept. 11, there are people who don't want to embrace being an American, Edden said. But it's not a choice.

"We are Americans whether we want to be Americans or not," Edden said. "We are on the bus. Our driver is making decisions about what we do. So what is our responsibility as passengers on this bus?

"Do I want to fly a flag? Do I want to say things like 'America, love it or leave it'?

"What does it mean for other folks to do that -- because I want to understand that as well."

- - -

Robert Gentry of Olympia said the tragedy of Sept. 11 shocked him, but it didn't drag him down for days as it did some people.

What struck Gentry most was the uniting effect Sept. 11 had on America's spirit. Suddenly then -- and even now -- Gentry felt more like an American than ever.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Gentry said he encountered racism and other struggles.

"I never had a sense of being an American," Gentry said. "I thought America sucked."

That changed, somehow, after Sept. 11.

U.S. flags in businesses seem to welcome, not reject him.

"It was the first time in my life I felt proud to be an American," Gentry said. "I do feel better these days because I do feel like I'm part of the American family. I think we're still close. We're one family now. We're all American."

But he doesn't know if that will last. "It may fade," he said.

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Aryn of Olympia -- who legally changed his name to omit a last name -- said Sept. 11 made him realize the connectedness of the government and the mainstream media.

Since Sept. 11, bills Aryn doesn't agree with have sailed through Congress in the name of stopping terrorism.

Aryn feels many major media outlets have pushed an unabashedly pro-war agenda.

"It was the biggest example I've seen in my lifetime of how our government works and the whole way the media are connected to influence public opinion."

So now Aryn visits more news Web sites and listens to National Public Radio. "I keep myself better informed," Aryn said. "I'm paying attention to what's going on besides my personal 5-foot bubble, or even Olympia as a community."

- - -

Jeff Estes of Olympia said Sept. 11 caused him to lose his job with The Boeing Co.'s facilities department.

Estes is still searching for work.

"Things changed dramatically for me," Estes said. "The whole nation has felt it."

Sept. 11, Estes said, shocked Americans -- many of them uninformed -- out of an ignorant slumber.

"I think it was a wake-up call for Americans," Estes said. "Americans are kind of conceited and kind of naive about things in other countries. We don't want to think about it, but we have to in a sense. You need to be alert and aware."

Washington state's economy, budget crisis and other factors, he said, are making the painful, subtle, long-term effects of Sept. 11 last.

"All I can say is, hang in there," Estes said. "Things and times will get better."

Sarah Jackson writes for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-704-6871 or sajackso@olympia.gannett.com.

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