A Day to Remember 

At approximately 8:45 a.m. on September 11, 2001, an American Airlines Boeing 767, flight 11, collided in to the World Trade Center’s north tower in New York City immediately killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in the 110-story skyscraper. About eighteen minutes later, a second Boeing 767, United Airlines Flight 175, flew into the south tower. Both towers went into flames. Burning debris covered the building that surrounded the two towers and the streets below. Hundreds of people jumped from the towers to their deaths to escape. About thirty minutes later, a third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the west side of the pentagon near Washington D.C. and a fourth plane, United Flight 93, crash-landed into a field in Pennsylvania killing all forty people that was onboard. Meanwhile, both World Trade Center towers collapsed into a terrifying and deadly inferno of rubble. The 9/11 attack is one of the most important events that has happened in world history and has a big impact on the world. It has changed us in many ways. There has been a rise in 9/11 related illnesses, changes to air and travel safety, and changes in oil prices. All of which altered the course of life in the U.S. and around the word.

The terrorist attack has caused illnesses to occur such as respiratory and digestive illnesses, cancers, post-traumatic stress disorders, and more have emerged over nearly two decades ever since. Unfortunately, there are individuals today still suffering from the terrorist attack. “It held a mixture of toxins and irritants that included asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, benzene, dioxin, glass fibers, gypsum, cement particles, and heavy metals such as lead, among other substances. The enormous mass of debris from the fallen towers, referred to as the Pile, continued to smolder until mid-December, heating and combining the toxins. McGuire worked in the area as part of the search and rescue effort to find survivors, and later to recover bodies, until the end of October. He recalled the Environmental Protection Agency announcing in the days following the terrorist attack that the air was safe to breathe. Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency were wrong. According to the WTC Health Program, more than 37,000 people have at least one medical condition related to the 9/11 attacks. In January 2011, nearly a decade after the attacks, President Obama signed into law the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. The Zadroga Act created the WTC Health Program, which provides treatment and covers medical expenses for a list of conditions directly linked to 9/11. So far, that list has more than ninety health conditions. They include numerous aerodigestive disorders, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which were likely caused by the toxic dust people inhaled” (Flannigan).

Ever since the terrorist attack, air and travel around the U.S. has never been the same since the terrorist attack. There has been a whole lot of improvement. Airports have been more strict ever since. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) didn’t even exist before 9/11. The now-ubiquitous organization was actually created in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to strengthen the security of the nation’s transportation systems by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, passed by the 107th Congress in November of 2001. Before 9/11, airport security was contracted out to private companies.

The TSA was created to do three things: take responsibility for all modes of transportation; recruit, assess, hire, train and deploy security officers for 450 commercial airports from Guam to Alaska within 12 months; and provide 100 percent screening of all checked luggage for explosives by Dec. 31, 2002.

Air travel has seen a complete makeover in the past 10 years — for better or worse. A lot of what’s changed goes on behind the scenes. The TSA has multiple layers of security operation every day, including Federal Marshals on aircraft, hardened cockpit doors, and even behavior detection officers. In the past decade alone, the TSA detected 50 million prohibited items, including 5,000 firearms on passengers attempting to board planes. Of course, all of this comes with a price. The TSA is constantly struggling to strike the right balance between what technology is capable of, and what the public is willing to accept. These days, we are subjected to the occasional pat down, revealing body scans, and a small-scale strip down at the security check. We remove our shoes and belts, and place small quantities of liquids in plastic bags. While this can be aggravating, looking back, it seems rather bizarre that items like box cutters were ever allowed on planes. But they were for years before 9/11. Most Americans appear willing to accept the additional hassle, forgo the complimentary snacks, and arrive hours before their flight to sit alone at the gate. It’s the price we have learned to pay to feel safe in our post-9/11 world.

In 2001, crude oil prices surged after the terrorist attacks in the United States, and still have not recovered. In 2001, a barrel of crude oil cost $21.84 per barrel. Going into the Labor Day weekend in 2002, the price of oil hit $30, which was a relatively big bump for the time, according to the Energy Information Administration’s weekly analytical reports from 16 years ago. A decade later, that quadrupled to $95.77, which is the highest record since 1860. By 2017, the price had tapered to $48.05 per barrel, more than double of what it had been before the attacks” (Epatko, Santhanam). Just like today, the fate of the global oil price was being deliberated in 2002 by the OPEC oil cartel. ‘This doubt over a production increase from OPEC has also added some pressure on prices,’ the Energy Information Administration said then. Oil prices began to move upward around the time the U.S. was marking the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York by al Qaeda terrorists. The U.S. made major strides in energy security, Hayward said, both because high prices made the shale patch economical and because they prompted federal action to tighten federal fuel-economy requirements to move the automakers toward making more cars and trucks that conserve fuel. Former President George W. Bush favored federal action to develop a hydrogen car for security purposes, to wean the country off its ‘addiction’ to foreign oil.

There are many events that has happened in world history that has probably put a huge impact on us today, but I truly think that this one is one of the most important events. In conclusion, this information that has been provided is given to prove that the September 11 terrorist attack has changed the world in many ways. It has caused illnesses, changes to air and travel safety, and changes in the oil prices. All in which the terrorist attack has affected us today. It was a tragic day in the United States. The downfall is that there were many people who lost their lives during this tragedy. The positive thing about it is that we are stronger than ever and back on our feet like it never happened.

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