20 years after 9/11

20 years ago today, when I was still a junior high school student, I was watching live TV news and watching the smoke billowing from the World Trade Center in New York. Just a disaster movie.

Watching the plane crash into the South Tower; watching the people at the top of the building unable to escape, jumping from a height in desperation to escape the disaster site; watching the two buildings collapse without warning and disappear in front of you in an instant; it's all surreal The impact scene, ignorant I began to understand that the world has been different since then.

At that moment, I heard the words "terrorist attack" for the first time in my life, and I deeply understood what it meant.

At that moment, I felt that life is so fragile, and it may be too late to say goodbye to the family and friends who meet every day on the most ordinary days.

Then, I learned that the world is complicated and changeable. Words that have never appeared in the world I know before: Afghanistan, Taliban, Bin Laden, have been continuously appearing on TV news and newspapers since then.

The plane attack changed the trajectory of many people's lives, changed the direction of the world, and affected the whole world. During the day in New York, it was late at night in Hong Kong, and I couldn’t sleep that night. I felt that the outside world was very unsafe, and I was worried about the safety of my relatives in North America.

In the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States, the passengers and crew of four civil airliners were killed, and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, killing 2,996 people and injuring more than 6,000.

Although New York is far away from itself, the picture of the disaster has become a deep imprint in my heart. Later, I met a pair of American friends during a trip, and they mentioned the September 11 attacks. They were working in Manhattan at the time. They shared with me what they witnessed that day, and how they fled downtown New York in embarrassment. In the middle of the telecommunications system, there is no public transportation in and out, the ATM machine cannot withdraw money, there is no cash on hand, and the credit card cannot work due to system problems. Take the ferry out of the city to escape.

Since then, my friends have kept cash in their wallets for emergencies, and they also have an emergency bag with them when they go out to prevent emergencies. That day changed their living habits, and also changed the security inspection standards of global civil aviation. Important agencies in many countries also strengthened security inspection measures. After passing five hurdles, the identity and background of the visitor can only be entered without risk.

However, after 20 years, the threat of terrorist attacks has not been reduced. Many countries have strengthened their counter-terrorism efforts, but sporadic attacks have occurred from time to time, proving that the conflicts between ethnic groups have not been resolved. Since the outbreak of social movements in 2019, the Hong Kong government has invested a lot of resources in counter-terrorism and national security, and even introduced the "Hong Kong National Security Law" in June 2020. The incident in which a police officer was stabbed was quickly characterized as a "lone wolf attack"; on the other hand, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in recent months, and the Chinese government announced a few days ago that it urgently provided food, winter supplies, and supplies worth RMB 200 million. Vaccines and medicines were given to Afghanistan, and the Taliban also expressed their interest in participating in China's "One Belt, One Road" plan, feeling that the two sides are interested in making friends.

Hong Kong used to be a free city where people could live with peace of mind, but in twenty years it would be inevitable to face the issue of "anti-terrorism". However, is it really possible to resolve social conflicts by means of strong versus strong? The evil of human nature is hard to eradicate, and there are signs that more people worship the efficacy of authoritarianism and ridicule the chaos of the liberal and democratic world. Generational divisions around the world are intensifying. All kinds of struggles seem to be surging. I'm afraid it will end catastrophically.

I remember being at the memorial pool at the Ground Zero in New York a few years ago, looking at the pool with the names engraved one by one, and sighing endlessly. Because of human nature’s struggle for power and profit, countless precious lives are sacrificed in vain, thinking that most people pursue universal values and like the good and dislike it, but human history is a constant cycle. , there is a kind of force majeure that pushes everyone into the abyss.