After traveling across the country since early June I am convinced the 9/11/01 attacks have not really affected the country all that much. Life goes on pretty much as before. The 24 hour media outlets like FOX and CNN have hyped this to death. Sure this events affected a number of people in NYC but so does other terrible things like cancer and traffic accidents.

My wife and I are senior citizens traveling across the country in a RV finishing up this month a 14 weeks trip across the country. Even before we did the RV trip we were regular travelers and felt we had the pulse of the nation down pretty well.

We talk to many people as we travel across the country. Places are busy, people are smiling, college and professional sports are thriving and there is limited talk about the events in September. Fear exists within just a small number of people. People are doing things just like before.

I just do not buy the media impression that most people are still mourning, afraid to shop, eat out, travel and go out and live life. Media, please get a life!

Gramps, I think you're dead wrong. Maybe the senior set isn't all that concerned with the deaths of 6000 people but those of us who will (a) have to fight the wars and (b) have to live with the consequences ARE worried. It IS what we talk about on a daily basis. And yes, I'm still tuned into CNN whenever I can be.

Airline bookings are down. Hotels are down. Car rentals are down. The economy is down. How can you say life hasn't changed?

I am very glad to hear your thoughts.

I want to hear someone say good things.

My experience is not the same. two different sets of friends who are planning to go to Florida (Disney, etc..) have been impacted. Flights have been cancelled; One airline went bust (Midway). Then, the 'fear' of the events prompted them to have 'family' meetings to really talk about their own fears of flying.

Other's from the school-parents set have postponed international trips; French class trips to France are cancelled.

Other we know have lost jobs due to the directly affected industires.

This does not mention the ultimate "change" - the friends of friends who lost a spouse.

You may be the first person I know that doesn't know someone who knows someone that died.

By the way, I agree with your negative words against the media. But the mourning and the affected lives, at least in my circle, is real and continuous.

The person who called me gramps shows just how much things have not changed much since 9/11/01. People still discriminate based on age.

I am still convinced that the events on 9/11/01 have had LIMITED effects on America. Sure some people have lost their jobs and others died but people die all the time in good times and bad. There are terrible accidents and illnesses and people we know are sick and troubled but we carry on.

The TV media has 24 hours a day to fill and will have to go back to the silly stories they usually cover like the social security lock box and Gary C. Get out and look at the real America people, life goes on!

How about those of us who live and work in big cities? We work in high rises, we take public transportation, we work in high profile companies. We can't afford to ignore these events, our lives are obviously a little more complicated than yours.

Traveler, I agree with you (I'm 32, so only a 12-year-old can call me "gramps").

I did not lose any family, friends or co-workers in the attacks. And I don't understand how all of the other people who didn't, or who didn't work in the vicinty of the attacks or worked on rescue efforts, talk about sleepless nights and anxiety. I am very sad and angry about the attacks, but at the same time, my life hasn't really changed at all, except for the fact that I have to get to the airport much earlier now. My wife and I still travel (we went to Europe 5 days after the attacks), go out to dinner, spend money, save money, hang out with our friends, see our family, etc.

The world has NOT changed. Terrorism attacks have been going on since humans have walked the earth. The only difference here is that magnitude of the loss of life and the fact that it took place in the United States.

People living in countries where terrorist attacks are commonplace go on about their daily lives, and don't live in some shroud of paranoia.

The U.S. economy typically has a 10-year-cycle. Our economy was already on a down-turn when the attacks occurred. Sure, it hit certain industries very hard, and I'm hoping people like Jack and Sam will start flying again and going out to dinner and living their normal lives, so that those industries can get back to normal and hire all of those people back.

Ongoing Traveler, for most of us, life has changed and it should. I live in NYC but sometimes it looks and feels like
more 'change' when I've traveled outside the city than in it.

Perhaps you meant to be encouraging, optimistic, saying that despite the tragedies, people are not 'letting' terrorists stop us from doing the things we love. And yes, maybe 24 news coverage is too much for some to take (that's why there are other channels) but it's not just the number of deaths that should affect us. It is terrible sadness that
will be always be around, in some way, that anyone could do such evil things.

"Life goes on", we needn't be in a pepertual state of public mourning, and I'm out at the movies, restaurants, theatre, with friends, and will continue to do so, despite fears,anger,and sadness. But to minimize the effect that this will have on all of our lives is even sadder , and even offensive.
I'm the kind of person who hates throwing around quotations for any occasion, but...
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana.

(and Thank you all, Fodorites, for letting me 'rant' a bit here...)

Seems to me that this thread has striking similarities to a thread titled Life in the U.S. was more normal last week than the media states.Get ready for this thread to turn very nasty.Lets see, I know Vita is on vacation right now, gosh I cant remember everyone.Um, Arabella, oh I cant recall all the nastiest posts, we will have to wait and see who shows up for this one.

Well, I wasn't trying to be nasty and my life has changed in the ways I go about my daily business now. I am more wary.
But my personal life has not changed except I appreciate my famiy more, and think twice before I get snippy with them. I still go out to dinner, shop, spend money, laugh, play with my pets, but not as a diversion but as a celebration of life.

Just because people smile and try to act normal doesn`t mean they are not troubled by all the recent bad events. I have had trouble sleeping and have been depressed, but now I am rising above it, as I realize worrying doesn`t help and I need to move on. You can`t judge how people feel by outward appearances.

Maybe some of us know that the world is in the hands of a higher power and we have to trust and have faith. That should not diminish the tragedy that has happened, but it should not paralyze us with fear. We should live each day to the fullest.

I'm not sure driving around the country in a mobile home means you can claim to have your finger on the pulse of the nation. I went to Wal Mart today and everyone looked reasonably "normal." I guarantee that if you asked 100 customers, though, 90 would say "things are different" now.

Troll alert! Nearly the same message exactly was posted in this forum several weeks ago.

The results then were rather dismaying, as the thread turned extremely nasty. That this has not happened here is a credit to participants.

Please ignore 'Ongoing traveler'.

Hey Ongoing traveler I agree with you, people who are living differently obviously don't have anything else to worry about. My life has not changed, nor do I have sleepless nights or anxiety, 5000 dead is nothing compared to the 300 million who live in the U.S. Sorry but some of us have other things to worry about. Worse things have happened in world history - such as the holocaust where 6 million were killed, if things can get back to normal after that then they can get back to normal after this.

I think the reason that people are so upset about this event is it happened in one day, instead of a month of auto deaths at the hands of drunk drivers who are equally as cruel.

The deaths of 6000 people is shocking but it is relatively minor compared with what people in many countries in Africa and other third world areas deal with all the time. Look at the civil war in Sudan, 1000s are dying cruel deaths every week. In America we we living in a paradise in comparison to the rest of the world.

We get all bent out of shape when 6000 die, how about the life of people in the country we are bombing, millions have left their homes and are starving to death. Their crime, where they were born! Americans are a bunch of whimps when it comes to true suffering.

Anonymous, you are very mistaken about me. I don't post vicious remarks. I'm just a gentle travel-loving soul from North Carolina.

Ongoing traveler,
you're right. The only thing that has changed is that 34 % flewer passengers were on airplanes in September.

Fran, you're an idiot. 6,000 people were not killed in an accident, or because they live in an impovershed country. They were murdered, in cold blood and for no reason. And then you have the nerve to call Americans wimps because we aren't used to suffering? How ridiculous. What are you doing to help all the less fortunate?

Ongoing traveler - I guess you don't know anyone who won't fly, is mourning the death of someone, has lost their job, is afraid to open their mail or is trying to find Cipro. Are you kidding? Life hasn't changed? What country is it exactly that you're traveling through?

Fran, you are truly pathetic. It's all relative you moron. Amazing how some people can take a tragedy like this and make it about themselves. And who the hell is talking about drunk drivers? Life has changed. We are all now petrified to do anything. That is terrorism too you know. A climate of fear. It's not just bombs, planes, and the like. It's fear. And unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, the terrorists are doing a bang-up job of disrupting America's way of life. It is affecting my life in that the job market has gone from decent to desolate. We have gotten soft. We are whiny. We do not have the grit that generations before us had. I am more worried about the American people running the country into the ground economically than I am worried about anthrax and car bombs.