Like many people in the United States and internationally, the author was profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks on September 11th and the massive deaths in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The unprecedented numbers of innocents murdered and the massive media coverage combined to form an extraordinarily indelible imprint on hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The objectives of this commentary are to identify (a) the range of normal and expectable reactions to the acts that have been and are being experienced by millions of Americans—and especially those who were distant from the trauma sites, and (b) the relationship between people's personal reactions to the acts and several related social and national policy issues and choices Americans are facing. The author offers this from his perspectives as a proud third-generation Syrian American, Vietnam veteran, social worker, and someone with a long-standing involvement in the field of post-traumatic stress disorder.
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