I can’t front. I haven’t felt right in my own city since that day. It is six years afterward and I still feel uneasy. I have lived in NYC for about 90% of my life. I lived in Harlem during the crack explosion of the 80’s. I was here in the early 90’s when we were averaging nearly 3000 murders per year. And despite that, I can’t remember EVER being tense walking around my city.
Have the terrorists really won or am I just in need of therapy? I am not really sure. I know that NYC, and America in general, feels radically different to me. I don’t like crowds anymore. I don’t like riding the trains or buses either. I know that being stuck in traffic on a bridge makes my heartbeat race.