I don’t feel threatened at all, no more or less than before September 11, 2001.
Like Ami I never even fathomed jet airliners being used as missiles before they were, and I always thought I was pretty good at thinking of things like that. (I don’t think that way anymore)
I live on a crowded island just east of Manhattan Island. I go into Manhattan several times a month for business or pleasure. I transverse the bridges and tunnels all the time and never really give it a second thought. The only difference I have to pay attention to the electronic signs now. Depending on the security situation I sometimes am not allowed to drive my full sized van on the lower level of large suspension bridges or into tunnels. (I always preferred the upper level anyway as the view is much better
) There are large chemical and fuel processing facilities around here and I do not feel any more unsafe than I used to. (Accidents can and do happen from time to time)
To avoid the traffic associated with where I live I do take the automobile ferries from Long Island to Connecticut if I am traveling that way. It really takes the same amount of time, but the trip is much more enjoyable. (There is even a bar aboard ship
) I average two or so ferry trips a month, more now that the relatives I am closest friends with moved to eastern Connecticut. (I’ll be taking the ferry tomorrow)
Last month on a ferry trip I noticed a lot of uneasy people. (I was not one of them) We departed Long Island in a heavy fog. About half way across the Long Island Sound the ferry slowed down and stopped, blowing the horn more and more frequently as we slowed. I was on the outside upper promenade and saw a lot of folks looking nervous. I tried to ease their concerns saying that I thought it was just shipping traffic. When the ferry reversed engines I saw poking out of the fog on the starboard side a large recreational yacht (about 70’) cruising at about 15 knots in a path heading across our bow. The captain of that vessel must have seen the ferry about the same time as he shut down his engines. He was about 300 yards away when he finally stopped. The captain of that yacht must not have been paying attention to the radar (He did have a radar unit) and could have rammed us.
Our captain obviously was paying attention to his radar, but even if the yacht hit us it really would not have done much damage. Even a large fiber glassed hulled vessel does not stand a change against a steel behemoth. I must admit it was funny to see our captain flip him “the bird”
. (I
love New York) He then reported the incident to the Coast Guard who then intercepted the yacht and did a safety inspection. (I was told of this by a mate)
I attend baseball games in Queens regularly and never have once felt uneasy in a crowded Shea Stadium that is basically at the end of the runways of LaGuardia Airport. In an act of defiance I attended the first baseball game played in New York after September 11, 2001 at Shea Stadium. I guess the other 50,000 or so folks there were not nervous either.
The low flying jets and the noise offer a unique ambiance. A small plane did crash into the upper deck of Shea Stadium a short time after a New York Jets football game was played there years ago. A B-25 Bomber also struck the Empire State Building years ago but that has not stopped me from going to either place. Like I said before accidents can and do happen from time to time.
I live in a heavily populated area that has received the brunt of the attacks of September 11, 2001 but I refuse to feel uneasy or unsafe. I refuse to live my life in fear.
