h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was having dinner with a few friends when I first saw this thing on TV. Being a keen follower of news on terrorist threats, it was fairly clear to me that this was the most spectacular terrorist attack in progress, and that things would never be the same again.

Nevertheless, I was shocked by the second plane hitting the WTC, and immediately got onto the instant messenger to check up on/ warn friends in NY to avoid the area around the WTC. Luckily none were hurt.

By the time the night was through, I remember a sense of relief. The war on terror was long overdue, and it was clearly going to be the next war. Having been in a country at the receiving end of Islamic terrorism, I remember a sense of direction. Clearly, the best of the world's resources were going to be channelled into solving a problem that ought to have been addressed long ago.

911 was like the manifestation of a disease in a form that can no longer be ignored. Its victims were not the first victims of Islamic terror, they were also not its most chilling victims. They were nevertheless the first set of victims whose lives were not lost in vain. Terror has since lost its relevance as an instrument of state policy, and the incentive to support the likes of Bin Laden no longer exists for any country in the world. It may not have happened if Mr. Bin Laden had gone about systematically killing 10 people a day (as he has indeed been doing for the last many years). This is the only consolation to those who lost loved ones in the WTC attacks - The loss has not been in vain. It has canged the world.