But to show that America is indeed winning the war against terrorism, life goes on as usual in the continent, not just in Disneyland.
Unlike in the Philippines, you are not subjected to bag searches when you enter malls or department stores in California. To get into Downtown Disney (which, along with California Adventure, is the Disneyland Complexs newest attraction), the only check you have to go through is a parking booth, where an attendant gives you a card which you surrender on your way out. The queues to the various restaurants and bars in Downtown Disneyan arcade of restaurants and shops just outside Disneylandare kilometric. Entrance to Downtown Disney is free, but you have to shell out $45 if you proceed to Disneyland or California Adventure.
From where I stood, I saw Americans striking back at the terrorists by moving on and living the good life. From where I stood, thousands of local and foreign tourists walking merrily by, Disneyland still seemed like the happiest place on earth.
Like most Filipinos, Ive heard the Cinderella storiesyou know, taking off ones glass slippers (or Ferragamos) before a host of uniformed Prince Charmings. With an open-toed shoe, at least, the princes of security dont have much area to cover in search of a ticking bomb.
But used as I was to stringent security checks at the NAIA, I wasnt traumatized by the checks I had to undergo for this trip, coming as it did a week before 9/11. For one, I wasnt one of those selected at random at the NAIA for a thorough searchdone right in the tube before you enter the plane. When youre selected for a search, they dont care whether youre traveling First Class or Economy or if your luggage is Louis Vuitton or a bayong.
On the plane, the only thing that reminded me that things were not the way they used to be were the plastic knives that came with the silverware, the fine china, and the crisp linen. Otherwise I was on Cloud Nine in Northwests Business Class during the smooth, blissfully uneventful flight to LAa trip I won during a Christmas raffle. Immigration at the Los Angeles International Airport was no problem and Customs did not confiscate the burong pajo I brought in for my mom.
In the malls, commemorative books, magazines and T-shirts about 9/11 abound. On television, not an hour passed that you did not see a video of the bombing of the World Trade Center Twin Towers, with that eerily familiar, almost surreal sight of 110 storeys of concrete and steel collapsing into rubble 10 storeys high.
My mom Sonia and I had a kebab dinner at a restaurant called Ali Baba. Owned by Arab-Americans, it escaped the stoning and burning experienced by some Middle Eastern establishments in the US in the aftermath of 9/11. Today, it has a sticker of the American flag posted on its glass doors. The worst is over for those who had suffered discrimination after 9/11 because of their religion and ethnic origins.
I remember the heartwarming moment when US President George Bush introduced Lisa who was seated in the gallery when he addressed a joint session of the US Congress after 9/11.
Lets Rollwhose hard cover edition sells for $24.99 at Borders and only $13 at Coscois a must-read for those who do not understand why "bad" things happen to good people. Because Toddone of the three most admired individuals in America today, according to the Dallas Morning Newswas a devout Christian, his wife Lisa, a woman of faith herselfstrove to rise above her grief. Lisa, however, does not claim that faith takes away all grief and doubts and the "Why mes?" of a broken heart.
When Lisa, then five months pregnant, heard that the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was en route to San Francisco and it had originated from Newark Airport, she knew in her heart that Todd had gone down with the plane.
According to Lisa Jefferson, the GTE supervisor who took Todds call from the aircraft, Todds last words were addressed to his fellow passengers: "He said Are you ready? Okay lets roll! "
According to Lisa, "Lets roll" was Todds "phrase." "We use that phrase all the time with our boys. When they hear Lets roll, they head for the door. They know that it means a sort of Lets get ready for the next thing were going to do," Lisa Beamer told Lisa Jefferson.
Several of Flight 93s passengers were able to make calls, and for one reason or the other, the hijackers let them.
"The calls describing what happened aboard Flight 93 mean so much to me and to millions of Americans. The courageous actions of the passengers and crew reminded me that on a day when people around the world felt violated, helpless, alone and afraid, there were still people of character, people who in the midst of crisis dared to live to the last second with hope. Truly the valiant heroes aboard Flight 93 fought the first battle in what President Bush declared as a war against terrorism and won."
The book, as its subtitle says, is about "Ordinary people, extraordinary courage."
Lisa recreates in the book, as faithfully as phone records show, what transpired in the last few minutes of the flight. This will leave you with goose bumps.
I had conquered my fear of flying on an American carrier to an American city. And boy, did I enjoy Downtown Disney.