By Cassie DLG Fejeran
\nSpecial to the Saipan Tribune<\/p>\n
The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks brought home the ugly reality of terrorism not just to residents of the United States but to CNMI residents as well, with memories of that tragic day still Technicolor vivid in everyone\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel sad for the victims and their families. The 9\/11 incident has made me wonder if the [United States] government could really protect us,\u201d said Janet Santiago in an interview.<\/p>\n
For much of the world, 9\/11 has become this generation\u2019s equivalent of the Kennedy assassination, with people knowing exactly where they were, what they were doing, and at what time they learned of the attacks.<\/p>\n
Santiago related that her brother-in-law was leaving New York State shortly before the incident occurred. \u201cI was up late watching TV and it just so happened that I switched the channel and it showed the first building that got hit. I called up my sister to know if her husband was still in the state, but she said that he should be coming home already,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Noke Rogopes of Koblerville said that his cousin was expected to board the same plane that crashed. \u201cMy first cousin is in the Marines. He was supposed to be on one of those airplanes. When I heard and saw what happened, I just thanked God that my cousin didn\u2019t go on that airplane,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will never forget what happened,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Three years later, others are still seeking to find the reason behind the attacks. \u201cI don\u2019t know why this had to happen. It made me think how people don\u2019t really know what\u2019s important in life. All they think about it dominating the world instead of helping people,\u201d said Manny Tenorio Jr. <\/p>\n
In memory of the loss, Tenorio said he visits the church every Sept. 11 to burn candles. \u201cI pray and burn candles and remember the people and the innocent lives of those who have died and those who are suffering from their loss,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Despite the tragedy that affected many people, it still remains the same for Rufina I. Duenas and Maria \u201cLilly\u201d Snyder, who were both born on Sept. 11. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for my sister Lilly to celebrate her birthday because everyone nationwide are still mourning their loss,\u201d said Juanita Fejeran. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack brought home the ugly reality of terrorism not just to residents of the United States but to CNMI residents as well, with memories of that tragic day still Technicolor vivid in everyone\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}