Real Video- Click On Desired Bandwidth
View The Story
Since the life-changing events of September 11th, we've tried hard to get our lives back to normal.
But, is that really possible?
Is it more likely that instead of getting back to normal in America, we are re-defining exactly what normal is?
Keith McCord reports as we continue our series on a Changing World.
Immediately following September 11th, we were all in a cloud. We couldn't move.
But, as the days went by, we realized that we needed to get out of the stupor we were in, and get going.
And, if we stop and think about it, all of us have probably started thinking and acting and doing things different than before, and we may not even know it.
Something has happened to us.
Think about it:
We're more friendly and caring.
Laura Bush/First Lady: "AND I THINK THE ATTACKS HAVE CAUSED ALL OF US TO REASSESS OUR PRIORITIES AND OUR VALUES."
How about this:
Automobile companies are selling us new cars, and not charging us interest!
People who hate the New York Yankees, actually rooted for them during the recent World Series!
And we discovered that the people who we trust and admire, have struggled just as we have.
Tom Brokaw/NBC News Anchorman: "BUT I FOUND MYSELF LIKE EVERYBODY IN NEW YORK, YOU WEEP AT UNEXPECTED TIMES. YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN IT'S GOING TO HIT YOU."
As Americans work through the shock and anger of September 11th, we are trying desperately to get back to normal.
But "normal" is different now... at least for awhile.
For example:
--Being patriotic is, well, cool again.
We fly the colors proudly.
We're listening to Country and Western music more than ever, and songs about the USA are flying off the shelves at music stores!
LEE GREENWOOD SINGS: "AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN, WHERE AT LEAST I KNOW I'M FREE...."
Cindy Petrovich/Starbound Records: "FOR MYSELF, I LIKE TO SEE PEOPLE FINALLY STANDING AT ATTENTION, AND APPRECIATING AND RESPECTING WHAT OUR COUNTRY STANDS FOR AND THESE SONGS REALLY BRING THAT OUT.
Media advertising changed.
Companies stayed off the air for the first few days after September eleventh, but when they came back...
M-Lisa Cline Luke/ V.P. Selph & Smith Advertising: "THEY HAD DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT MESSAGES. MOST IMMEDIATELY, IT WAS EXPRESSING THEIR SYMPATHY FOR WHAT'S GOING ON."
Some advertisers even focused on our fragile state of mind.
TV Commercial: "IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS EXPERIENCING UNSHAKABLE GLOOM, SADNESS OR LOSS OF HOPE, THESE MAY BE SIGNS OF DEPRESSION."
A poll of 500 Utah residents last week by Survey USA offers other examples of our changing lives:
One in 3 people surveyed say, because of September 11th, they are spending more time with their families.
And nearly half said that movies and TV shows are a good way to escape reality in times of national crisis.
That's no doubt one of the reasons why the new Harry Potter movie is setting box office records at theatres.
So, how will all this play out? Is this new definition of "normal" good for us?
TOM BROKAW: "I THINK FOR THE MOST PART THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE PERFORMED MAGNIFICENTLY."
This isn't the first time Americans have felt 'unsettled' in their lives.
Pearl Harbor certainly changed the world. So did Vietnam, and the assassination of President Kennedy.
September 11th is another date in history that we won't ever forget.
And now, we work to make sense of it all.
LAURA BUSH: "I'VE SEEN PEOPLE HELPING STRANGERS. I'VE SEEN STRANGERS BECOMING HEROES. I'VE SEEN THIS COUNTRY AT IT'S BEST."
A couple of other items.
Even the comic strips have changed. This Thursday--Thanksgiving-- the creators of 100 newspaper comic strips will draw special cartoons, to honor the victims of the attacks.
