Just to follow on from Mike's rather excellent post, I wanted to tell a little story of my own. Its not an especially important story to anyone who wasnt there, but it was a memory that his post stirred, so I thought I'd share.
On 9/11 itself, the UK came to a total standstill. It was as if time stopped, and the world stopped turning. Just as in NYC itself, the people here are quite resilient and strong, so although there was plenty of pain around, lives quickly started to take shape again.
Around 2 weeks after 9/11, I was due to go into London to see a stage show. We Will Rock You. At the time, I was living around a 20 minute drive into the centre/center of London (we dont call it 'downtown', we call it central London

), so we jumped in the car and drove into town, parked the car, and walked to the theatre. And the show was great

We left the theatre at around 10.45pm, and on the walk back to the car, a really HUGE military helicopter appeared in the very dark night sky. It was shining a VERY bright light down onto the streets, kind of like a spotlight, but it was as bright as a million suns.
I was utterly terrified. I froze on the spot, and literally couldnt move. The lady known as the Former Mrs GSG fainted, purely at the sight of the helicopter, and other people in the area fell to the ground. Some clambered their way underneath trucks or buses, and one young kid was hit by a car, because I assume he was separated from his parents and he ran into the street.
There was a feeling of blind terror in the whole area. Literally everyone was in a panic.
London has a population of around 12 million people (depending on how you define 'London'), and on a Saturday night in central London, the streets are jam packed with people, and for as far as the eye could see, people were frozen with panic, and it was because we all feared it was our turn. Purely because of one helicopter shining one light down onto the streets of the capital.
So as I said, 9/11 was truly a global event. At times of peace, I certainly wouldnt have frozen in my steps at the sight of a helicopter. I'm pretty rough and tough, I've been through many 'situations', and few things frighten me, but that night, my body solidified, as did many thousands of other bodies close to me.
I think we should always remember that 9/11 drilled a hole into all of our souls, even those of us that were many thousands of miles away. As one of my favourite bands (Tears for Fears) once sang, 'memories fade but the scars still linger'.
Anyway, I just wanted to share. Boring I know...