@Mountaindewed, 9/11 was indeed very scary. I was 31 years old at the time, and coincidentally rather ill with my bipolar disorder. I am from the NYC/NJ/Philly area, so it seemed quite close to home. My husband and I took his nephew to the top of the WTC only three months before in July 2001. What made the attacks so horrible is that they all happened on US soil. Because of that, the blissful security most Americans felt in their otherwise "strong" and secure homeland was crushed. What was extra hard for my community was that the anthrax attacks (to those who remember) followed only one week later. Our post office was temporarily closed because some of the letters went through there. Then we were soon after receiving yellowed letters in plastic bags, that had been "treated" for possible anthrax. I confess that sounds like low-flying planes terrorized me around that time. The paranoia of mental illness (and attacks) exacerbated the fear. My illness worsened, and then one year later my mother died, unexpectedly and suddenly, of cancer. Another severe attack.

It's hard to properly compare the above-mentioned horrors to certain others. I can say that I'm far more concerned by what may face us in the future. Attacks from within continue, but are more from domestic foes and will affect the whole more directly. It's extra frightening when the attacker is an internal illness that to some is not initially recognized. At first lurking like a spider, then pouncing and a form of slow strangulation. What's brewing in the world now is horrible. It's almost impossible to stop.

Then, there are also foreign attackers waiting nearby (even off the shore). Quietly. My husband understands a little Russian, as it was forced on him during communism. A Russian official says the US (and allies) is to blame for Ukraine. That's a lie and a way to excuse possible things to come. There are some in the US who are ready and willing to support that as a means of taking power again. The end of democracy is 50 times more frightening, to me, than 9/11 and anthrax, together. This time, I'm currently mentally stable. Yet tragedy can change that.

My advice to Americans? Don't limit yourself to only the news you think you believe in. It's important to see the "other side's" news, while the other side's perspective is still permitted in the country. That freedom of press can change. An autocracy is quick to label news as false/fake and journalists as demons. Familiar?

In history, there are many cases when groups of people believed certain horrors to be so bad that they wouldn't happen, or at least never happen again. But they did. Putting one's head under a pillow doesn't prevent such things. Strength and security must be planned for and risen up to to the best of one's ability. That helps a lot. Totally unexpected stuff is out of our control.