"Talk of the Town" Updike, Sontag

This reading had an effect on me that I did not expect at first. I have read many pieces about the attacks on September 11th, but none touched me as much as John Updike's. His personal recollection of the attacks, and his first person account, are similar to many other's accounts of that horrendous day. But his last three paragraphs really touched me. I had never before read an article that found a bright side to that day.

When thinking about 9/11, my thoughts always tend to drift in the direction that Susan Sontag's beliefs have. I blame the government for the reactions that followed that day, forever living in infamy, and before I had read Updike's article, I would have agreed fully with Sontag. Politicians rarely feel the need to tell the public the whole truth. This can be good in some cases, but with the attacks, the public needed to know the whole story. America needed action, not reassurance.

My previous views were altered, even if only slightly, by Updike's recollection. It made me think about the attacks in a different way than I had before, and that is a good thing. Reading Sontag's article was one of those things that gets my blood pressure up. I agree with everything she wrote about and it made me want to go take action if the politicians can't do it themselves.