Coping Since Sept. 11
NPR Listeners Reflect on Life After National Tragedy

Jennifer Minton and her friend, Shadow. Photo: Courtesy Jennifer Minton

Nine years ago I was the victim of a horrific, random act of violence which nearly killed me. The incident, in which I was run down while riding my bicycle, stabbed and almost kidnapped, left me with a constant feeling of impending danger and the stark, down-to-my-bones reality of my own powerlessness in the face of such brutality.

After working incredibly hard on facing my fears, on healing the scars, and on facing life without constant apprehension, I now see my demons magnified one-thousand fold. The enemy is no longer just the stranger coming towards me in the parking lot, or the car coming up from behind, or the unexpected knock on the front door. Added to this list is the plane flying overhead, the letter I hold in my hand, the infinite possibilities of doom that my already pierced psyche conjures up, hands me in my dreams, descends upon me as I hear the news or read the paper.

I wonder how many other victims of Post Traumatic Stress exist that have had their fragile protective layering shredded by these events? How are they coping? Are they crying like me? Are they crippled once again?

At least, having been "pre-disastered" (in the words of the fictional character T.S. Garp), we are not strangers to the stresses and tensions which so many millions now face and for which they were not "prepared" as we were.

Jennifer Minton
Glencoe, Calif.

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