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How Has 9/11 Affected Our Lives

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September 11, 2001 is a day that will forever live in infamy inside the hearts and minds of American citizens. On that morning, the world saw live the destruction and devastation that terrorism can deliver right to our own backyard. Shocking images of the whole tragedy can still be seen on television even now, a whole six months later, yet even now it still seems unimaginable. As most Americans know, the Federal Government has implemented a huge amount of change to our foreign and domestic policies as a result of 9/11. The most noticeable of these in our everyday lives can be seen in our nation’s airports. Huge amounts of money and resources have been spent to help make sure that such a travesty will never …show more content…

It is at this point, after the passengers have had themselves and their property searched twice (at the ticket counter and security checkpoint), do they again become subject to hand wands, pat downs, and bag searches. Only after all of these procedures have been completed is the passenger allowed to board the aircraft. Although all the checks that passengers go through may be tedious, they are not much compared to the increased workloads endured by airport employees after the terrorist attacks. This leads me to my personal explanation of how 9/11 has affected my life at work.
Being a checkpoint supervisor before and after the attacks, I have seen first hand what changes have been brought to civil aviation. In the months following September, the workload at my checkpoint has increased so drastically that three extra workers have been hired for each shift just to compensate for the extra load. The rise in labor is obviously not due to more passenger flow, but to the strict policy changes brought about by the FAA. It would not be so hard on employees if the aviation administration would stop changing guidelines and directives so much. I find it very hard to adjust perfectly to each new ten-page directive every time one is issued and I constantly find myself in a struggle between my supervisors and the screeners I am in charge of.

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