The devastating acts of terrorism that struck the World Trace Center and the Pentagon also hit too close to home for one ETSU student.
Helen Cornelius is a graduate student at ETSU who had more than just a passing interest in the attacks. She has a cousin who worked in the south tower of the center.
Fortunately, her cousin just happened to be in the Harlem area because of work and was away from his office. It was a fortunate assignment as his office was on a floor that took a direct hit from one of the hijacked airliners.
Cornelius was at work when she first heard the news of the attacks. After several anxious minutes she was relieved to learn that her cousin had not been in the WTC and had called various family members to let them know he was safe. After her initial relief that her cousin was OK came the feelings of surprise, shock and numb disbelief that so brutal and calculating an act could occur on American soil.
Cornelius believes that once the United States finds out who is responsible for these attacks, the country should respond with a full military retaliation.
When asked what her feelings were on the possibility that innocent bystanders could be killed when the U.S. responds to these attacks, Cornelius said it is a regrettable thing, but this is war and civilian casualties can’t be helped. “At least if innocent civilians are killed then it wasn’t a deliberate and planned attack on them as was done to us in this country.”
Cornelius said she was puzzled over how four aircraft in one of the most visible and targeted countries in the world for terrorism could be so susceptible to hijacking on this large a scale. “It just goes to show how ineffective our current safety regulations are compared to countries like Israel who are the standard when dealing with the threat of terrorism,” she said. “There are serious changes that need to be made so that this never happens again.

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