In the months following September 11, 2001, I recall reading about many New Yorkers who moved themselves and their families out of the city. Other families abandoned other world cities, worried that they lived to close to a “bulls eye.” However, in the years that have passed, such moves for safety reasons have become almost unheard of. Sure, people still leave New York for family or economic reasons, such as blogger Penelope Trunk did recently. And some New Yorkers report continued anxiety on bridges, tunnels, and certain subway stations. But businesses and people have stayed in New York - that’s “where the energy is.”

Yet, an edge of fear has become the new normal for city life — life goes on. This reminds me of growing up during the cold war when we were told that (a) we wouldn’t grow up, a nuclear war would happen and kills us; because (b) all major cities were targets (including Vancouver where I grew up). But, for over 40 years the world lived fearing a nuclear catastrophe, especially city dwellers, and life went on.

Everyone learned to live with the fear or left the cities to live in isolated rural areas far from military targets–until research on nuclear winter suggested living outside of cities wouldn’t necessarily help. Thus, it became futile to try to figure out how to survive a nuclear war — if it happened, you’d likely die anyway so you might as well die in a nuclear explosion rather than slowly starving to death and suffering from radiation poison. By the time the cold war ended, people increasingly gave up worrying about it.

There’s probably a lesson from surviving the cold war for surviving an age of terrorism. Curtailing your life, your comfort, and your enjoyment to avoid being a victim of a terrorist attack is a waste of time — changing your life to feel safer may be a good idea, but a therapist might be as useful as moving as would just researching the facts to gain some perspective.

Note that in 2001, over 42,000 Americans died in car accidents. About 3000 died on September 11. How many people worry about car accidents such that they let it control their lives? (other than perhaps wearing a seatbelt) — very few.

This has been a rambling blog, as I myself think about September 11, and general safety in cities. Thanks for reading. And, as recommended on the CEO for Cities Blog – Go do a good deed in memory of those who suffered on and after Sept 11 in New York and around the world.