TrainTrac, you are right. People take things too literally. Bill V knows that the world didn't really stop turning. He took an over-the-top metaphorical statement and refuted it, not to show it was wrong, but to make his own point. His point was that the world on 9/11/2001 was the same as the world on 9/10/2001. The world didn't change. We didn't really become any more, or any less safe that day, or the days since. What changed was awareness. What changed was people's anxiety. What changed was the people.
I think that was what Bill was trying to say.
Our attitudes, or beliefs, and our perceptions define our reality and define the world we live in. People that can get past the emotion of the day-to-day recognize that much of what we believe in, much of what we fear, and much of what we preoccupy our time with is largely out of our control.
For me, that is what 9/11 was. It was a turning point in my life that made me realize that me and my family have to live each and every day as if it might be our last; to not go to bed with any harsh words; to love and live each day to its fullest. I can't control what 13 nutjobs might want to do to my family, or my community, and the reasons that they might want to hurt me or my neighbors are outside of my control, and sometimes even my understanding. But, thankfully, there are many, many more GOOD people in this world than bad, so the likihood of these things happening are low (no higher today than any day before...or any day in the future).
TJR