How has Sept. 11 affected your life?

The Huntington Beach Independent went to Downtown Huntington Beach

on Main Street and asked the question, “How have the events of Sept.

11 affected your life?”

“I am more aware of my surroundings, the value of life, freedom

and the value of the U.S., where we live, our country. After 9/11 I

really, really wanted to bring a holistic approach to people around

Huntington Beach. I was doing yoga at that point and it inspired me

to open up a yoga studio.”

LUIS ZENDEJAS, 28

Huntington Beach

“God ... that’s a hard question. It definitely made me more aware

of safety issues. I have three small kids and it made me focus on

safety, their safety, people I love. My brother was in New York and

saw it happen. He moved back here now and is living with us. It was

too hard to be in that environment afterward for him. I appreciate

people more. The people I love, I have made a definite point of

letting them know I love them because you just don’t know what’s

going to happen the next day or the next hour.”

LAURA SCHNEIDER, 31,

Huntington Beach

“I think it’s put me more on a spiritual path, living more for now

and enjoying my life a lot more. I realized that life is precious and

the silly things I used to complain about are petty.”

LIZANNE ZENDEJAS, 29,

Huntington Beach

“That’s the reason I am here, working three jobs, because it had

an adverse effect on my whale watching business in Puerto Vallarta.

Our infrastructure is strictly tourism. You don’t come, we don’t

live. No planes, no people -- then the planes came but there was

nobody on them.”

CISCO TORRES, 52,

Huntington Beach

“Actually I had to move back to Utah for awhile. I lost my other

job. I went to Utah for four months for work. Then I had an

opportunity for a job out here and came back and that’s with three

kids and a wife.”

JIM GILLESPIE, 35,

Huntington Beach

“I think it’s effected the sense of innocence and security. I am a

writer and it has effected my creativity and writing. It’s underlined

my sense of mortality and I think it’s given me a greater sense of

heroism and greater appreciation of the sacrifices on the front-line

and the police and fireman.

RON BRINKERHOFF, 35,

Huntington Beach