Reflective Thoughts
9/11 will always mean something more to me than to most. Like many people I watched the horror unfold before my eyes. I am nineteen now--almost twenty--but I was fourteen then. At fourteen, watching an attack of that magnitude leaves a serious impression.
It is a sober reminder than we are not safe from everything in the world. That a determined enemy can hit us, and cost us our dearest blood. Most of all, I believe it taught me that there are things bigger than myself in this world. That my world, while it should remain "normal," should revolve around things that a bt more important than shopping, hanging out, and generally making a nuisance of myself.
And mybe that is where my "right turn" came from. I know that much of it came from my brother, who realized that left unattended to, I was going to be just like my father. And while I love my father dearly, the man is, quite simply, wrong. See, Dad is a liberal. Dad stated that on 9/11, we got what we deserved. Not only do I find his view of that day sickening, but stupid, as well.
Despite our supposed and believed sins in this world, such things do not equate to over 2900 lives being snuffed out for them.And the idea of those sins definitely lies in how one views this nation. Are we a force for good purposes, or ill? Personally speaking, I believe this nation to be the former rather than the latter.
Now there seems to be a number of people in this nation that act much like my father does. We deserved it. Or, they have simply forgotten. Five years is a long time, and one would think that such an act would be difficult to forget. I certainly think so, but many act as though they have. Or, like many of my friends, do not think that 9/11 really affects them. After all, we live in Arizona, not New York. We do not lve in DC. None of what happened that day affects us at all.
It affected me. I watched my brother sign up, and go off to war. He heard the calling, and he lived in arizona. The day affected him. And I am still haunted by what I saw that day. And if that was my reactiuon watching the events unfold on television, I can only imagine--and I empathize--with the rescue workers at the Trade Towers site. You also cannot get a feel for what the devestation was like except in pictures. I have seen the scar in the earth where those towers used to stand. I can now gauge the full scope of the destruction. Granted, the area appears much more, shall we say sanitized, than what those pictures showed.
Being here on the fifth anniversay of this tragic event meant something to me. A chance, hopefully, to get some sort of closure. I do not wish to forget it, and I doubt I ever could. But I did want to see the site, and I did want to see how New York would remember the day they became a target; the day the was delivered in spades to our doorstep.
The people here have not forgotten it. And no one in this nation ever should. It was the single most horrific day of my life. Like Thomas acknowledged earlier this morning. lives changed from the catastrophe of that morning. I think it made me more attentive and aware of things going on. I think it also prompted me to pay close attention to how we reacted. The reaction is not what I expected, but with many in this nation memories are short, and there are things more important.
We are seeing this play out more than ever right now. There are people who are calling for the ouster of the president, and they are running for office. Sad, is it not? That we have people in this nation so blinded by pettiness, and a lust for power that they would even consider the thought of impeaching the president in the middle of a war. And one, no doubt, that they blame him for.
And here we stand, five years later, with part of the populace remembering those that died, remembering the some that gave all on that day. The other part stands on the side and yawns, caring even less today than they probably did on that day. Such a selfish thought. A lot of people died that day--a lot of innocent people who were merely bystanders in a war they did not even know existed. And they sure as Hell never thought they would be on the front lines of it.
To our enemies, we are the infidel. One of many sources of evil, and identified as the primary source of it in the world. All because we do not share the view of the world that they hold, nor do we share their dreams of conquest. This is a Seventh Century ideology trying to make it's way in a Twenty-First Century world. The counted on America to not fight back; they counted wrong. They picked the wrong fight with the wrong nation. we have shown steely resolve int he past, and other nations have felt the force we wield. These barbaric animals have tasted it, as well.
For them, there is no better place. On the contrary, we have a better place for them. It is called a pine box, or a body bag. That is where I want our enemy. And let their deaths serve as a reminder to the next who gets the funny idea to attack us. It is not wise to raise our ire, and call us out. Bad things happen, and it mostly happens to our enemy.
Marcie
9/11 will always mean something more to me than to most. Like many people I watched the horror unfold before my eyes. I am nineteen now--almost twenty--but I was fourteen then. At fourteen, watching an attack of that magnitude leaves a serious impression.
It is a sober reminder than we are not safe from everything in the world. That a determined enemy can hit us, and cost us our dearest blood. Most of all, I believe it taught me that there are things bigger than myself in this world. That my world, while it should remain "normal," should revolve around things that a bt more important than shopping, hanging out, and generally making a nuisance of myself.
And mybe that is where my "right turn" came from. I know that much of it came from my brother, who realized that left unattended to, I was going to be just like my father. And while I love my father dearly, the man is, quite simply, wrong. See, Dad is a liberal. Dad stated that on 9/11, we got what we deserved. Not only do I find his view of that day sickening, but stupid, as well.
Despite our supposed and believed sins in this world, such things do not equate to over 2900 lives being snuffed out for them.And the idea of those sins definitely lies in how one views this nation. Are we a force for good purposes, or ill? Personally speaking, I believe this nation to be the former rather than the latter.
Now there seems to be a number of people in this nation that act much like my father does. We deserved it. Or, they have simply forgotten. Five years is a long time, and one would think that such an act would be difficult to forget. I certainly think so, but many act as though they have. Or, like many of my friends, do not think that 9/11 really affects them. After all, we live in Arizona, not New York. We do not lve in DC. None of what happened that day affects us at all.
It affected me. I watched my brother sign up, and go off to war. He heard the calling, and he lived in arizona. The day affected him. And I am still haunted by what I saw that day. And if that was my reactiuon watching the events unfold on television, I can only imagine--and I empathize--with the rescue workers at the Trade Towers site. You also cannot get a feel for what the devestation was like except in pictures. I have seen the scar in the earth where those towers used to stand. I can now gauge the full scope of the destruction. Granted, the area appears much more, shall we say sanitized, than what those pictures showed.
Being here on the fifth anniversay of this tragic event meant something to me. A chance, hopefully, to get some sort of closure. I do not wish to forget it, and I doubt I ever could. But I did want to see the site, and I did want to see how New York would remember the day they became a target; the day the was delivered in spades to our doorstep.
The people here have not forgotten it. And no one in this nation ever should. It was the single most horrific day of my life. Like Thomas acknowledged earlier this morning. lives changed from the catastrophe of that morning. I think it made me more attentive and aware of things going on. I think it also prompted me to pay close attention to how we reacted. The reaction is not what I expected, but with many in this nation memories are short, and there are things more important.
We are seeing this play out more than ever right now. There are people who are calling for the ouster of the president, and they are running for office. Sad, is it not? That we have people in this nation so blinded by pettiness, and a lust for power that they would even consider the thought of impeaching the president in the middle of a war. And one, no doubt, that they blame him for.
And here we stand, five years later, with part of the populace remembering those that died, remembering the some that gave all on that day. The other part stands on the side and yawns, caring even less today than they probably did on that day. Such a selfish thought. A lot of people died that day--a lot of innocent people who were merely bystanders in a war they did not even know existed. And they sure as Hell never thought they would be on the front lines of it.
To our enemies, we are the infidel. One of many sources of evil, and identified as the primary source of it in the world. All because we do not share the view of the world that they hold, nor do we share their dreams of conquest. This is a Seventh Century ideology trying to make it's way in a Twenty-First Century world. The counted on America to not fight back; they counted wrong. They picked the wrong fight with the wrong nation. we have shown steely resolve int he past, and other nations have felt the force we wield. These barbaric animals have tasted it, as well.
For them, there is no better place. On the contrary, we have a better place for them. It is called a pine box, or a body bag. That is where I want our enemy. And let their deaths serve as a reminder to the next who gets the funny idea to attack us. It is not wise to raise our ire, and call us out. Bad things happen, and it mostly happens to our enemy.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 8:21 AM
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