Posted on 09/10/2011 3:54:54 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
I have thought about it for days now.
I knew it was coming, the same as all of you. In the span of our lives there are few events that serve as markers; birthdays and wedding anniversaries and dates of death. But far fewer in number are those that serve as common cultural mileposts, markers that forever freeze in place a singular moment and each of us, in it.
On September 11, 2001, our lives changed. It is by now a commonplace to say so, but the fact remains: all of us, every American, one way or the other was touched by the act of war perpetrated on our nation.
For some, lest we ever forget, their lives were literally torn apart, forever. For most, we watched in shock and horror at the murderous rampage unfolding before us. We did so in large measure thanks to the brilliant technological advances of the previous century, changes that affected all of us as well, but mostly in the form of welcome improvements to the quality of our lives.
On that day, an otherwise perfect September morning, the achievements of Western civilization were used to both inflict and transmit the horrific works of its enemies. Aircraft representing the genius of modern transportation technology were hijacked, and then, both innocents and perpetrators alike were purposely smashed into buildings symbolic of the greatness of our nation.
Thanks to the advent of television, radio, satellites, and more recently, the Internet, millions of Americans - and billions of world citizens - were made spectators to the one of the greatest acts of intentional murder in history. And the savages who perpetrated these atrocities naturally intended us all to be frightened witnesses, as is the very object of Terrorism: to terrorize, in this event using the tools of modern science to manifest ancient hatreds.
The difference between the perpetrators of the horrors of 9/11 and its victims is a gulf that no amount of modern pseudo-philosophy or Progressive self-abasement can ever bridge.
Good and evil both exist and they are ever at odds. Some people tend to dedicate their lives to acts of affirmation and creation; others to acts of denial and destruction. In between, we choose each day which path to follow; our will flows from our deepest beliefs and the faith they reflect.
What makes a man rush into a burning building to rescue others, who he does not even know?
A sense of duty?
Yes, but duty to what or to whom? To others? Yes, in part; but moreover: a duty to one's own chosen calling in life and by extension, to the truth of our existence and its very meaning.
On 9/11, millions witnessed countless acts of bravery whose final meaning was that our lives, our gifts from God cannot and will not be extinguished by the evil that others do in the service of death and destruction.
The policemen and firefighters and ordinary citizens who put aside their mortal fears and pain and instead labored to rescue their fellow citizens in the doomed WTC Towers and in the Pentagon all stand as a telling rebuke to the Cult of Death, and as an affirmation of the human values that remain unbowed before those who would destroy, rather than create.
The great clouds of dust and smoke have long since settled and the process of rebuilding has, at long last, begun. Memorials are complete, or nearly so. Many of the perpetrators of the crimes of 9/11 have been brought to justice, even as their followers still pursue their evil plans.
There remain among us those who seek to appease, explain, or shift blame - and they are not only wrong but tragically so, for their efforts only embolden the common enemies of man, all too often in the service of a misplaced self-hatred.
When the wind blew strongly, especially on clear late summer and early fall days, I recall the creaking sounds that the building used to make. You could easily hear the metallic groans of the girders and sometimes actually feel the building sway, up on the 79th floor of the South Tower, where I once worked. The windows were huge, gigantic really; offering a stunning view of Manhattan, and New Jersey, and the outlying counties beyond, except on those foggy, rainy or snowy days when there was.... nothing. Like an airplane, flying soundlessly through the clouds. It was awe-inspiring.
For me, it still is.
God Bless America.
Todd Beamer is the guy who tells me things I always wanted to know about the fellows who made up the Maryland 400 at the Battle of Brooklyn. Or, even those guys in the camera shots struggling ashore at Normandy ~ our lives live at the counsel of the grace granted to us by the efforts of heroes ~ many of whom we can never know.
Heroes are so often ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and at times they never anticipated.
Vanity bump.
I was directed over to a discussion where everyone was whining about their tv being interrupted by 9/11 specials and how they weren’t going to watch because it was all btdt, 10 years ago, move along. These were grown people with families who should be a bit wiser. Disgusting.
Somehow, I cannot imagine people who lived through Pearl Harbor complaining because their favorite 1951 radio program was interrupted for a 10th anniversary remembrance. Perhaps that’s an index of how the threads of our culture have been pulled apart in the last couple of generations.
9/11 still leaves a burning hatred for what those bastards did to the country I love
I’ve learned to dread this day because I’m not normally a hateful person and don’t like feeling this way
A couple of MOAB dropped on Medina would sure square things up
Some people woke up, others refused.
The attack and the scope of it was a surprise only to those who pay attention to nothing of any sort outside their daily routine. Or to those who decided long before not to know, in exactly the same way that a wife whose husband starts not coming home until four in the morning half the time and never wants sex doesn't know he is cheating.
The Muslims had attacked the twin towers before.
I was with 2nd MEF during the ninety to ninety one war.
At that time, a lot of us thought it was a blunder of incalculable proportions to deploy the fuel air explosives we used on the Iraqi forces. After decades of manuevering to prevent the world's tinpot dictators from geting access to nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons...we went and showed how much damage could be done with jet fuel. Something readily available.
On 9/11, I spent a lot of time on the phone with “I told you so”s. Not because I was proud, it was a prognostication on the order of telling your wife the car with an empty tank wont make it to town if she doesn't get gas first. My intention was to get people I knew to actually study what the Koran and the Hadith teach. Some have listened, but most know not one whit more today than they did then.
Semper Fidelis.
9/11 was one of those moments in time where we will always remember where we were and what we were doing when it all went down. The shock and horror we felt, even for those of us that were safely far away. The fear of what could happen next was terrifying. Then finding out that it was caused by an ideology of pure evil and hatred. It changed my life.
Some people just want to forget a terrible tragedy.
Sadly, America is weaker today than it was on 9/12/01.
“people who lived through Pearl Harbor”
My folks knew some that died on the Arizona and in Honolulu. I have been fortunate to be able to see the Memorial there. Someone I used to know was part of the Ford Island Memorial designation.
My folks never, ever bought Japanese. Ever. Nor did my family take kindly to my Land Cruiser purchase.
The Markers of our American Way Culture:
Pearl Harbor
D-Day
Death of FDR
VJ day
Assassination of JFK
Nixon Resigns
9-11
What will be the next marker?
Resignation of Obama
Sarah Palin elected President.
I believe the events of 9/11 continue to change all of our lives as the ripples continue to spread and reflect back upon us. Watching the replays of the news broadcasts from that day is like feeling a sudden ache from a limb one lost long ago.
I volunteered at a local rememberance event today. Several fire departments from all over the region did a memorial stair climb to honor the 343 firefighters who died 10 years ago today. It was pretty moving, they all had a badge on showing the photo and name of the person they were climbing for.
I drove one of the freight elevators in Rennaisance Tower to carry these people back down to the basement after they climbed 55 stories of the building their first lap. Firefighters are such jokers, I have 20 people in full gear, some carrying coiled fire hoses, and every trip somebody made a fart joke. On their second lap they got to take the regular elevators down with their families and friends who met them after then end of their total 110 stories of climbing stairs.
It was funny, the elevator was air conditioned but by the time we went from the 53rd floor to the basement it was pretty steamy in there. God Bless those folks, I am humbled to do my tiny bit to help them out.
In between football games (thank God for the respite) I've been watching various 9/11 retrospectives and moving between sadness and anger. I am angry as ever at the people who attacked this country, but I am nearly as angry at those (Paul Krugman, et al.) who continue to blame America first, excusing our enemies and defaming those who sought to properly define our enemies as our enemies and taking the fight to them.
The fight is far from over, and more to the point, there are those within our own borders who are still, ten years later, taking the side of those who wish to destroy America, capitalism, and freedom, in the name of perverse notions of "justice" and "equality", neither of which inspired the attacks on our nation.
Most of America's so-called "leaders" are weak. I would venture to say that most of us are very strong, indeed. We need to rediscover our values and the source of the inspiration that used to impel us to greatness.
In truth, it never came from our leaders, although they used to share it more commonly. It comes from faith, and decency and honor, and love and respect, and a fierce determination to live our lives to their fullest.
We can restore America. We merely need to decide as a people to do so, regardless of the intentions of our so-called "leaders" whose vision too frequently extends only as far as the next election.
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