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Posted on 09/10/2013 6:00:00 PM PDT by Kathy in Alaska
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BUT
A nation that celebrates catastrophic defeats is lost. Almost every decision made by our national leaders after 9/11/01 was wrong. Our misguided policies in Iraq and (later) Afghanistan have multiplied our losses and left us weaker.
Of course, Bush's failure to seek victory in our war with Arabia and Pakistan enabled the horrible, perverse electoral consequences of 2006-8 from which we are still suffering.
Here's what I wrote on 9/13/01, by way of a prediction. Turned out pretty well, sadly enough.
Never surrender? We already did.
Good morning, E...(HUGS))...we must never forget.
It’s been raining for several hours again....sounds nice on my skylight.
You and Bo have a great Wednesday.
Thank you for doing your part to help keep all of us free and safe.
Thanks, unique, for the pastries.
Coffee is always on........
How about a cupcake?
Cookies?
Pancakes?
Treats?
Good night.
But we must not give up.....we must keep chipping away.
Thank you so much for honoring the fallen with this sad but lovely 9 11 11 Remembrance thread, dear Kathy..I’m posting a link to it at Amy’s Place.
We Will Never Forget.
Amen..Wonderful post, (((LUV)))
We don’t “celebrate”. We honor the fallen and remember.
This was originally posted (I think) in 2005. It's been an annual repost since then.
At about 8:40am on that morning, I was walking into the Court building on Adams Street (actually, the Court St. entrance) in Downtown Brooklyn to start serving jury duty. As luck would have it, I had been halfway to the train station before I’d realized that I’d left my Walkman on the kitchen table, so I didn’t bother going back for it. I figured I’d just get a newspaper. Besides, I didn’t know how well I’d be able to pick up AM inside the building anyway.
I sat in a dark room watching a video on How to Be a Good Juror, oblivious to what was going on right across the river. We were told to relax in the room that they have and I looked out the window at the Marriot Hotel. Traffic on Adams St was snarled, not moving. Must’ve been an accident on the Brooklyn Bridge, I thought. (It was a block away.)
People were standing around outside the hotel. Must be waiting for a tour bus or something. What did I know.
Fire trucks and ambulances started flying by on the wrong side of Adams Street, which had no traffic. Okay, traffic doesn’t come into Brooklyn much in the morning, but something was odd here. I had been facing 180 degrees from where I needed to be looking.
Finally, they had made an announcement. America was at war, under attack. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon had been destroyed. The were trying to get coverage on the TV sets in the jury rooms. I don’t think they succeeded. Even if they wanted to, only CBS would be available because it still broadcast from the Empire State Building.
People were beside themselves, many broke down, everyone was rushing for the payphones. I met a woman who had been listening to her radio. She let me share her earbuds. She was shaken and needed a cigarette. I don’t smoke, but I walked her to the smoking room. (There was one on the floor. Quite a few people were there.)
We were dismissed. Not much was going to get done in the Court building that week. Groups of people huddled outside with questions, comments, gossip and hearsay. Some of the lawyers said they saw it happen. What kind of plane was it?
Does anyone know if the trains are running? What about the buses? No trains. No LIRR. A few buses and they’re all packed. It was time to start walking and no one wanted to walk alone. We walked in groups.
Dust was falling from the sky in downtown Brooklyn like a dirty snow that was covering the cars. Papers fell too. We started walking up Atlantic Avenue. People were wandering around with their cell phones out trying to get a signal. no luck.
We took a turn down Third Avenue. I needed to. I wanted to stop at my mother’s house. It was a good resting point for me. The group I’d tagged along with decided to join me. One guy stopped in a hardware store for masks and passed them out.
When we passed Third St and reached the Gowanus Canal, we had our first real look. It was like a scene out of a bad movie. The skyline was there. But the Towers were missing. Just a terrible column of smoke and a cloud drifting our way.
We didn’t stay long. We kept walking. I made it to my mother’s house and said good-bye to the others. Some were walking all the way to Staten Island. One who had joined our group had walked over the Brooklyn Bridge — after having walked down 50 floors of Tower 1. God was looking out for him.
I watched some of the coverage until the trains were running again. I took one that left me about a mile or so from my inlaws, the meeting place for the rest of the family. I stopped in at St. Athanasius on the way. I hadn’t been there since a wedding about 15-20 years earlier. I stayed for a little while and walked the rest of the way.
Thankfully, my wife, who worked at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side had evacuated immediately before the trains had stopped running.
It’s not a walk that I’ll forget ever forget.
TS
First year I'm posting this without Mom around. That "resting place" won't be there much longer.
Wednesday Morning Coffee Bump.
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Me too.
WELCOME TO THE
(where our troops, allies and their families can refresh themselves)
Good morning, Everyone. Good morning
Thank you, Ma, for preparing the Canteen for today’s activities.
NEVER FORGET!
When they attacked our country
and murdered our people
it was an act of war.
Must not forget to say thank you to our
AWESOME allies for all they do for us, neither.
Not staying...just sneaking in for a quick check,
and a Hello.
Please stay right where you are.
Keep the troops and their families entertained.
The Canteen is
Come on in and sit for a while.
There's always plenty of coffee, tea,
pancakes, conversation, silliness,
and plain old BS
REMEMBER THEM ~ DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM
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Oh yes, he remembered his songs and learned a new one (Twinkle, Twinkle little star, by Mozart).
No question he’s musically gifted.
However, now word is getting around that I am “Good with “troubled” children...”
I hope I don’t end up being a victim of my own success! EEEK!
((HUGS))Good Wednesday morning, Beach. :-{}
Prayers for All on this sad day.
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