Posted on 09/13/2001 3:39:12 AM PDT by Clive
What a world we live in, where we can watch mass murder, live on TV, endlessly repeated. We sit riveted by the pictures, which seem all the more surreal because they come so far ahead of any real information about the human damage.
We watch the familiar tourist attraction crumble, but we don't hear the screams or see the carnage - not yet.
Those of us from the generations that have never known war have only one frame of reference for this kind of horror - it's like something out of a movie. We know how idiotic that is, but we don't know any other way to react.
Three things shook me out of that CNN-induced stupor this morning. The first was a mother's voice, breaking, over the phone. My mother.
"It's times like this I wish our family was all under one roof," she said in what can only be described as a sort of hug via voice mail. It's an understandable reaction in the face of catastrophe, wherever it may unfold. It had nothing to do with the shutting down of the CN Tower, or the diverting of incoming U.S. flights to Toronto. It was the basic human desire to reach out, to make sure your loved ones are all right - and this morning, similar phone calls were being made around the world.
The second thing that drove the horror home was the moment the first World Trade Centre tower collapsed. Up until then, looking at the still-standing, smoking, flaming, gaping buildings, it was still possible to believe the terrorists had been foiled, just as they were in 1993. It was still possible to believe it had been contained - that the top-security measures put in place after that first botched bombing would stand as proof that you can't mess with the U.S., the most secure, most powerful nation on Earth, so easily.
Not anymore.
Now we sit powerless, as state-of-the-art technology brings us all the hideous pictures - yet our attempts to contact real people are frustrated. Phone lines are jammed. Planes are grounded everywhere. Even the miraculous Internet temporarily seizes up. We're so close to each other, yet so far. In the face of an act of war, the bond of all this technology, like those two once-proud towers, is more fragile than we think.
The third thing that made the surreal pictures real was the bulletin line that came across the CNN screen, saying any U.S. flights to Washington and New York that hadn't already been grounded were being diverted to Canadian airports. I shuddered when I saw that.
Not because of the extra traffic, the massive security challenge it would impose, or the huge pressure it would place on our borders.
But because it drives home the reality Canadians will have to face in the coming days as this tragedy unfolds.
We are more than just a nation of shocked bystanders, sitting comfortably in our homes, wringing our hands.
We are a nation whose own security problems are now going to be put to the ultimate test.
Our notoriously porous border, our spotty record for allowing terrorists and war criminals into the country, our terrible lapses in deporting dangerous infiltrators - all of this must now come home to roost for all us.
To his credit, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, rarely the great communicator, issued a strong, well-worded statement this morning, even stronger in its language than that initially put out by U.S. President George W. Bush.
"It is impossible to fully comprehend the evil that would have conjured up such a cowardly and depraved assault upon thousands of innocent people," he said. "There can be no cause or grievance that could ever justify such unspeakable violence. Indeed, such an attack is an assault not only on the targets but an offense against the freedom and rights of all civilized nations." He added that Canadians "stand ready to provide any assistance" the U.S. may need.
Evil. Cowardly. Depraved. Fine, strong, commendable words - but that tone must be backed by strong action, because we are now in for a very rough ride.
This is war. This is going to be a test of how secure this country really is. This is going to be a test of what it means, in today's Canada, to "stand ready." So be ready.
And in the meantime, hug your family.
I have been, over the years, very critical of my government's failure to control false refugee claimants.
Much as many of you have been critical of your own government for similar failures at controlling illegals.
I have been taken aback by the vitriol that has been expressed against Canadians on Free Republic since Tuesday last.
It is normal for people to lash out when something this horrendous has occurred.
But, believe it or not, people, Canadians are your best friends.
Lash out at somebody else.
And guard your own borders at least as well as you expect us to guard ours.
Remember where those terrorists got their pilot training.
I was reacting to a decided iciness in tone toward us that has appeared since Tuesday throughout Free Republic, not just on this thread.
Not all of us are socialists, most especially Peter Worthington.
If the Liberals in our Federal government and in the immigration boards appointed by them are incompetent at controlling illegal immigration and pusillanimous about deporting illegals when the illegals are visible minorities, they have been in good company with the Democrats in the US.
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