Posted on 09/16/2001 10:11:54 PM PDT by Tawiskaro
And thank you so much for this beautifully written piece, Tawiskaro. It paints a visual and sensory picture the likes of which I haven’t read, or seen, anywhere since 9/11.
Your comment 'I left that place .... I had seen enough jumpers' really hit home. You experienced the holocaust firsthand, so, despite your eloquent and heartfelt descriptions of that glimpse of hell, none of us will remember it quite as painfully as you. I recall leafing through a book in Border’s called ‘9-11’ and carelessly turning to a page which consisted of nothing but a large photograph of people clamoring at the higher-story windows …. perhaps half a dozen of them having leaped from the inferno, suspended in mid-air, on their way to their deaths below. I don’t ever recall experiencing such an instantaneous blanche/deep-bone chill. I dropped the book to the floor, picked it up, and left the store on weak legs. How you must have felt seeing such a horror firsthand is inconceivable to me. Thank you so much for helping us to understand what it must have been like.
I now have a greater role as an American citizen—to make sure that no one forgets what evil has been done to us. I will not rest until those innocent thousands who died so near to where I stood are avenged.
You speak for us all.
Nearly a year later I am dismayed and furious that most people don't seem to realize that we are engaged in a war not with a handful of terrorists, but with a religious movement. Call it what you will: evangelical Islam, medievalist Islam, radical Islam. The war has only just begun, I'm afraid.
--T. W. K.
We must NEVER forget.
Amen!
For those of us who watched on television, it is easy to forget that the people on the street didn't know what was going on at all...at least we had the video of the planes and the news coverage to keep us somewhat informed.
Your account was riveting and well worth reading and bookmarking. Thanks so much, and I am so glad you made it through ok.
And you are right, we must not forget, we must be patient and determined, and we must win this war.
It's hard to believe we are approaching the one-year anniversary of this horrible act of terrorism against the United States. We must never forget...
Seems the closest it got was one of my Mom's cousins and her kids. They had visited the Tower just a few days before, and had gotten back home to Pheonix the night before.
No adjectives are necessary. Islam will do (evangelical, medievalist, radical are a part of its definition).
After church a couple of weeks ago, a friend said to me, ‘How can you say that Muslims are the enemy of Christianity? They allow Christians to live in Arab countries.’
I gave him that much (and no more). Needed to point out that Christian islands do exist in Arab countries, and some such islands are of ancient origin. But they have also been rendered lifeless, and without influence, by centuries of Muslim rule, having been the focus of everything from simple persecution, to slavery, and execution (simply by virtue of their non-Islamic status). And their populations continue to shrink with time.
Islam is not only in eternal war (since its beginnings) with Christianity. It is in eternal war with western civilization, and with the concept of individual liberty itself.
I am a staunch non-interventionist. Would much rather avoid a war with the Muslim world (it won’t be easily won). But, at the same time, not recognizing Islam as an enemy (the enemy) of our republic – and an enemy that will never have a change of heart (it’s the nature of the if you are not one of us, you are an infidel beast) – could prove to be much more than a dangerous oversight.
The idea that negotiation, or olive branches of any kind, will have any effect on the single-minded goal of Islamic leaders (madmen, by definition of their cause) is ludicrous. The only solution is fortification (here) and eradication (there). Trouble is, that solution was unpalatable to the majority of Americans, pre-9/11 – because the majority of Americans consisted of (1) leftists in leadership positions who place little value on that which Islam abhors, and (2) those who swallow their peace mantra. If we can manage to stay angry enough as a people as a result of 9/11, maybe we can permanently awaken enough of those in category (2) to make a difference. If not, the war is lost already. You’ve already had a firsthand taste of what such a war will be like. I pray that the rest of us will be spared what you had to endure.
We must never forget...
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