9/11: Another Moment In Our Lives

[Diva]

As we grow our lives are filled with 'moments'. We cherish them and mourn them in different ways. Each memory, regardless of how wonderful or horrific eventually dulls into a pang of what it was. 9-11 will always be in my heart. It changed the way I viewed so many things. Watching the Challenger explode and waiting... wanting to see life. I will never forget those moments.

Many people died on 9-11. But what saddens me most is how it changed the world that I know. In some ways it enlightened us to what was outside of our borders. World News is now our news. Before it was placed after everything local... right before the cute animal story of the day. We are now learning to recognize 'foreign soil' as more than a statistic.

Today I hope everyone takes a moment to remember those who died both on 9-11 and because of it. Then look around you and be thankful for what you have.

Shalom,

Odessa

[Bassmama]

Odessa, as you probably know from our communications, not a DAY goes by without my thinking of the killed & injured & everyone affected by 9/11/01, & how it has changed us all.

Before that date, everyone took their safety for granted & it never entered their minds that anything that devistating could happen in this country- especially by others on purpose. After all, our government was 'on the ball' & protecting our citizens, and who would want to hurt our WONDERFUL way of life anyway? Besides, "god" would protect us because we're "right". It's not like there were any indications ahead of time, right? (Can you FEEL the sarcasm coming out?!)

Some things have changed & some have reverted back. Most of us have realized that we can't take things for granted like we used to- tomorrow is no guarantee. We need to live for TODAY- there might not BE a tomorrow. We have to tell the people we love that we love them every day, NOT wait to say it over their graves. But society STILL puts misplaced total trust in the hands of corrupt & misguided leaders; the dishonesty & corruption & greed STILL is practiced by the big corporations like a shark feeding frenzy- including during the negotiations for the new buildings to be built on the World Trade Center land. I read where one woman involved in the negotiations was shocked & angered at all of the dishonesty & outright lieing & minipulation that took place by most companies & lawyers involved.

The public finally has an inkling just how hard & how much dedication it takes to serve them as police officers, firepeople, Emergency Medical people... these people CHOOSE to risk their lives every day to keep everyone in the country & neighborhood you live in safe- IOW: they WILL die to save your ass. The next time you see a public servent, THANK THEM FOR WHAT THEY DO! It might be you that they risk their lives to save.

And we can't forget the people who went to NYC to work on the cleanup & the communities that backed them up holding down the fort at home. Nor can we forget the people of New York City who came out to volunteer their time to feed, give materials & support, & make the workers as comfortable as possible while they did the grisly work of cleaning up the WTC site. Kudos also to everyone involved in housing/feeding/ taking care of all the travelers stranded all over when all planes were grounded after the attack.

Anyway, this is late, but my tribute every day is for the people that died, the people that were left behind to mourn, all military members consequently involved in Iran & their families, and every one of us that were & still are hurt by those events. DESPITE the ongoing BS in this country, I am STILL **PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN** and proud to stand in the company of others in this world trying to help us.

[Evilpoptart]

Good Ol Tom Jefferson once said: "A Patriot can love his country, but hate his government"

I have mixed feelings about 9-11. First off, I hate the name given to it. Its as if you call Pearl Harbor 12-7. Sure it was a tragedy, but are you really surprised it happened?

Its a shame 3000+ people died. But I'd like to get figures of the people who have died from US involvment in geo politics. In Chille, Iran, Israel, Central America, South East Asia, and the list goes on. You have to look at the attack on New York as objectively as possible.

We have been killing people and dictating policy in the middle east for years, and radicals have had enough of it. Honestly, put yourself in their shoes. Imagine if for instance, Saudia Arabia had trooops all over the US, and installed leaders as president they thought were sympathetic to their aims? What would you do? They way they fought back was entirely logical.

As a general rule, the US backs out and changes policy when Americans start dying. Maybe thats whats they are aiming for. Maybe its a conspiracy to keep us in fear to keep G W in office? In NO WAY do I support terrorism. But I do suppport its aim - TO KEEP THE US THE FUCK OUT OF OTHER PEOPLES BUSINESS in order to keep our oil prices the lowest in the world.

If I lived in the middle east I dunno if I can honestly say I wouldnt do the same thing they did. Who has more courage? The guy who presses a button and fires a missle 5000 miles that destroys a asprin factory and kills 150 civilians? Or the guy who pilots his bomb/plane into a building, dying in the process?.

In short, blame the last 50 years of US middle eastern policy for 9-11, not Osama My heart goes out to all the victims of 9-11 and their familys. Now least get the REAL culprits out of office, namely King George II and his crew of good ol boys.

[MtlguitarJames]

I like most people remember what I was doing and where I was on the 11th of September 01. I was in my 2nd week of training in boot camp doing FTX detail at the warrior week site. All of the detail trainees get called to the Cadre' Tent. We get in formation and the Master Sgt comes out and tells us that one of the world trade centers had been hit by a commercial plane and it was thought to be terrorism. He sends us back out to our details and I among with the friends that I made in boot camp started trying to make sense of this. My adrenalin was pumping. I tried to calm my self down. I made myself believe that they were just telling us a lie for training purposes ya know, get us ready for anything at anytime. Little did I know it was true and there was more to come. Not even a minute later we get called back to the Cadre' Tent. As we were getting in formation the MSGT comes out and tells us not to worry about it and that the other world trade center had been hit along with the Pentagon. Now I knew that when I signed up that there was a chance that we could go to war but never in a million years did I think that something like this would happen 2 weeks into my bootcamp. I was terrified, angry, hurt, among other things. One of my best friends I made in boot camp and later went to tech school with was standing next to me. His name was Willis. We all called each other by our last names. I saw his eyes start to tear up when we got the news of the pentagon. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him that we could make it through this. Little did I know there was more behind this. Immediatly they start to bus people out of there like Lackland was being attacked itself. Our T.I's actually told us that there was intelligence that our base could be hit. Our group of detail trainees were one of the last ones bus'd out of there. I started to think about crazy things like: "Maybe they are bussing us out last because the others that were there in their 5th week had more training and they would rather spare us than them."

We finally get on the bus. I sat by Willis. He didn't say a word to me. I even asked him if he wanted my M&M's from my MRE. He turned it down. I couldn't believe that anyone would turn down candy in boot camp. I began to get really worried about my friend. We finally get back to our dorm after being ravagelly searched by SP's with M'16s and other weapons. We decide to rig up an antennae to the TV in the day room and see if we can pick up any channels. We finally got one in clear as day. We watched the horror unfold from the recordings. It was gut-wrenching because we all still had hope that it was a training exercise to get us in the mindset that war could happen at anytime. Just then I hear this loud blood curdling scream come from the bathroom and a shatter of Glass. As I among with other trainees run into the bathroom. I see Willis's hands so bloody as if he had been shot. What was left of the mirror hung on for dear life. Pieces of mirror lay everywhere.......including in Willis's skin. Just then the T.I. walks in and tells us to leave except for my friend of course. I can only hear murmurs coming from the bathroom and I see our T.I. walking him out of the dorm. The T.I. took him to the hospital for his hands and brought him back. That night we got to watch TV and see what our President was going to say. Were we going to declare war? Were we going to be sent off after boot camp? What was going to happen? It could of been the same night or the next. Everything happened so fast it was like a blur.

Finally George W. Bush addresses the Country and Declares war on Terrorism. Even though I was still in a state of hatred and anger for Osama Bin Laden I couldn't believe that the President of The United states of America was declaring war on something so....so......so.....so vague of a term. It was like declaring war on trees or something.

After the T.V. went off my friend pulled me aside and told me what was going on. He told me with eyes tearing up that his Mother works for the Pentagon. I wanted to cry for him. Take his tears and pain away. I gave him a hug and told him that I was there for him and if he needed money to fly anywhere my bank account was his. He told me thankyou and that's when the T.I. called him into his office. He was only in there five minutes. When he came out the T.I. announced that every trainee that had family in Ny or D.C. or worked there could go down to C.Q. and make some phone calls.

It seemed like forever untill Willis came back. I thought he never would and that I would never see him again. When he did his tears were flowing like I had never seen them before. As I came to him to console him he was sobbing like a baby. I told him that she was in a better place than this hateful world. He looked straight at me with tears and said that she was alive! She had woken up late that day for work and that she was alive! I couldn't believe it. I felt so happy for him. Then that's when I began to think about the rest of our parents and how bad they wanted to talk to us. I ended up being able to speak to my mother the next day and told her that I was fine and everything was going to be fine. Who knew about the long road ahead..........