9-11

 I do not forget...

Remembering 9-11

I had intended to post about conspiracy theories regarding 9-11 yesterday, but my heart just wasn't in it.  It was a day of remembrance, not a day of argument.  So I thought I might do that today.  But I don't feel like it today either.

I decided there just wasn't really any point in doing so.   The people who think the US Govt or some secret society really did it are not going to change their minds due to anything I say.  Like any of them would be reading my blog at all, anyway...

And it wouldn't be of any value to people who generally agree with the "official version" of the tragedy (as I do).  In almost every situation, there are facts and there are imagined facts.  Each side of many disagreements is utterly and completely positive that "the other side" is the one using the "imagined facts", so what's the point of spending an hour debating "so subjects".  Although I will hasten to say that "some subjects" have actual facts and uncertainties on both sides, and I will engage in those subjects more willingly.

So, I watched a couple of hours on TV that repeated or reconstructed the major events of 9-11.  There was nothing new, and how many times can you watch the Twin Towers fall?  How many times can you watch he same people fleeing the debris cloud?  How many times can you see the aftermath of massive girders sticking up at the remnants of the buildings? 

I finally just turned off the TV.  It's not like I am forgiving or forgetting, but repetition begins to dull the memory rather than enhance it.  You see one muder of TV and it is a shock.  The 10th doesn't have the same impact.  The 100th gets a back page in the newspaper...

My recollection of the events of the day is still sharp and bitter.  My building in Washington DC was made of concrete and stone.  I physically felt the shockwave of the plane that hit the Pentagon.  We had a multiple TV conference room  in the office (we had an emergency management function.

I and everyone else rushed there.   I may be confused a bit about the timeline after 21 years, but I think the 1st Tower had fallen and they were replaying the collapse.  Most everyone was just crying or had turned away in shock.  By complete coincidence, I was the only one watching and suddenly shouted "that's the 2nd tower falling".  Everyone snapped to attention.  

Shock all over again.  There was an almost immediate announcement that all employees were dismissed until further notice.  We were on the top floor and there was a roof top we could access.  I looked out and saw the streets were packed with unmoving cars.  

I was the carpool driver that day, so I advised the carpool we weren't going anywhere right then.  Flight 93 had been announced as heading towards Washington.  I stood on the rooftop looking around.  Well, we couldn't get away and our building was block away from The White House.  So I decided to just watch.

When we learned that Flight 93 had crashed I also observed that the traffic was mostly gone.  I told the carpool we were leaving.  The drive home was difficult, emotionally and trafficwise.  I had to go on roads I was unfamiliar with.  Finally stumbled on one that I knew from previous traffic reports.  We got to our homes.  

Spent that night and the next day watching the news.  Slowly, some understanding of what had happened and who had caused it began to come out.  The initial reports were actually wrong in many ways but some sense of a timeline came out and possible people involved.  

A slightly funny story.  Not funny "ha-ha", but funny "I was upset and confused and not thinking well".  At home I was trying to decide who to remember the date in my mind.  Historical dates are always arbitrary, but you learn them culturally.  

I am bad about new dates so I searched for "something" that might help me recall the date.  You wouldn't believe how long it took me to realize that September 11th was also 9-11.  I have no idea about other nations, but 911 is the emergency telephone number in the US.  DUH, so obvious, easy to remember, and it escaped me completely for  what seemed like a long time.  To this day, I sometimes wonder if that's why the attackers picked the date.  

This is more than I expected to post about today, but I suppose I have a lot to let out...

We decided to attack Afghanistan because we learned that The Taliban had given Bin Laden shelter.  The day I heard about US plans to attack The Taliban, I thought it was wrong.  The explanation was that they had helped him with support and possibly planning and training.

Not that I knew much about Afghanistan at the time, but it didn't seem likely.  Afghanistan was a very internally-oriented "barely-nation".  There were plenty of reasons to dislike Afghanistan (opium trade, brutal suppression of both women specifically and everyone in general, and really medieval warlord-oriented control).

I thought the best response was to find out who specifically planned the attack and go after them as terrorists/criminals using Interpol and the CIA and other nation's security forces.  But President Bush II (driven by Dick Cheney and others who loved projecting US military force around the world) decided a full out war.  Well, of course, they decided "we would win easily".

Some people never learn.  Afghanistan is just not conquerable.  The British tried it, the Russians tried it.  IIRC, Alexander The Great tried.  All failed.  So of course, we had to try too.  And failed.

I sometimes suspect that the 2000 US presidential election will be judged by history as a major failure.  Al Gore should have been legally judged as President.  That is a personal opinion based on what I understand of law from experts in the field.  

I suspect President Gore would have made a very different decision than President Bush II did.  More covert action, less warfare.  But I reiterate that is a personal opinion.  We will never know.

What we do know now (and knew early after 9-11) is that the planner/organizer Bin Laden  and the perpetrators of the attack were all Saudis.  Or if we did know, we were afraid of their oil power and apparent control over the stability of politics in The Middle East.

Hindsight is 20/20...

Remembering

 

9-11

I usually write at some length about 9-11.  I have decided to just stay silent this year.

9-11

I will never forget 9-11.


My parents remembered The Great Depression and WWII as defining moments.  We both remember the John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assasinations.  I remember Vietnam and 9-11 and Mass Shootings more.

We think of animals as "wild" and sometimes "cruel".  They are just trying to survive.  We are the wild ones.  We don't do things like that for survival.  We do them because some of us are afraid, scared, cruel, uncaring, and fanatical.

We humans are sometimes inspired creators of beauty, invention, creative thought, and civilization.  Discoverers of mysteries of the universe.  So far as I know, no other living creature has ever looked at the stars and wondered what they were or deliberately took action to find out.  No other animal has ever contemplated its own death or what happens afterwards.

Only we.  And yet we kill each other not for food.  We cause pain for no purpose.  We commit mayhem, destruction, and death to our own kind.  We create the 4 Horsemen Of The Apocolypse in our own image because they are US...

Too many of us think "it's not the Earth the meek inherit, its the dirt". *   Way too often, we don't value those who just live peacefully; we admire those who command others and take without helping.

In the past 2 decades, we have seen the rise of hate-filled people finding each other (when once they were isolated and feeling alone) organizing themselves via the internet.  Mass murders are becoming common, as individuals are encouraged by each other to commit mayhem.

As an even minor matter, flash mobs are increasing.  Lately, people driving ATV have started to swarm areas of some cities, terrorize pedestrians and car drivers and then suddenly disappear along paths where police cars cannot follow.

Does that remind you of A Clockwork Orange"?

I'm not saying this is new.  And I don't want to say society is falling apart or that the newest generation is evil.  The ancient Greeks even complained about that.

What I'm saying is that we need to reorganize our society to provide more early intervention and therapy rather than just build more prisons and punish those different from we more peaceful types.  I think there are usually causes for hate.  And if those are addressed, the later problems won't occur as often.

* One of the most perfect songs ever written about unethical attitude was "The 7 Deadly Virtues" sung by Mordred in 'Camelot'.

"The seven deadly virtues, those ghastly little traps

Oh no, my liege, they were not meant for me

Those seven deadly virtues were made for other chaps

Who love a life of failure and ennui

Take courage-now there's a sport

An invitation to the state of rigor mort

And purity-a noble yen

And very restful every now and then

I find humility means to be hurt

It's not the earth the meek inherit, it's the dirt

Honesty is fatal, it should be taboo

Diligence-a fate I would hate

If charity means giving, I give it to you

And fidelity is only for your mate

You'll never find a virtue unstatusing my quo or making my Beelzebubble burst

Let others take the high road, I will take the low

I cannot wait to rush in where angels fear to go

With all those seven deadly virtues free and happy little me has not been cursed"

I have to add more.  I was sitting at the computer today and listening to the radio and they mentioned  the exact time the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon.  I worked sort of near there. 

I felt a thump up through our solid building.  I didn't know what it was at the time, but I understood after.   We were all focussed on the World Trade Centers at the time.  Part of our office was "Emergency Management", so we had several TVs around.  We were watching the towers fall in disbelief.

I don't recall the timeline of events all that well now.  We were just shocked and stunned.  I could know better even just re-reading the posts from the time, but that not the point. 

I was and still now so angry that anyone could do such things. 

My day went something like this (and if I have some events out of place, forgive me):

1.  Hey (Division Director) a plane just crashed into one of the Towers in NYC.

2.  OMG, a 2nd one hit (dawning awareness).

3.  I feel a thump through the building.

4.  Smoke on the horizon.

5.  The first Tower falls in real time. 

6.  We realize the Pentagon has been hit.

7.  The second tower falls.  Many in the conference room think it is a replay but I shout "its the other one".

8.  We are all just stunned.  Thought the first was a horrible accident.  It all seems incomprehensible. 

9.  It all starts to sink in. 

10.  All employees are dismissed.  "Leave now"!

11.  My office is on the top floor.  We have some roof access.  We see smoke from the Pentagon.

12.  The streets are clogged.  No one is moving.  I tell my carpool, we aren't leaving.  We are only a couple blocks away from The White House, but this old building is all stone.  We are safer her until the streets clear.

13.  We hear about a 4th plane coming for DC.  Most remaining people head to the basement.  I stand on the roof watching.  We aren't the target.  If it hits us, I want to watch.  OK, I 'm crazy.  But I wanted to see.

14.  That plane went down in Pennsylvania the radio says.  We don't know why.

15.  I watch fighter planes circling around DC.

16.  The streets are clearing.  I tell the carpool we can leave.  I'm the driver that day.

17.  Some roads are blocked.  I end up up on an unfamiliar path, but finally recognize a road,  The roads there are completely empty. 

18.  My whole carpool is crying.  So am I.  I use nearly a whole box of tissues keeping my vision "sort of' clear.  The roads are empty though...

I don't recall much the next couple of days.  I don't even remember if I went to work the next day.  That doesn't matter. 

What matters is that I developed a hate of the specific people who did that and I will not let it go. 

"Never forgive, never forget".