engarian

My brother is a fireman, and I honor them enormously.

I was at work early when the two planes had hit the World Trade Centers, and as soon as the Pentagon was hit, the only other girl in the office and myself ran out of there and drove home. Who knew what would be the next building hit? San Diego is home to a portion of the Pacific Fleet, and would (presumably) be a target. About a half hour after I got home I called the office, where a few folks had by then come in, and told them what I was seeing on TV. Later that morning, all the high rise buildings in San Diego were evacuated. I spent the whole day in front of the TV with my mom, and that whole night wide awake because I kept thinking about people falling (or jumping) out of those buildings.

Let's all hold hands today, across the miles, and channel our love and hope around the world.

I think, of all the things that I remember from that day, the buildings in flames and collapsing, and the fact that all air traffic was grounded quickly, absolutely, and for more than 24 hours. That was simply amazing. To look up at the sky, which always has a plane somewhere in it, and see nothing but the birds and hear no sound but the wind and the voices of the winged ones, I really loved that. Nature worked her healing in the heart of our shock.

- Erulisse (one L)

I remember this somewhat differently.
I remember seeing the local news broadcast an image known thruout the US: the flag raising at Iwo Jima. Not the REAL one but the faked one they did afterward. I KNEW right then and there that Bush would cry war and plunge this country into a personal vendetta he'd been crying for since his old man was president. A week later he did just that.
I remember being eyeballed by undercover FBI while trying to ride my bike to work that day; hullo, just because you all closed the city down does not mean my work did; in fact as the night dispatcher I NEED to be there. So eye ball me all you want. Jerks.
I remember people suddenly flying the flag and cursing other people for being NOT Christian, NOT white and NOT American. I remember one of our lovely local dumb fucks pissing in the holy water fount of the nearby Sikh temple because these turban wearing bastards just HAD to be musselmen!
I remember the rise of bigotted hatred that I had not seen since the 1960's and the continued hatred of people who don't fit into the White, Angle-saxon, evangelical mould.
I remember that this terrorists WON their war. They won it by convincing Americans that they had to cower beneath their governments so-called protection (while Illegal mexicans ran the security at the Sacramento International Airport that very same year and embarrassed the hell outta that same airport).
I remember people of this once proud and independent nation suddenly pointing at others as "others" and not them. You don't belong here because you don't fit into OUR idea and OUR idea is what the government tells us. Don't believe me? Review your recent history of how Bush got his 2nd term and the fake election results so he could keep fucking over this country.
Oh and I remember during that same tenure this country had a financial surplus that the president during this event then took and spent on his personal special war efforts. Wars that were, quite frankly, illegal. His issue allegedly was the Taliban in Afghanistan, whom I might remind you WE ARMED AND TRAINED back in 1980ish when the Russians tried to take over that country, so really this was all payback for the US sticking their nose into it back then as well... but I digress here. His issue was allegedly the Taliban so why oh why did we end up in other countries where there IS no Taliban?
Yup, the Terrorists won. Bush won. We lost. We continue to lose so long as we live in fear, live believing the lies our government tells us about this event.
Yes. A different point of view.

Different points of view only piss me off when they are presented without respect. Yours certainly didn't bother me, and you raise many valid points.

I have a really nasty habit of always thinking the best of people until I am proved otherwise, and fighting for personal rights. Thus, although I agree with a lot of what you said, I move more to the middle of the road.

9-11-01 brought out a lot of negatives in our nation, but also a lot of positives. There were incredible acts of heroism which I will always think was one of the best aspects of human nature, there were people making an effort to reach out to their Muslim neighbors and assure them that they were and still are valued members of American society. And there were people who argued for level heads when we were responding to these acts of aggression.

Throughout history there have been watershed moments - the fall of Rome and the fall of Jerusalem; the explosion of Mt Etna and Krakatoa; the great flood,often thought to be the creation of the Black Sea from the waters of the Mediterranean Sea; and in US history, the Alamo, the Maine and the assassination of JFK. All of these things changed this nation or the lives of others so that they could look back and see that their lives had changed appreciably based upon the event. Such an event was 9-11-2001.

War is not a personal option that I allow to enter into my list of possibilities when it comes to discussions with others. On the contrary, I have always been someone who strongly believes in peace. But I also laugh a bit when I think about any group who might want to bring their war onto US soil. I think they would be a bit crazy to even contemplate it. We are a nation of people who carry and own firearms and who have them in their homes and businesses. Attempting to take over this country would equal a guerrilla war for each city, town and farmstead. Very nasty, drawn out, and bloody.

I think that the majority of this nation doesn't live in fear, rather tolerates inconveniences because of the fears of those who are in "power". Whether the government has fed lies to us, I am not qualified to state. I have never had a lot of faith in government, so that would not surprise me.

I suspect that we walk similar pathways yet again...

- Erulisse (one L)