Tag Archives: terrorism

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September 11, 2001 – 9:03AM… 14 Years Later

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I woke up early on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. No idea why, but I was up before 8AM. Since I work independently and I was working on my first book at the time I came to the computer and started writing.


Around 8:55 or so my mother called. That was strange as well, so I picked the phone in greeting and asked her what was wrong. She told me to turn on the TV to NBC News, which was the only channel she watched at the time. I did so and I saw a mass of confusion. Then I heard that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. It was shocking but not all that troubling at the moment. Planes had hit the tower before and fallen, but this time it was a passenger plane.

Then I saw the image of a plane hitting the Tower and I said to Mom “They’re showing a replay of the plane hitting the building.” She said “That’s not a replay; that’s another plane.” That was at 9:03AM.

It was at that moment that I realized it was live, and what I was witnessing was something different. I immediately knew this couldn’t be an accident, and it couldn’t be a coincidence. However, the word “terrorism” never struck my mind; at least not then.

That basically started over 60 straight hours of TV watching, only stopping to go to the bathroom or grab something to eat quickly. I didn’t go to bed, didn’t go to sleep. I kept switching channels; whenever one channel went to a commercial I went to another channel. Whenever the news started sounding the same, I went looking for something new.

The strange thing is that I still remember a lot of that stuff very well. I also think it’s strange that, until a couple of days ago, I’d never seen any footage of the people who jumped from the buildings when the heat and fire got so severe that people had to decide which way they wanted to die; that’s really scary.

Here’s the thing. We’re 14 years removed from that event and it’s hard to say that the world has gotten to be a better place because of it. From that date forward, Americans have lost a lot of liberties, while our government has taken a lot of liberties here and abroad. Terrorism seems to be stronger and sneakier than it was before.

In the past few months we’ve had suicide attacks on law enforcement, military officers, and even civilians by nutcases across the country who seem to think that supporting an offshoot gutless group of sadists who aren’t doing anything except making the world a tougher place for those they consider as “lesser Muslims”, nonbelievers of the same religion, to live in peace, following a religion that they see as peaceful. That the tales of what these degenerates are doing to not only women (which is an abomination) but to a lot of the young men fooled into leaving the country and joining their ranks doesn’t turn these kids off scares me.

I’ve never understood the language of hate. I’ve never understood how the language of hate seems to be able to overcome the language of peace and cooperation, the language of motivation and positivity, the language of the common man and woman who go about their day thinking that life is at least okay, that they have friends to talk to and entertainment to enjoy and great food to eat and nice cars to drive… and yet need to worry about being in the wrong place at the wrong time because one day someone decides they’re ready to die for a cause that’s false, no matter what it is.

I’ve never been the most trusting person. Even in my own home, when I’m alone I usually keep the curtains and blinds closed, barely opening them up to let a little bit of light in. It’s not that I live in fear; I live in caution. I’m not going to let the fear of terror, homegrown or not, keep me in the house.

However, I now always look at people when I’m in unfamiliar territory. I look at people who appear different. It’s not about race for me, and it’s not about sex. It’s about behavior. I still treat everyone fairly; but fairly these days comes with a bit more scrutiny.

That’s what 9/11/01 did to me. That’s why I always remember the day so well, beyond the fact of living in New York state, having been to the Twin Towers multiple times and feeling a bit of a connection.

If you’re interested, I wrote about 9/11/01 on my other blog today; that post went live at 8:46, the time the first plane hit. Today is #NeverForget911 on Twitter; for me, every day is #NeverForget911. And for some reason, I need a bit more of this…


https://youtu.be/k0FP0JSvdHY

 

Personal

September 11, 2011; Ten Years Later

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Today is the 10th anniversary of the most vicious act of terrorism ever on American soil. Four airplanes caused a lot of people to lose their lives; three of those airplanes caused mass destruction as well. And the world hasn’t been the same since.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine asked me why we couldn’t just move on, not necessarily forget but ease on the pain and move on. I said that this is a country that honors those who were killed mercilessly, who were caught up in the madness of someone else. That’s why there’s tributes for Oklahoma City; that’s why there’s tributes for the Lockerbie airplane bombing; that’s why there’s tributes to Pearl Harbor. And that’s why there’s tributes to those killed on 9/11/01. The pain may ease, should ease, but we’ll never forget; just not in our nature.

The video you’re about to watch, if you do, are my thoughts on what happened that day and what’s happened to the world since that day. It’s a much different place than it was 10 years ago. And I also honor and give tribute to some people, and have always been thankful, though it might be selfish, that I didn’t know anyone who lost their life on that day.

You might be surprised by one thing I say in the video after you see the links, if you visit any of these links that I post. First the video, then the links, from this blog and my business blog.

Are We Ready For The 9/11 Anniversary?

September 11, 2007 – Six Years Later

8:46AM – 9/11/01

September 11, 2001 – I’m Still Mad

https://www.imjustsharing.com/sunday-question-your-thoughts-about-91110/

9/11/01 9 Years Later; Never Forget
 

Personal

Ding Dong Osama’s Gone

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I don’t often write two posts in one day but I figured today is an exception, since my other post was planned ahead of time and this one is, well, more timely to what’s going on in the world.

Of course by now everyone in the world older than 12 years old knows that Osama bin Laden was taken out last night. He wasn’t even hiding really; he was “holed up” in a mansion in a little city in Pakistan living pretty well. Had cable, internet access, and both one of his wives and children with him. He was only minutes away from a Pakistani military base and less than 30 minutes from the capital of Pakistan. It seems all those proclamations made by the Pakistan government that there was no way he could be in their country have been made to seem kind of ridiculous.

However, this isn’t a post on beating up on Pakistan. It’s basically a post about what this means, doesn’t mean, and other such stuff. In essence, I’m going to kind of give my opinion on this event because, well, I figure I have something to say. And in case anyone is keeping score, yes I am using this same picture on two different blogs today.

First thought; happy he’s finally been caught, killed, and disposed of. Short and sweet, and not a single American lost his life. I’m happy with the whole thing, and can move on from here.

Second, moving on doesn’t mean not still worry about stupid terrorists. I think Al Qaeda and the Taliban will try to use this as a rallying cry but that will fail. But it fails only because the nutcases that are ready to give up their lives to support the idiotic beliefs of the “rich” radical fake Muslims to get those virgins after they’re gone are already lined up and in place to do whatever it is they’re going to do. From what I’ve been understanding, these morons are more interested in trying to hurt the United States (which then makes no sense for them to bomb their own country but I digress) than in doing it for bin Laden. Many of them have no real idea who he is other than a name someone threw out. If you were Muslim, would you be doing something for Allah or bin Laden? See what I mean?

Third, I have to admit that the only real emotion I had last night was shock. I didn’t see this announcement coming, and once John King of CNN announced it and then everyone seemed to know about it and started telling us how it all went down, which was before President Obama spoke, it became more of a research project for me than anything else. I had no emotion; I wasn’t happy or sad or reflective; I just wanted to know more. This part was just like it was on 9/11/01, only back then I was truly emotionally invested in everything; this time around I turned the TV off at 1:30 and went to bed.

You know what’s funny? Within minutes after the President’s speech the clamor began from some circles that they wouldn’t believe it until they saw pictures of the body. How horrid is that? We have become a world that’s overall immune to seeing sick images of things, one of those things being death. If I have my way I never want to see it again except in the movies. Even there, I’m not into the realism thing; I couldn’t watch Saving Private Ryan for more than 2 minutes, but give me Independence Day, where we really only see an alien get killed, and I’m enthralled. Besides, we all know that the picture will be seen as a fake anyway; look at how many people in this country felt that President Obama’s birth certificate was fake last week after saying they wanted to see it for all these years. More idiocy.

Overall, I don’t think I’m satisfied, which is probably why I didn’t fully rejoice upon this news, even though I’m really glad he’s been taken out of the picture. I’m waiting until I hear they’ve totally crushed the Taliban and have found Mullar Omar. I’m waiting until I hear they’ve captured Al-Zawahiri, the #2 man that now moves up to #1, and the guy we’ve actually seen on TV more often that bin Laden in the last few years. I’m waiting until the day the President says “that’s it; we’re leaving Iraq and Afghanistan because the job is done.”

I might be greedy, but so be it. I’m still happy bin Laden is gone, and I’m happy everyone else is happy. And in my mind the song from The Wizard of Oz is still playing: “Ding dong Osama’s gone…”