9/11, 20 years later

[brewcity77]

I've started and stopped posting in here at least a half dozen times. I was on campus...blah blah. I remember seeing a plane 4 days later, blah blah...

I remember at the moment knowing it was bin Laden. I remember immediately thinking it was our decades of bad foreign policy that led to this. I remember thinking my best friend, a second generation Palestinian, would likely be discriminated against because of this. I remember thinking that we did this to ourselves.

And here, 20 years later, we compounded that bad foreign policy with war and the death of innocents. Instead of trying to heal the world, we did further harm. And as we leave Afghanistan, we likely created 20 bin Ladens for every one we created in the 1980s.

My children are 2 months and 3 years. They'll never remember 9/11 any more than as grainy footage. It won't resonate as any more than how I remember Vietnam, which ended before my birth. But I definitely fear our actions since will reverberate for the rest of their lives.

[Goose]

dgies

Thanks for sharing your story of 9/11. Job well done!!

[The Lens]

I was working in a sales office for AT&T.  We all had the usual reactions...small plane, accident, Airplane the Movie jokes, OMG we're at war.

What I'll always remember was as soon as everything crystalized a few dozen people decided to go to the nearest Blood Center and donate blood.  I cherish that rally.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I was working in a sales office for AT&T.  We all had the usual reactions...small plane, accident, Airplane the Movie jokes, OMG we're at war.

What I'll always remember was as soon as everything crystalized a few dozen people decided to go to the nearest Blood Center and donate blood.  I cherish that rally.

I remember going to a local high school football game the next Friday, and for some reason people thought that the rescuers and people clearing the site were running out of work gloves.  So a local transportation company said that they would haul whatever gloves that were donated at the game to NYC.  The number of gloves donated was amazing.

Turns out they weren't needed, but it shows how much people just wanted to do something to help.

[MU82]

My children are 2 months and 3 years. They'll never remember 9/11 any more than as grainy footage. It won't resonate as any more than how I remember Vietnam, which ended before my birth. But I definitely fear our actions since will reverberate for the rest of their lives.

As a grandfather of kids who are about the same age as your children, I hope you're wrong ... but, sadly, I'm pretty sure you're right.

[CountryRoads]

I usually take some time to read stories about the first responders and other heroes each anniversary and plan on doing the same tomorrow. I still can’t wrap my head around their incredible bravery that day (and every day).

NYC is my favorite city and I visit at least once a year. I can’t imagine what it was like that day. The museum and memorial are very good and would recommend.

[Galway Eagle]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2021/9/10/22665003/sept11-chicago-cops-firefighters-new-york-911

[dgies9156]

dgies

Thanks for sharing your story of 9/11. Job well done!!

Goose:

Thank you. 9/11 was a defining moment for a lot of us. In my case, I appreciate talking about it because I was a very small cog in helping very frightened, worried people get home and toward some peace in their life. It's the same thing that most of the people I know, including most of the people on this board, would have done.

What I did was the same thing that thousands of people at United Airlines have done for me during the past 40 years.

I'll end with one thought. On the day that the planes flew into the WTC, all I could think was, "Nobody, but nobody does that to us. Period. Nobody." I later told my wife that if my government call me, no matter what for (I admittedly was 47 so the call was somewhat unlikely), I go. I'm sure everyone else who was an adult on that day felt the same way -- what can I do?

[Scoop Snoop]

Goose:

Thank you. 9/11 was a defining moment for a lot of us. In my case, I appreciate talking about it because I was a very small cog in helping very frightened, worried people get home and toward some peace in their life. It's the same thing that most of the people I know, including most of the people on this board, would have done.

What I did was the same thing that thousands of people at United Airlines have done for me during the past 40 years.

I'll end with one thought. On the day that the planes flew into the WTC, all I could think was, "Nobody, but nobody does that to us. Period. Nobody." I later told my wife that if my government call me, no matter what for (I admittedly was 47 so the call was somewhat unlikely), I go. I'm sure everyone else who was an adult on that day felt the same way -- what can I do?

I remember how Americans pulled together, unified, and wanted to help in any way possible. They wanted to do something. In my story, it was my Bosnian immigrant employees who wanted to show that even though they were new to our country, this was their new country that had been attacked. I was moved when I saw them pass the shovel man to man as they excavated a hole for the flagpole base. For them, it was a rite of passage.

[Herman Cain]

The Missus had a breakfast meeting scheduled , at Windows on The World, a restaurant on the 106th and 107 th floor at the World Trade Center  the morning of 9/11.

I was traveling on business in California when the attacks happened.

I immediately tried to call her but all the Manhattan cell phone circuits were busy.

No one answered the phone at home.

I finally got through to the house at  6 o’clock that night that and thank God,the missus postponed the breakfast.

We did lose many people in our town. All of whom we knew. 

The ones who escaped had terrible anxiety for a long period.

It was just a horrible time and life really was never the same after this happened.

The Fireman showed incredible courage . We are forever grateful for their efforts. 

[Golden Avalanche]

Words spoken today by POTUS43:

"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit."

Huh.

[jesmu84]

Words spoken today by POTUS43:

"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit."

Huh.

If you want to be super transparent, he was comparing the acts committed on 9/11 and the acts committed on 1/6

[🏀]

Words spoken today by POTUS43:

"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit."

Huh.

What a RINO.

[muwarrior69]

If you want to be super transparent, he was comparing the acts committed on 9/11 and the acts committed on 1/6

Really? I thought he was talking about the folks tearing down statues of Lincoln, Washington and Columbus and vandalizing memorials of black union soldiers, burning down police precincts and businesses all across America.  I guess it could be taken either way.

[naginiF]

Really? I thought he was talking about the folks tearing down statues of Lincoln, Washington and Columbus and vandalizing memorials of black union soldiers, burning down police precincts and businesses all across America.  I guess it could be taken either way.

you'd be wrong.

[tower912]

Again

[Billy Hoyle]

Really? I thought he was talking about the folks tearing down statues of Lincoln, Washington and Columbus and vandalizing memorials of black union soldiers, burning down police precincts and businesses all across America.  I guess it could be taken either way.

A little of A, a little of B. But the ignorance of each extreme will refuse to acknowledge it.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

My pastor gave an excellent sermon today reflecting on 9/11 and it's 20 year legacy. He preached on how God calls on us to remember 9/11 but how it is sinful to only remember part of the story. In addition to remembering the terrible pain that we were caused that day and the inspiring stories of heroism and "pulling together" as a nation...we must also remember that we in many ways united in hatred against our Muslim brothers and sisters and those of middle eastern descent. We also must remember the countless of acts of violence, both by us and against us, that were set into motion by 9/11. He finished with a reminder that while God calls us to never forget, God also calls us to forgive and that justice is found in healing and reconciliation, not in vengeance or violence.

His sermon spoke to a lot of feelings that I have every year around this time. Probably due to my age at the time (seventh grade), I don't remember 9/11 as a unifying event like many do. In my well sheltered, lily white upbringing I didn't realize the country was as divided as it was. I knew what racism was, I knew it existed, but I had never seen it firsthand. The wake of 9/11 was the first time that I witnessed racism with my own eyes and realized it. There were several middle eastern restaurants near me that were repeatedly vandalized and eventually shut down...despite all of them draping themselves in American flags and "we support the troops" signs. I had a friend whose family was originally from somewhere in the Caucasus (and were Christians) who got called a sand n-word in front of me. We were a couple of kids walking down the street.

I agree with my pastor that we are called to remember, but we should remember the whole story, not just pieces.

[MU82]

Really? I thought he was talking about the folks tearing down statues of Lincoln, Washington and Columbus and vandalizing memorials of black union soldiers, burning down police precincts and businesses all across America.  I guess it could be taken either way.

Very fine people on both sides?

Nice try, but the president of the United States at the time of 9/11, a Republican who is part of probably the most renowned conservative Republican family of the last century, was calling out the 1/6/21 American terrorists who attacked the seat of American government at the behest of the American president.

Truly one of the most shameful, traitorous acts in the history of our democratic republic.

Thankfully, many of the seditionists are being found guilty of felonies and are getting hard time ... though of course the guy who co-opted the GOP from actual conservatives, and his cultists, are celebrating the terrorists as heroes.