9/11 thoughts

[SharonTucci]

Many of you know my dad passed on last year. My mother died on 9/11 the year before "the 9/11". I think because of this, my reaction to the actual events of 9/11 has been very delayed. I had had trouble sleeping the night before. My dad had just moved in with me and I was really concerned how he'd be since it was the anniversary of my mother's death. I'd also spent the previous year taking care of him more than I was dealing with the loss of her. I remember waking up that day and hearing of the first plane hitting. Because of my own state of mind and general tiredness, it almost felt like a surreal experience. I honestly didn't know if I was actually dreaming it all rather than it was actually happening.

A couple of girls I went to college with (I graduated in Finance) were working at the WTC. One made it, the other didn't. A business associate of mine I was in daily contact at the time lived/worked a very short distance to the site in Washington. I was worried - unable to reach her.

I'm not American - I'm Canadian - but I doubt that I feel any less impacted by the remembrance of the date than most Americans do.

It's always tragic when there are mass deaths in a senseless manner. I suspect very few of us have not had at least some feeling of emotion when hearing of a 'normal' plane crash, earthquakes & other natural disasters. But for some reason, it feels so much worse when other HUMANS were the cause of this.

I don't want to get into my personal opinions on war or on terrorism. I just feel really sad right now when I think back to where we were on 9/11 versus now. I'm 39 - older than most of you - but still young enough not to remember Vietnam and I've not lived through other wars. Perhaps the years I've been alive and feeling a sense of FREEDOM in the world are making it that much more difficult to understand how we got to where we are. The generations before fought for freedom and independence. Yet in the aftermath of 9/11, "free" is the last thing I feel. There has been no resolution to any of it. If anything the situation is worse today than it was before. I used to love traveling but quite frankly the idea of dealing with the embarassment of yet another airport strip search makes me less likely to want to do it.

I'm NOT a peace nut but I do believe in personal liberty and humanism...much in the same way that I consider myself agnostic but believe that everyone has a right to follow their own faith as long as it doesn't negatively impact those who do not follow the same faith.... much in the same way I believe that race, skin color or language should not be dividers. Unfortunately, there's some irony here in that to ME it is crystal clear that the world would be a better place if we could all just ACCEPT and LIVE AND LET LIVE... yet even that could be construed as pushing my own belief system on others.

Without turning this into a political debate, I'd be interested in knowing how others here have found themselves changed by what happened.... or have you been?


Sharon

 

[SharonTucci]

Thanks everyone for sharing.... it seems like people are talking from their hearts.


Sashas, I found myself nodding my head at what you wrote. To some degree, this is what I was getting at in my original post - a lot of the current issues we are facing come from discrimination and lack of acceptance. Not just across borders but within them as well.

Perhaps the will of humans is stronger to be RIGHT and SUPERIOR than it is to live harmoniously on this planet with people who don't follow the same belief system etc.

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

I am one of those people. I'm not heartless, I just am quite unemotional. I am sad when I head of something bad happening to people I know, but apart from that, nope.

(Please don't hate me everyone =P)



Here's another perspective for you: Be glad that we have the intellectual capacity to be barbarians, and are not just animals.

Animals do not kill for political gain, or out of sheer malevolence. So I strongly disagree with your statement.

 

[.X.]

I personally believe it was a shame. A huge blotch on humanity.

I come from India, and believe me, terrorist attacks are something we've all learned to take as a "part of life" there. Though there has been nothing (and I really really hope there never is) as bad as 9/11, I do realize that human rights around the world are abused. A LOT.

The question that perplexes me the most is that how can we put an end to this? We can try and talk the language of peace, but unfortunately, in this trigger happy, perennially angry world we live in, such words have hardly any impact. We can talk violence, but that only leads to more violence.
So do we just ride it out? Hope that one day one side will get exhausted and give up? I don't really see that happening, and even the thought of that as a solution only says how messed up the current state of the world is.

I'm not paranoid, but they way things are going, I think we might very well hear those three words - "World War 3".

I agree with you, And after spending 6 years in the military, And being involved in combat myself, I can tell you, There is nothing more i would like to see, Than for people of all countries to unite, I know, This will never happen, The respect for other countries values, religion, and cultures is a must, if we are ever going to accomplish stable relationships with each other, imo. If World War 3 , were to happen, It wouldn't actually be a war, It would be nuclear, There fore, it would last about 2 hours max, with our world being destroyed, along with all of us.

I seem to find that, Life is full of new challenges every day, over coming obstacles daily. Some of us go at it alone, Others rely on faith to get through it.

One the biggest enjoyments NamePros has givin me, Is being able to make friends from all around the world.

 

[italiandragon]

Many of you know my dad passed on last year. My mother died on 9/11 the year before "the 9/11". I think because of this, my reaction to the actual events of 9/11 has been very delayed. I had had trouble sleeping the night before. My dad had just moved in with me and I was really concerned how he'd be since it was the anniversary of my mother's death. I'd also spent the previous year taking care of him more than I was dealing with the loss of her. I remember waking up that day and hearing of the first plane hitting. Because of my own state of mind and general tiredness, it almost felt like a surreal experience. I honestly didn't know if I was actually dreaming it all rather than it was actually happening.

A couple of girls I went to college with (I graduated in Finance) were working at the WTC. One made it, the other didn't. A business associate of mine I was in daily contact at the time lived/worked a very short distance to the site in Washington. I was worried - unable to reach her.

I'm not American - I'm Canadian - but I doubt that I feel any less impacted by the remembrance of the date than most Americans do.

It's always tragic when there are mass deaths in a senseless manner. I suspect very few of us have not had at least some feeling of emotion when hearing of a 'normal' plane crash, earthquakes & other natural disasters. But for some reason, it feels so much worse when other HUMANS were the cause of this.

I don't want to get into my personal opinions on war or on terrorism. I just feel really sad right now when I think back to where we were on 9/11 versus now. I'm 39 - older than most of you - but still young enough not to remember Vietnam and I've not lived through other wars. Perhaps the years I've been alive and feeling a sense of FREEDOM in the world are making it that much more difficult to understand how we got to where we are. The generations before fought for freedom and independence. Yet in the aftermath of 9/11, "free" is the last thing I feel. There has been no resolution to any of it. If anything the situation is worse today than it was before. I used to love traveling but quite frankly the idea of dealing with the embarassment of yet another airport strip search makes me less likely to want to do it.

I'm NOT a peace nut but I do believe in personal liberty and humanism...much in the same way that I consider myself agnostic but believe that everyone has a right to follow their own faith as long as it doesn't negatively impact those who do not follow the same faith.... much in the same way I believe that race, skin color or language should not be dividers. Unfortunately, there's some irony here in that to ME it is crystal clear that the world would be a better place if we could all just ACCEPT and LIVE AND LET LIVE... yet even that could be construed as pushing my own belief system on others.

Without turning this into a political debate, I'd be interested in knowing how others here have found themselves changed by what happened.... or have you been?


Sharon

Hello Sharon,

good post and sorry for your losts.....I lost my dad when I was only 6 due to cancer.
If I remember well, 11-9 (as in Italy we first say the day and then the month) it was a Wednesday.
I was in my home city....Rome, it was about 4 PM Italy time so it was about 10 AM New York time.
I was just finishing the weekly big shopping with my mother....we went into the car ready to leave the big shopping mall and I turned on the car radio.
Few minutes later I was listening this incredible stories and we rushed home watching the TV......there , I could see something shocking that made me shake from emotions.
That day I did not stop watching the news till the morning after. I think , I had some tears at times too.
I was sorry for those people despite I did not know them. I thought it was totally unfair to them, they did not do anything wrong so they did not deserve to die like that.
It was about 6 months that I had met online (on Yahoo Messenger) a woman from Missouri and we were getting very close to the point that I would have left my life in Italy to go there and meet her so I also had another reason to be pro-americans.
That day, almost immediately I thought it was done on purpose to happen on 9-11 since I said " the emergency number in Usa is 911"......so even before to know more, I thought it was a big terrorism attack.

That was then. In 2001.

Then, once I saw how Bush moved on to war and manipulated all the americans to be rielected, well I started to have many doubts.

Finally, in 2005 , my worst thought reveled to be true: the attack was NOT planned and organised from someone that Bush wants us to believe.

You wrote to not turn this thread in politics. I hate politics, I don`t even care to listen them anymore. This is not politics. This is a big crime towards the world and worst of all we all fall for it.

Some of you, reading this may wonder if I am feeling well or not, well, before to wonder make me a pleasure and browse Google Videos, search for the one named "Loose Change" , there are a few editions of it so search for the last one.

The official website is:

http://www.loosechange911.com/

It is on Wikipedia too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_Change_(2007_film)


Already Moore, warned us on what really happened but it seems one was not good enought, so .....to answer to your questions:

1) how did we get where we are?

Well, that`s all politics. Americans knew Bush father so why did they think that the son would be different? Not even France and Germany managed to stop him when he started the war WITHOUT the ONU / NATO permission. He claimed that Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destructions......did Bush find them ? No......until he hided some of his weapons of course. Question: why did the USA finance Saddam many years ago to stop USSR (now Russia) from getting the OIL in that area? Then Saddam was USA`s best friend......that`s all about.....big power/politics games that normal people don`t like , don`t want to hear , do not believe but they DO PAY, starting from the petrol prices. It`s all about that. Well.....not totally....of course Bush managed to sell an unbelievable amount of weapons......who did produce them? You may look closer who were the major Bush electors and you may find the answer.

That`s USA , a Country where I was happy to go to live......till I found some answers. And I got more questions , but no yet answers to those questions unfortunately.

Why did Canada , Italy, Australia, UK , and other join this war? I know why Italy did....and it`s not nice at all.....it`s just happened that the main Italian OIL company (ENI) had a big OIL base in Iraq.....and guess what? The USA "randomly" gave to the italians the order to take care of the city where that OIL base was.......obviously Italians were told that the Italian army was there to help the Iraqi people......yeah right.....3 years later we found the real truth about that from the soldiers that risked their life daily to protect the OIL......for an average salary of $1000 Euros a month.

Did I answer to your first question? If you think I did not, well I`ll tell you my answer in another way: "it`s all because of money".


2) have these events changed my life?


Oh YES , absolutely!

First of all, I am curious to see if Bush manages to create a third World War before to leave....and till Bush is in charge I won`t visit the USA.

Then, I have my un-answered questions that probably will stay un-answered till I die. Before 9-11 , I did not have them.

 

[SharonTucci]

Lorenzo, thanks for sharing your thoughts and sentiments. I do see where you are coming from although I don't necessarily agree with all of it. BTW, I spent a good deal of time in England after 9/11 so my views are not just Canadian/US influenced.

Just to correct one thing - Canada has not supported the Iraq war. The country has committed to helping finance the rebuilding. We did have troops go to Afghanistan however and we have lost Canadians in Iraq.

I'm planning my first trip to the US in a few weeks ... it will be my first time entering the US in almost 3 years. Before that from the time I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, I spent at least several months there each year. My reasons for not going come down to what I mentioned before - the humiliation and degradation I experienced with the increased security. BTW visibly there is no doubt I am caucasian and I do have a valid Canadian passport etc. The first time it happened, I actually had an anxiety attack after - something I've never had - and had to be escorted out by security to get air. All in the name of preventing terrorism. Right. Perhaps another reflection of human nature - people will often abuse power if they are given the opportunity.

 

[DareDevil07]

i personally was not affected by 9/11 but i was personally shocked when i saw it on the news, i hope the people affected live a happy life in the future and i am truelly sorry for your loses.