9/11

[smokey]

September 11th, 2006 This has nothing to do with bisexuals or bisexuality... then perhaps it does because it deals with all of us in one way or another.

Five years ago today, a horrific act of hate was preformed upon not just the United States, but upon all of us, black, white, Christian, Jewish, Muslim...all of us. In many ways upon the good Muslims most of all because it was their faith that was hijacked. Why All of us? Because hate effects all of us.

All of the great teachers; Moses, Zoreaster, Buddha, Krishna, Christ, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, all of them have enjoined us to reject hate,
to turn our hearts to love, to compassion, to mercy.

The acts that were preformed that day were deep and profound twistings of the teachings of Islam from community and service to God, into acts of rabid egotism and hatred.

If there is a God who wants such hatred and bloodshed as some, and not just Muslims either, seem to believe, then he is not my God.

My God has taught me that without compassion we are no better than our prejudices.

My God has taught me that there is no greater act than love and forgiveness.

My God has taught me that revenge is no better than the act that sparked it.

I will not place blame on one party or another or one politics or another for this tragedy except to say that to make political hay from it, in my book disqualifies the politician who does it from my vote. It shows them to be no less than mean spirited and callow.

We are now engaged in a so-called war on terror...sadly though it is a vain and short sighted war. Understandable perhaps but still wrong. You cannot wage war against ideas with bullets and bombs. It just does not work. What does work, I do not know except that blood and tears produces nothing but more blood and tears. Hate fuels nothing but hate. I wrote the following on9/11/01

Oh GOD,
what have we done
to this world
and our souls?
Show us your hand;
let your love,
your mercy rain
down upon us.
Please O Lord:
I beg you,
peace.

amen


It still rings true.

[Herbwoman39]

This morning when I woke up I washed my face, brushed my teeth and cried.

I remembered hubby calling me from school and waking me up. He had an urgent edge to his voice as he told me to turn on the TV. I fumbled for the remote and hit the on button.

The picture came clear and I heard the Good Morning America commentators talking about a horrible accident. The first tower was smoking in the background. About 30 seconds later, the second plane struck the other tower.

I remember everything. I always will.

[Melymel]

5 yrs I ago I was a freshman in highschool when this happened i was in my history class and my teacher along with us sat in horror watching the news there was a somber silence people were crying, it was terrifying for the days following my brother was in Vegas and could not fly home my family and I all prayed for him and all the families that were affected. My heart goes out may god bless u.

[taz67156]

I remember this day cause I was at work and the manager came out and told us about the first tower getting hit then we stopped and went to see it then about that time the second tower got hit. Last night on tv they had a show inside the towers which really showed how things went along with every sound possible, with flight 93 the passengers did the right thing I feel cause they went about trying to get control of the plane back.

[swag85]

5 years ago i was on a canoe trip. didnt hear anything untill the 13th. what a weird feeling that was two days late!
my grandparents were flying out of toronto to england that morning. i cant even fatham what they thought when they landed and heard!
what a tradgety

[smokey]

Me personally...I was lying in bed thinking about getting up when I hear on the radio that a private plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. My first thought was what a lousy pilot and didn't think anymore about it. A couple minutes later my bladder demanded attention so I grudgingly got up. I NEVER watch TV in the morning but for some reason I decided to turn on Today to see if they had anything on about it. I took one look at the burning building and said to myself...self that weren't no private plane and just at that moment the second plane hit. I almost dropped my coffee (but I didn't, it is too precious to spill, kinda like alcohol) and I knew immediately that the first was no accident and the second wasn't either. I stayed glued to the TV until Grover demanded attention and I took him out for a walk. When we got back the first building had fallen and I watched as the second went as well. By then we knew about the pentagon and flight 93. I hopped on my bicycle and headed in town. It was very somber, nothing in the air was most disturbing. When I got to work I got the kitchen set up but even as I did it I knew we would have no customers and by 7:30 not a soul had walked in, even to drink so we shut down for the night.

There have now been three distinct where were you's in my life now. Kennedy's assassianation (I was in elementary school and they sent us home) the challenger disaster (I was at the lanudrymat where my late wife worked watching the launch and saw it blow up) and now this. Of them all this was the most tramuatic because they kept going over the same Goddamn thing over and over for a bloody week until we were all numb with pain and shock. There was no need for that.

[element_of_wind]

3,000 people died on 9/11.

Hundreds of thousands died in the Darfur conflict in Sudan.
Tens of thousands have died in the Iraq war.
Over Two hundred thousand died in the Indian Ocean earthquake.
150,000 died in the Liberian civil war.
Thousands more die on other conflicts, many I haven't even heard of.

9/11 was horrible, but it was also overrated.

There have been many worse tragedies in recent history. The only reason us North Americans have gotten so angry about 9/11 is because it impacted our cooshy, safe world - and at that its real impact was a mere pinprick.

I was shocked and angry when 9/11 happened too; but now I grow bitter when I see so much attention lavished on it when many worse atrocities go unnoted by the bulk of the American population.

[BlueIris]

Five years ago I was on assignment with two other fellow photographers in the small town of Golestan, Afghanistan, just a stones throw away from the Iranian border in the Khash Desert.

I was returning home to Portland, Oregon when the flight I was on, which had just taken off from O'Hare International, suddenly turned around and went back to the airport. No warning...Nothing said to us by the crew. After arriving to the gate, the flight attnedent came on over the intercom and announce to us all that the World Trade Centers and just then the Pentagon had been attacked by hijacking terrorists and that all aircraft had been grounded and to please take our belongings and exit the airplane - she then began to cry.

That is how I learned of this horrific event and how it will alway remain with me. I, like all other's, saw the televised replays of the aircraft crashing into the buildings, the people jumping from the windows, the looks in the eyes of those attempting to flee...But I remained strong - angry - but strong; that is, until after I drove myself home in a rental car and felt the warm embraces of my own family.

Then I cried.

Rob

[onewhocares]

Here it is, 9:11 on 9-11-06. Oh my God. Here I must wait a moment until I finish this note. I, like many, if not all of us Americans,as well as others around the world can vividly remember our exact locales that fateful morning. I was helping my husband deliver flowers to a funeral. As I waited in the funeral home parking lot for the home to open, I was cursing that the director was late. Some time later he came, and he and I stood inside the funeral home watching in horror as our eyes were astonished at the devistation. He and I cried together that morning.

I was only to learn the next day that our dear family friends lost their oldest son, a passenger on the first plane to hit. Their lives, our lives, shall never be the same. I mourn for them and their family, yet I celebrate his life, and all the good things he had the pleasure of accomplishing.

Today, a bright and sky blue day in the Northeast, very much like that day five years ago found me in the dentist office. When asked to come into the room, the nurse noted that I was teary eyed and hesitating on my steps. She thought that I was nervous. No it was rather the musical tributed that I was hearing at the moment of the crash, as well as the church bells in the distance to signify the hour of loss.

Recently, I met a man serving in Iraq on this site. In my attempt to get to know him better and to be of comfort to him, I asked him why he joined the service. With out a moments hesitation, he said "to protect your freedoms".
I, from that instant, that here is a man, for who a discription may not be necessary. Look under the words...Brave, Courageous, a man of Duty to Country, Intelligent and STRONG both of mind and spirt, and you shall see the face of Steven. He stands not alone, but shoulder to shoulder with each of the men and woman who serve the cause of freedom. Be Safe, Be Free, and be home soon to the arms of your family.

My own personal thoughts on this day. Let us never forget.

BELLE

[smokey]

Unfortunately our freedoms are not being served by this administration or its unneccessary and unprovoked invasion of Iraq. Bush and team should be impeached, removed from office and handed over to the international war crimes tribunal...that young man's love of country is being taken advantage of.

[Flounder1967]

I know where i was on my way to work. Things weren't going well and iwas about to take the head off one of my co-workers. Long story and I rather not go there. When I heard on the radio what had happened. I was in shock when i go to the office. I then went directy into the brake room and turned on the tv.

All the things just didn't seem so inportant. After a while i started walking around the office and talking. Within an hour we were all in the small break room watching. All i can remember that I knew this was bad.

After all this I know how people feel about Dec 7th. THe events really pissed me off than and still today. I still can't watch anything about that day.

[Mrs.F]

How could you ever forget what you were doing that day??? I was awoken by a phone call from my dad telling me to turn the tv on. I was absolutely horrified!
I work at a independent blood center here in Iowa and when I got to work....................HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! There were lines out the door of people who wanted to donate blood. Many had never before, some had but it had been yrs., some did all the time. I realized after we had seen over 100 people (with our little staff and I was dragging butt) that these people didn't know what else to do but felt they had to do something. We were to close the doors at 7pm and at that point we litterally counted 20 people coming in the door yet. Our Medical Director and CEO went to these people and explained that it being the first day...we really have NO idea how many people lived and would need blood. And if we all donate now, in 42 days when the red cells expired and NY did need blood we would not have any to send them because no one would be elgible to donate again. They asked to to please wait. All were understanding...but again, they didn't know what else to do to help. As it was NY Blood Center which we help out regularly did call for our help and we sent many units of blood there. But unfortunately not that much was needed and we all know why.

Yesterday brought in some first time donors again for us and some that had not given in yrs. It brings back horrible memories and sometimes I just can't bare to watch it. But we will survive.....and hopefully not live in fear the rest of our lives like we have been!

[smokey]

I just got an e-mail from someone on here who claimed that my posts were filled with hate and that if a democratic president had led us into Iraq, I would be supporting it.

They are so very wrong. I do not care enough about Bush to hate him personally though I do deeply resent his policies (both domestic and international)...I feel that they are harming our country as is my right as a citizen. AND NO ONE has the right to question that. They may disagree, as I do them, but they have the right to their opinion as do I.

The hard right forget their rabid loathing of Clinton. As a liberal I think I can safely say that our dislike for Bush pales in comparrison to that. Theirs was directed personally to the man....ours are focused on things and events such as the invasion of Iraq and his crass exploitation of 9/11 for political gain and his trashing of our rights.

As for supporting the war if it were a Democratic president leading it...all I can say is that I have, since I was old enough to understand have opposed war on personal moral and spiritual grounds. That does not wavier depending on who is leading the charge. I know that there is a time and a place to fight, but it should ALWAYS be an act of absolute last resort, not first choice.

I served my country honorably in the Coast Guard. I had no problem serving my nation but I wanted my service to have an honorable and positive mission so I chose the Coast Guard. I have earned the right to my opinion and I deeply resent people who are arrogant enough to question that right.

[Reprob8]

I do not want to seem to casual about this but I refuse to buy into the hate and fear that our government wants us to subscribe to. I can't believe how many people have fallen for the "we have to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here" propaganda, after 5 years of watching Bush and Co pull their crap and still manage to garner support from 30 percent of the population just amazes me. I was at work when the attacks happen, they locked the base down and I was stuck at work untill midnight that night, when I got home it was nice to see that atleast my family was asleep and snug in their beds. I am more emotionaly torn over Katrina than I ever was over 9/11, There are still people there with no place to call home, no running water, power, garbage pick-up etc, etc. Mississippi and Liousiana are two of the poorest states in the coutry and the are left to fend for themselves after a devestating storm, Los Angeles and San Fransisco got all the help the needed after the earthquakes, Miam and southern Fl. got the help they needed after hurricanes but Mississipi and New Orleans get next to no help.

Two of the most notable and heralded victims of 9/11 were gay but you rarely see mention of it if mainstream press.


Mark Bingham
Mychal Judge

and allot of others.

http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/uraniamanuscripts/sept11.html

[12voltman59]

With all of the shows that have been on in recent days with the five year anniversary--hard to think it has been half of a decade since that very bad day took place--I have been thinking about what I did that day.

At around 9 am, I was pulling my car out of the garage and as usual-my radio was tuned to my local NPR station. I had been listening to it all morning but since I had taken my shower and eaten breakfast and otherwise prepared to leave for work since about 20 after the hour---I had not been listening to the radio.

Bob Edwards was still the host of "Morning Edition" and when I turned on the car radio--he was talking about that a plane had hit the first WTC tower--I went back inside and turned on the TV and then called my workplace since I still worked for a newspaper.

I talked to my editor for a bit and then got back in my car--during my drive they came on with reports that a second plane had hit the other tower and while I was driving through downtown Dayton heading north--I saw an unnerving site up in the sky---at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton--they keep one of the all white Boeing 747 "doomsday planes" that are sent up in times of national emergency stationed at the base--I knew that things were pretty scary when I saw that bird heading off towards the east coast.

It was somewhere along my drive that they reported the Pentagon had also been hit and that they thought many planes had been hijacked and heading for targets unknown.

By the time I got up to my workplace--it had been announced that the FAA was putting in the air stop and that all air traffic was being shut down. The town where my newspaper was located happened to also be where Dayton's airport is located.

I was very well familiar with the public relations person for DIA and she said that I could come on over to get the story of folks coming in from flights told to put down at Dayton International.

I got there and started to interview folks--at one of the desks for rental cars--they had a little color tv set going and many people were huddled around watching the set.

While interviewing someone--one young woman started to scream: "Oh my God, the tower is falling!!!!"

Everyone watched in horror as the first tower fell and it did not seem that it was long before the second tower fell too.

It was interesting to see--some people on the flights that had been forced to land at Dayton had been able to rent or believe or not--buy some cars, trucks and vans at some of the local dealerships located outside the gates of the airport.

They started announcing that they could take people to different parts of the country---to points far and wide---out of several hundred people who had been on board airliners that landed--nearly all of them found ways to get home or to where they were headed for business.

It was no doubt a bad day in spite of the fact that the weather was so gorgeous that day---I thought that in a way--it was good thing that it was a nice day in so many places all over the country--it probably would have made things worse if it had been nasty fall weather instead of being such a nice day--

The day was horrific enough without mother nature having been in a bad mood---

Let us all hope and pray that such an attack never happens again--but as I said in another recent post--I do believe that another attack of some sort is in the offering---it is merely a matter of time I am afraid before such an attack takes place and the other question is--how bad will that attack be--it won't be anything little--when they attack us again--the terrorists want to bring us to our knees....my belief that such an attack comes from paying close attention to what the intelligence analysists say in regards to the terrorists---nearly to a man--they all say another attack is bound to happen at some point....

[canuckotter]

I work at a independent blood center here in Iowa and when I got to work....................HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! There were lines out the door of people who wanted to donate blood.
I wsa teaching a class when I heard about it. I went up to the front desk to make some photocopies (this was in a private high-tech training company) and the guy at the front told me a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. We all assumed at that point that it was a small plane (he'd only heard about 10 seconds of it on the radio) so I took my photocopies back to the class, handed them out, mentioned it to the class, and tried to look it up on the Internet. It wasn't until we noticed that every single news site was overloaded and unavailable that we started to realise how serious the situation was.

I remember closing up the school for the day and going home. I remember seeing the second tower fall. I remember watching hours of footage on TV. I remember the horror.

But what I remember most about that day, what stands out in my mind far above everything else... was the Red Cross clinic. I was one of the early ones there, probably the thirtieth person or so to show up. By the time I got in to give blood, they'd opened up their boardroom and filled it with chairs, and it was still standing room only. There were people lined up far down the block. Hundreds of people, sitting and standing and talking and laughing and being friends with people they'd never seen before and would never see again, all quietly lined up waiting for their chance to do what little they could to help. There was nothing else we could do, so we descended on the Red Cross. That's what I remember: not the fear, the horror, the sorrow, but the determination and the almost overwhelming desire to provide any help we could.

[Avocado]

Even in a topic about 9/11, still more posts against America's foreign policy, than against an organisation which wants to behead all queers, and on a bisexual site. And if you think Bush is a colonialist, wait till you meet Bin Laden. Oops, looks like another one brainwashed by the Western Press...

[smokey]

Even in a topic about 9/11, still more posts against America's foreign policy, than against an organisation which wants to behead all queers, and on a bisexual site. And if you think Bush is a colonialist, wait till you meet Bin Laden. Oops, looks like another one brainwashed by the Western Press...



I am not brainwashed by any press...I can only speak for or against my own nation's actions.

[spirit_dreamer07]

I am not brainwashed by any press...I can only speak for or against my own nation's actions.

I was sitting in my senior year algebra class when I learned of this terrible act of hatred. I couldn't cry even though everyone else around me seemed to not be able to stop. My first thought was of my pen pal because she had been in the very state of New York and that was all I could think of the rest of the day.

[element_of_wind]

Even in a topic about 9/11, still more posts against America's foreign policy, than against an organisation which wants to behead all queers, and on a bisexual site. And if you think Bush is a colonialist, wait till you meet Bin Laden. Oops, looks like another one brainwashed by the Western Press...

In a free society, the policies of the government should be questioned and discussed. Why shouldn't we talk about foreign policy?

And, while Islamic militants may do worse things than our own governments, that doesn't mean the actions of our government are flawless. Saying "Bin Laden is worse than Bush," doesn't mean that Bush is a great guy.

The difference is that we have some control over what our government does, while we have effectively no control over what Bin Laden does.

[canuckotter]

Even in a topic about 9/11, still more posts against America's foreign policy, than against an organisation which wants to behead all queers, and on a bisexual site. And if you think Bush is a colonialist, wait till you meet Bin Laden. Oops, looks like another one brainwashed by the Western Press...
There are also no posts on here decrying the actions of the Nazis. And no-one objecting to the mass slaughter of Armenians in the early 20th century. And so on, and so forth.

Some things are so obvious that you don't have to discuss them. For example, I rarely have conversations with friends along the lines of, "So, oxygen. What do you think of it? Personally, I'm in support of it, what with it being necessary to support life and all, but I'd love to hear your opinion." Another conversation I almost never have with friends is "So, do you like sex?" Also, "I really dislike having kidney stones, how about you?" is a rare conversation. :)

Bush is ambiguous. He spins everything he does in ways that make a lot of people agree with him; but that same spin turns a lot of people off his actions. So you've got a large number of people who support him and a large number who don't. In cases like bin Laden, it's taken for granted that you either hate him or are a homicidal maniac yourself, so conversation on that topic doesn't center on whether he should be eliminated as a threat but rather on how that should be accomplished; in Bush's case, it can't be taken for granted that people who don't hate him are maniacs or idiots, so discussion of his pros and cons is a pretty valid topic of conversation.

[wanderingrichard]

smokey,
re: emails flaming you.

sounds to me like the ones sending them to you have their heads screwed on backwards. i didnt read hatred anywhere in your postings, and there are times when i seriously disagree with you and several others here on topics that are usually hot button in nature.

dont let the loonies get to you.. in the end, they don't matter anyways.
Rich

[Avocado]

In a free society, the policies of the government should be questioned and discussed. Why shouldn't we talk about foreign policy?

And, while Islamic militants may do worse things than our own governments, that doesn't mean the actions of our government are flawless. Saying "Bin Laden is worse than Bush," doesn't mean that Bush is a great guy.

The difference is that we have some control over what our government does, while we have effectively no control over what Bin Laden does.

You do yourself and your security a great disservice if you have different ways of judging Bush and Bin Laden, because while people may think they can control Bush and not Bin Laden, what we can try and control is how we deal with Al-Qaeda and stop them attacking us. How we do that bigger brains than mine don't know and I'm not gonna pretend for one minute I don't. Do we fight them? Try and appease them? Close our borders? I don't know. What I do know is we have no more control over Bush than we do over whether we do or don't stop Bin Laden.

I'm not sure if Bush and Blair have tried to use 9/11 etc to further their own ends. Policy-wise perhaps (ID cards anyone?) but foreign-policy wise, Al-Qaeda are an electoral headache. Johnson should have been remembered as America's greatest president. He wasn't, because of Vietnam. Kennedy's memory was tarnished to a lesser extent by it. Bliar has seen his popularity plummet as a result of the Iraq war. As for George Bush I don't know. He seemed to win the last election more fairly than the one before it. But you get the president the electorate deserves. Many Republican voters voted for him because while they disagree with his foreign policy, they vote for him on "moral" reasons (in other words God hates fags etc). I reckon Bush and maybe even Blair dread every general election because of Al-Qaeda. Even Thatcher nostalgists are more fond of her "sorting out the trade unions" than anything to do with the falklands.

I recently read an article about moral reletavism, moral vacuums, and the filling of these vacuums. In other words, issues to do with why crime happens, depravity etc can lead to a moral vacuum which is filled by criminals not being amoral, but having the morals that they are right and we are wrong. While I believe the causes of crime should be dealt with, I can kind of see where it's coming from. In the same way I feel the same can be applied to the international situation. We can debate the rights and wrongs of foreign policy till the cows come home, but this bickering amongst ourselves could create a moral vacuum which is filled with Al-Qaeda's morals that they are right and we are wrong.

We may not have much influence over Al-Qaeda, but we may have some kind of influence over possible future recruits, at least in our own countries. It's important for people to know that most victims of Al-Qaeda are Muslim, it's important for people to know the sort of world Al-Qaeda want to create. One of the London bombers was black. How much effort was made for him to know what's happening to the blacks in Darfur in the name of Jihadism? Probably less than was made for him to know about the Iraq war. Think we don't have control? We may have more than we think. By all means criticise foreign policy, but a bit of objectivism wouldn't go amiss.

Lastly, I was sarcastically referring to myself when I mentioned being brainwashed by the western press.