Remembering 9/11/2001
The presidential campaign and city politics churn along, but it's important to take time to remember what happened seven years ago today: The tragic deaths of the innocent, trapped in buildings and in airplanes, the heroic efforts of police officers, firefighters, and the men of Flight 93, the family members and friends they left behind. We need to remember the attack that (too briefly) woke America from its complacency. On that crisp, beautiful late summer's Tuesday, we learned that there were millions of radical Islamists who hated us, hated our freedom, hated our prosperity, and were plotting to destroy us.
To help us remember the day as we should, the History Channel has a special section on its website, including "102 Minutes That Changed America," unedited video of the attack on New York, taken from 10 locations around the World Trade Center. The History Channel will run a commemorative program tonight at 8 p.m. Central time.
A photographic exhibit called "Here Is New York" captures the day through the lenses of hundreds of cameras.
Personal recollections can help us to remember the shock of that day. Ron Coleman was in his law office in midtown Manhattan. In a five-part series, he tells of hearing the news of planes crashing into the towers, monitoring the net and the radio for developments and hearing of the towers' collapse, encountering those fleeing the Financial District -- "like a midday, impromptu, white-collar parade of the dumbstruck", walking west, trying to find a way back to New Jersey and home, and climbing the stairs up the side of the Palisades to get back to his car, his home, and his family.
Finally, take a moment to remember Jayesh Shah, a graduate of Memorial High School and the University of Tulsa, who was working for Cantor Fitzgerald / eSpeed on the 103rd floor of the North Tower. This Houston Chronicle story from the first anniversary of the attacks tells of his family's desperate search for him after the attacks and their grief at the realization that he did not survive. Read it and remember those whose lives were lost and those who were left behind.
Four years ago today, I wrote:
...it is important to remember why we are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and may find ourselves fighting in other places that harbor and sponsor terrorists. Although we desire to live at peace with all men, governments have a divine commission to use force to oppose evil. We cannot hope to enjoy peace as long as there are those who would seek our deaths for the crime of being alive and free.
Let's take time today to refresh our memory, to think and to feel, to relive the pain, to refresh the resolve we had on September 12.
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Mako Fujimura, an artist whom you may know from Village PCA, lived and had his studio near the towers. He has written about the experience: http://www.makotofujimura.com/essays/post_911_english1.html
I was working for Warburg when the Saudi Arabian terrorists killed our work associates. My coworkers in Stamford were almost halftime they had so many memorial services to attend. Lisa knew people in the Murrah Building, including two who lost their baby to the American right-wing terrorists. Those were two black days of worry and loss for us, but so much worse for our friends.
I stopped going to church for a good while after having to sit through the damnably self-righteous sermons about the fall of the Tower of Siloam by preachers who lacked the godly wisdom of Matthew Henry: "He cautioned his hearers not to make an ill use of these and similar events, nor take occasion thence to censure great sufferers, as if they were therefore to be accounted great sinners..."
I can't imagine the grief people feel when losing a child, sibling, or elder. But that grief must have been doubled or more when the lost loved one is never found as so many were in the 9/11 attack. Which would be worse, having to identify remains or not to have found any at all. Which is more painful? Some type of closure or the uncertainty of no evidence?
9/11 was evil. We should understand, Keith Uberboob not withstanding, that our rememberance of the event has to be wrapped in the loss of life. It was drastic enough to demand the visual images be preserved. It was within our borders, on the mainland, to a facility that had no military significance. Human carnage was the only reason for the attack. Deaths were required to make their point.
I watched many of those "102 minutes" videos. Thanks for the link. I have purposely tried not to look at video replays over the years, because I can vividly remember it without any visual aid.
You know, those images are disturbing in a sad and shocking type of way. Actually I don't know if there is an adjective that adequately describes the level of disturbingness. Evil is like that.
if obama would be elected(God forbid) we can expect more attacks on our soil because he is so naive when it comes to the evil in this world.. he was asked question once on evil and he gave such a round about answer it made wonder what is wrong with this man. of course with his muslim background does he have some kind of islamic agenda? he wrote in his book in his words that if the political winds should shift in an ugly direction he would stand with the muslims. will he turn us over to the muslims? we must not bow to islam and allow them to control the world and especially our country. that have the right to practice this man made religion if done so peaceful but they donot the right to commit violence in the name of religion nor do they have the right persacute christains or change the way we do things in this country and destroy our heritage and constitution and our laws. Also we must not bow to the Liberals satanic agenda. we must fight evil.
9-11 changed America in a good way too!!!!!!!!
On the occasion of our 30th reunion, the Memorial High Scholl Class of 1980, fondly remembers our classmate and American hero Jayesh Shah.