September 11th … Or Was It The 12th?
Does September 11th now have the same weight as Memorial Day? A day set aside to remember those who gave everything for this country and the freedom we have, when in reality it is just appreciated as an extended weekend for the most part — no work so crank up the Bar-B!
September 11th fell on a Sunday this year. We said a prayer in our church but nothing really remembering what happened. Some friends of ours said it wasn’t even mentioned in their church — as if it was forgotten in a sense of celebration. I admit that I didn’t even think about it until the documentary, Flight 92: The Flight That Fought Back came on that evening. It was a stirring reminder of what happened just four years ago. It seems so far away now doesn’t it? Most of the network anchors are gone. Afghanistan is back page news — if in the news at all. People are used to the hassles of airport security. Washington is back to arguing over things like some couple in the midst of a bitter divorce.
As I watched that documentary, I realized I had forgotten. Forgotten that there are people whose goal in life is to kill me. Forgotten that thousands of people died at the hands of those who do evil in the name of God. Forgotten the last seconds of people’s lives where they could hear the clapping roar of the collapsing floors getting louder and louder. Forgotten the roller coaster tickle in people’s stomachs as their plane dove to hit its mark in a disintegrating fireball. I had forgotten that people have determined me and my family to be enemies of God that should be exterminated.
For those of you out there that have giant televisions/entertainment systems, I recommend ordering the DVD of the documentary, and any other footage of that day, and watching it big and loud. That’s what they’re for, right? To watch things blowup? Remember that the world is much bigger than fairy tale suburbia and that there are people that want to kill you and your family for living there.
September 15th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
Don’t think I could ever bore that day out of my mind. We need to kick some more terrorist ass, secure our borders, make profiling legal, and have more armed citizens. Man I remember that day, I have a big poster (2′x4′) of the twin towers standing in my room to remind me each day. I remember the FBI subpoenaing us a few times after that day, and then only couldn’t stop thinking… geez… did my job somehow carry the emails of these terrorists or something? Of course they would have gotten internet anyhow from somewhere else… but still… digs at your mind.
September 16th, 2005 at 7:52 am
i’ll never forget that day either.
i sat in my church office watching the towersburn and then i heard the sirens for the fire trucks and ambulance for the hit at the pentagon. i didn’t realize it at the time but when my local news broke the new york coverage to show me the pentagon burning that is when my heart sank. we have several members who work there and i immediately got on the phone and began calling them to make sure they were ok. infact i called everyone who worked in the distric too because our local news was telling us that stuff might be happening there too. (i think that every loud bang that normal would have been ignored wasn’t on that day.) i left the church picked up my daughter early from school and went home to be with my family.
i could see the smoke from the pentagon from my church’s building and my daughter’s school. every day that is clear and sunny like the 11th i think about that day and the uncertanty it created in us all.
the reality of it all really didn’t hit me until wednesday the 12th when i got up to make announcements and announced that all our members who worked in the pentagon were ok. that is when it hit me like a ton of bricks.
i don’t we are any safer now than we were then but we are more aware of thedangers we face.
i will not live in fear for two reasons first i am a child of God and we have nothting to fear from any power on this world. secondly i am an american and our greatest strengths are our freedoms. if our freedoms make life dangerous then that is a risk i willing to take.
September 16th, 2005 at 8:51 am
Bravo!
September 16th, 2005 at 11:22 am
I’ll plug another documentary I saw last month, which left me with the exact same “how could I have forgotten?” feeling you’re describing:
Inside 9/11 (National Geographic Channel)
Of course, none of us have literally “forgotten.” But why am I not as angry as I was four years ago? Why do I live my life as if everything’s OK?
Is it because not enough people have died? Is it because it didn’t hit close enough to home for me? Is it because I just don’t care? Am I just too fat, dumb & happy?
Dear God, take away my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh…
September 16th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
I posted recently about people who live closer to the earth. I like the play on words about them being grounded. But it’s true that hardship makes
I really believe that most people surround themselves with the comforts of suburban American life. Talk to folks abroad and hear how they curse Americans for their arrogance. It’s so easy to fill our lives with noise like piano lessons, ball practice and what’s on TV. We’re really more like cattle than humans. The media herds us this way and that. We really like our nice little worlds, so why be bothered with reality?
And perhaps that’s what makes America?