September 11, 2021 - Time to reflect

We all can remember September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday - I have the day seared into my memory and have many friends that still fight the fight on a daily basis! While it's hard to comprehend how someone could to that, New York put it's heart and soul on the line and moved forward...Thanks New York

While that day created a heightened sense of anger across all swathes of mankind it has shown to me (whom ever you are) that time marches on and the unrelenting spirt of the United States and it's people regardless of where they emigrated from shines thru.

As we move towards Saturday lets all remember all the good and bring forth the Aloha spirit, I'll be trying too......

My .02

KJ

9-11 caused a million deaths afterwards and left 2 countries in disarray.
Call me pessimistic on the aloha spirit. Living in the south does not help likely.

The brief aftermath was hopeful, but it didn't last. We wasted billions, no, trillions of dollars trying to get some revenge for that day, which also resulted in many more lost lives. The terrorists succeeded in causing much harm to this country. We are at war with ourselves and how to move forward. So many in this country see military might as the only way to be strong. I'm not optimistic at this point in time. Would love to see some reason to change my outlook, though.

Valid points rabo and Thomas but for this weekend it might be best to let people who had the worst day of their lives that day reflect a bit. Understanding that many more eventually had their own worst days because of this event.

18 people from my small town died that day and the Monsignor at our church buried most of them. Including one of my mom’s best friend’s husbands, the father of two of my brothers close friends.

Saturday we are having a small bbq with three couples, at the request of my old (including 2001) roommate’s wife who lost her dad that day. She wants to see the people she’s known and grown with over those twenty years (and not seen enough in the last 20 months) rather than pass another maudlin anniversary dwelling on it.

It’s a macro issue for many, but a micro issue for a good deal as well.

Missed this thread originally. I've moved it to OT not to marginalize the thread but to give it room for open discussion alongside other possibly related threads, if discussion is where this thread is headed.

Not a statement, but if you have the chance to visit, especially on a sunny, crisp, Fall day that was similar to 9/11, visit the Flight 93 Memorial. 90 minutes from Pittsburgh and 3.5 hours from DC.

https://pittsburghquarterly.com/arti...onal-memorial/

One wonders what kind of world we might live in if we had not chosen to play such an imperial role in world affairs, which long ago started the whole ugly ball rolling towards that terrible day and all that has followed. So many lives lost. So much opportunity squandered.

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510053/on-point

The longest war podcasts have been a great listen.

An interesting take on the threats to the democracy after 9/11

Foreign Terrorists Have Never Been Our Biggest Threat | New York Times

Twenty years ago today, my then heavily pregnant wife called me at work and told me to switch on the news. Over a very slow internet conection I watched events unfold on CNN. Througout the day I spoke to my wife who was worried at the prospect of bringing a child into such a cruel and divided world.

This morning we were up at 5.00am, as our now 19 year old daughter left home to enrol at university.

A lot of very bad and evil things have happened in the last 20 years, but so have a lot of good or just normal things. Today was a good day.

It is perhaps my most vivid memory of my time on a submarine, as we were scheduled to pull into port and go home, when we were ordered back to sea. The electronics tech types on board quickly rigged CNN to play on the mess TVs. We circled for a few extra days as they determined the extent of additional threats etc.

It bothers me even more now than it did then. I just saw episode 3 of Spike Lee's series NYC epicenters that is on HBO, and it had so much footage and stories I had not seen before. I think it hits me more now because back then I was not yet a dad, and had not yet even lost my own parents.

At the time, as a service member, avid spy/military thriller reader, and limited student of warfare, I viewed it more tactically than emotionally. I was not as shocked and surprised as my wife and circle of friends, by the method I mean. I was truly surprised at the scale of damage, but, despite the terrible deaths, I was amazed and inspired by the efforts that saved so many more thousands who were initially in those buildings (and who could have been in the case of flight 93).

I was also so proud of the immediate response of New Yorkers, and then the country, in coming together. I hope reflection on that aspect will help survivors continue to heal, and for Americans to come together once again.

It is burned into my memory. Like a bad dream at work we watched like everyone else. I'd called the crew to gather around the training room TV when the Pentagon jet went overhead and shook our building. All of us in disbelief saw it hit the Pentagon only a few miles away. There was no hesitancy or following protocol, I asked everyone to leave and find their families. After sweeping the building, I rode my bicycle home with a brief stop to see the smoke plume. Holy he!! the thought of these lives gone was/is crushing.

Our dear dear friend was in PHS and went directly to NYC to direct and assist. She tells us of coming to her hotel each evening with boots full of ashes. Horrifying.

Take a moment and reflect, we all can do that.