Thoughts on this September 11th

Yes, we’re in the middle of a pretty heated Presidential election campaign.  Yes, the campaign has become quite divisive where the lines between the truth and the not-so-truth have become blurred.  Yes, there are a lot of things a blog like this could write about today – but it won’t.  Today is the 11th anniversary of one of the most game-changing days in the modern history of the United States.  Today is September 11th.  So, today is not the day for bitter party

divisions and arguments over health care reform, tax returns and where

someone was born.  Today is a day to remember the almost 3000 people

that needlessly lost their lives, unbeknownst to them that this particular morning as they left for work and said goodbye to their family, they would be doing that for the last time.

I won’t spend much time on the attack themselves, we all remember

them, watching them in most cases unfolding live on TV (I was on my

couch in a small apartment near Dallas, TX starting my 2nd year of

grad school watching it all).  The day unfolded like this:

•       8:46 am:  American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower

         of the World Trade Center

•       9:03 am:  United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower of

         the World Trade Center

•       9:37 am:  American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon

•       9:58 am:  The south tower of the World Trade Center Collapsed

•       10:03 am:  United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, PA

•       10:28 am:  The north tower of the World Trade Center Collapsed

The United States changed that day – for the first time in modern history the people actually felt vulnerable, felt that the US was no longer this fortress that could repel anything.  Terrorism didn’t happen here – it was something that happened ‘over there’ in Europe, in Israel, wherever.  But now it could and it did happen here – America was no longer impervious, or so it seemed.  These attacks launched the modern security apparatus in this country – giving birth

to the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security

Administration (the TSA) and other such things.  This day also launched two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter of which is still being fought some 11 years later where thousands more died.

It did have other interesting effects on this country – it brought people together.  I remember the days after the attack the difference in the spirit of the people I came across; nice, accommodating, brotherly.  I’m sure we all remember that.  We also all remember that from that day and for many more after that, we all felt a little uneasy but knew that while we got kicked around, it wasn’t over.

America also learned who her friends were; countries like Canada.  No discussion about 9/11 can happen without noting the actions of Canada.

In the moments after US airspace shut down, Canada took hundreds of

planes bound for the US.  Not only did the Canadians provide safe harbor but hundreds of stories abound of the generous hospitality and accommodations of the northern neighbor, hosting those bound for the US until the airspace opened some days later.

I’ll never forget that day and the feelings I had and the eeriness of the few days following the attacks – how quiet everything was.  How shell-shocked everyone was.  I lived on the flight path for DFW airport – one of the busiest airports in the United States.  I remember sitting in front of my apartment with my neighbor and remarking how no planes were overhead (when we usually saw one every 10 minutes or so) and how surreal it felt knowing the reason why.  I could go on and on but I only have so much bandwith.

Needless to say, September 11, 2001 will be a day no one ever forgets

– and quite frankly no one should.  Not because it happened to the United States but because something like this can happen again.  It can happen anytime and anywhere and we all (all as in the citizens of the world) need to be vigilant and reject extremism and irrationality in all its forms and from every place.

That’s it – that’s my soapbox thoughts about this.  Tomorrow we go back to the ‘bloodsport’ that is the Presidential campaign and be happy that 11 years after the attack we can talk about an election campaign.  That while a lot of things have changed, a lot of things have also remained the same.  Thank God.