This 9/11…
This 9/11 – the annversery of the ‘national tragedy’ (and I’m sorry, but I can’t even say that without my voice dripping sarcasm any more) – I sat and contemplated, for a few minutes, what it would have been like to be in Iraq. We got two towers and the pentagon – they got most of their city.
I won’t go on on a long political rant. Instead, I’ll just say that I’m sorry I didn’t do more to stop the war, and I’m even sorrier that it turns out that every ‘viable’ option on the ballot is someone who thinks that the war – which we now KNOW was over ficticious things (not that we didn’t have a pretty good idea before) – was a good idea.
Can’t we just throw the lot of them in jail and start over? The CEOs who make millions while their workers starve or have their pensions robbed, the leaders who would start wars to make money, can’t we just overthrow them.
Yes, I know, revolution is bloody, and I hate blood and violence and all things similar. But couldn’t someone figure out some way for some _evolution_ to occur?
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September 11th, 2004 at 10:10 pm
You know, having lived in New York state the entirety of my life, I feel compelled to comment here. The tragedy (and yes, it was one, in case you’d forgotten) that took place on 9/11 changed the lives of millions. Neither the victims of that day nor their families had any control over the resulted skewed media spin or the war in Iraq.
I was at the law school, in Civil Procedure, when the first plane hit. You cannot begin to imagine the panic as everyone dug out their cell phones to call their loved ones, only to find that circuits were jammed or tried to send emails on an internet that had all but frozen. For some, the wait for news took literally days.
Personally, I was lucky. Although the wait was terrible, my friends in the Towers worked on lower floors and were able to evacuate in time. A great deal of my friends and classmates, however, were not as fortunate as I.
Bottom line. Do I believe in the War on Terror? No. Do I support the Bush administration? No. Do I approve of what our country has done in Iraq? No. Am I ashamed of the actions of our country and do I pity those who have suffered at our hands? Yes.
I will not try to defend a war for which no logical defense is possible.
However, the people who lost their lives on September 11 were just as innocent as those in Iraq for whom you have reserved your pity. A life lost is a life lost is a loved one gone. Wherever that person might be found.
The memory of those who perished on 9/11 should not be tarnished with the results of a war that they did not cause and could do nothing to prevent. Because, as you seem to have forgotten, they were already dead when the bombs started to fall. And if compassion for the dead is not possible, perhaps a lack of sarcasm could be.
September 11th, 2004 at 10:23 pm
I think it would be instructive to all Americans to review the classical definition of the word tragedy.
Then we should ask ourselves: Who were the tragic heroes of 9/11?
(Hint: Not FDNY or the passengers who crashed the fourth plane, that’s for damn sure.)
-D.