things will never be the same.
it was one of the first thoughts i had when i finally wrapped my head around the events that took place six years ago.
they aren't the same, and yet they are.
i'm still so angry--not even so much at the terrorists, as i am at our inept government. i'm angry that it has been made worse by a power-hungry warmonger. i'm angry that someone who can't even speak a sentence without a script without sounding like a complete moron got elected, then re-elected to take care of this mess. no, bush didn't cause 9/11, a lot of things did, but he was least prepared to take care of us and he certainly hasn't had our best interest in mind. i fear that the next president, despite however good she or he might be, has inherited a mess that will haunt us for generations.
we aren't any safer, but we are looking more and more like the biggest bully on the playground.
i still cry when i think about those poor people who lept from the world trade center windows, as though falling to their death--or in their minds, the chances that they would be caught by firefighters--outweighed staying in those burning, collapsing buildings. if it occurs to you that a doable survival strategy is leaping straight out, fifty stories above new york city.... i cannot even begin to fathom the desperation and fear. i cannot.
i'm angry that people who risked their lives, people who will be forever scarred by what they saw as they ran into a building burning, fighting every survival instinct they had, people who became heroes that day, are sick and hurting and not able to get the medical care they need. it should be considered a crime, how they've been treated.
i'm angry that not one promise has been delivered, that troops are fighting for a "cause" that's been extremely camoflauged, put in harm's way every day, killing people who may be innocent (but the US actions may turn them to a life of extremism), and the healing that should, but may never, come, once they return stateside, if they return. i'm angry that that is soldiers' only choice. i'm angry parents have buried their children.
and i'm sad.
my biggest memories of this day, six years ago: calling my mom, telling her to turn on the tv. wanting to tell my roommates but they had already left for the day. walking to class, wondering if we were safe. classes getting canceled. going home and parking myself in front of the tv. getting gas. crying.
i didn't know anyone directly in the buildings that day. but my first class of the day was political psychology. i thought it a perfect forum to talk about the events, until my professor came into class. she attempted to start class several times, stopping short, until she finally told us: her cousin worked at kantor fitzgerald. there was no hope he was alive. bits of stationery from that floor were found, floating in the air, miles away.
7 comments:
I agree - I still have difficulty watching the footage without getting emotional. That day is burned into my brain especially being a Baltimore resident as the Pentagon is not very far and I knew many many people whose loved ones worked in that area who were affected by this.
For thirty years, 9/11 meant our anniversary for the Mister and me. Now our celebrates are sedate. A card, a bouquet maybe ... but no whoopee cushions and party hats. The date is forever changed. And rightly so. Thank you, willikat, for engaging me with your posts for many months now.
Very good post. I got chills reading it. I think you've put into words many of the disturbing and sad sentiments that many Americans feel in relation to 9/11. It's a very sad day that will be forever ingrained into my memory.
I agree with Ang - great post.
And thanks for your kind words on my site today. It means a lot to me, my dear internet pal.
as most do, i remember just what i was doing that day when it was all happening. and i remember doing a lot of crying - i wasn't directly affected, but it was definitely a horrible day never to be forgotten.
i just wish that the supportive and loving spirit that resulted right after that day would have continued.
It's definitely a defining moment. And one you knew instantly would change things forever, yet at the same time all you want is to go back. I was out east when it happened, but it actually has been dwarfed for me slightly, only because my dad died in September of 2002 and that was so much more personal.
Isn't it unfortunate how little people understand the US government and how uninformed opinion masked as (erroneous) fact is so widely repeated ad nauseum?
Why do you think the government needs to "take care of us"? Interesting choice of words, and unfortunately the opinion of far too many voting-age Americans who give others far too much power to shape their opinions.
America would be a safer place if people spent as much time thinking for themselves and exercising their power and constitutional rights as they do waxing nostalgic about footwear & cosmetics.
When does taking care of oneself and personal responsibility come into play?
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