Let us remember the fallen.

[Nerys Ghemor]

I have to say, with the thousands of people that visit this website, I am very surprised that I must be the one, after nearly the entire day has passed, to start this thread.

I wish to pause to remember those who died and suffered in the attacks of September 11th.

Perhaps there are those who will say it is no longer politically correct to speak. But this isn't about politics. There are other days, and other threads for that--and it is my wish as poster of this thread that those wishing to debate go elsewhere and do not do it here. This is a space for peaceful reflection.

Indeed, this is much simpler than politics. It's about memory and respect.

I will not forget.

My prayers go to all of those who still suffer from the scars inflicted by those who would choose evil, that day.

 

[Brolan]

I'm surprised people forget so soon.

 

[tomalak301]

I can't believe it's been 8 years. It feels like it just happened, that's how fresh this tragic day was. Earlier today I found Jon Stewart's post 9/11 speech and just teared up. I wish we had that unity from the happenings after that day because for a brief time, we really did become the United States of America. I'm a bit disappointed at some of the attitudes and actions that have happened since, but since this is a memorium thread, I'll stop right there.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It was a wake-up call and people hit the snooze alarm.

It's a day, a week, a month I'll never forget. In fact, a day doesn't go by that I don't think about it.

 

[JuanBolio]

Yes, it was a terrible tragedy and all... but I kinda wonder how many years this kind of thing will go on for. I can't remember the last time I saw a memorial thread on Boxing Day for the victims of the tsunami that killed untold tens of thousands.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

And in December, when the time comes, I think that would be very nice and very appropriate to start a thread, and even more so if the thread starter is someone from one of the countries that was hit. (That said, we can do it anyway, if no one else does.)

There is no reason to act as if remembering one tragedy diminishes any other. I have heard it said that to lose even one person is to lose an entire world--some use that to silence those who have lost few, as if it is a numbers game, but I get the very opposite message: anyone has the right to grieve and to speak. Why should it be an affront that those who were strongly affected by the sadness of 9/11 speak up and remember that? Anyone else can and should have the right to speak on their significant days as well.

Regarding September 11th, others have said, I, too, am very, very saddened by the deaths AND by the loss of unity that quickly followed. We've done nothing but go at each other's throats and I mourn that, too.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

For me the date of September 11th will always be one of solemn remembrance for the nearly 3000 victims who lost their lives in a terrorist attack on the United States of America. May God Bless them, the heroes that fought to retake Flight 93, and the heroes that ran into the burning buildings to save others.

Whoa Nellie

 

[JuanBolio]

And in December, when the time comes, I think that would be very nice and very appropriate to start a thread, and even more so if the thread starter is someone from one of the countries that was hit. (That said, we can do it anyway, if no one else does.)

There is no reason to act as if remembering one tragedy diminishes any other. I have heard it said that to lose even one person is to lose an entire world--some use that to silence those who have lost few, as if it is a numbers game, but I get the very opposite message: anyone has the right to grieve and to speak. Why should it be an affront that those who were strongly affected by the sadness of 9/11 speak up and remember that? Anyone else can and should have the right to speak on their significant days as well.

Regarding September 11th, others have said, I, too, am very, very saddened by the deaths AND by the loss of unity that quickly followed. We've done nothing but go at each other's throats and I mourn that, too.

True enough, my friend, true enough.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I remembered yesterday all too well... I still remember what it was like to have seen the towers fall, and then go and keep a brave face for a room of 30 kindergartners whose world as they knew it had ended. I remember my fellow students and I crying with our teacher as one of the students feared a friend of hers was among the fallen. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, but still... And I remember the days that followed where for one long moment in history people smiled more easily at each other. Neighbors embraced each other. We let go of our hatred and held each other up in the midst of such horror. We came together, and it felt good.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I'm saddened to say that i haven't posted here earlier. To the fallen! Lest we forget.

 

[RandyS]

And I remember the days that followed where for one long moment in history people smiled more easily at each other. Neighbors embraced each other. We let go of our hatred and held each other up in the midst of such horror. We came together, and it felt good.

I remember this too, and it made me angry at the time because it came off as so phony, because of how people regarded each other before 9/11. I didn't think this "togetherness" would last, and it didn't.

THAT makes me sadder than anything else.

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

And I remember the days that followed where for one long moment in history people smiled more easily at each other. Neighbors embraced each other. We let go of our hatred and held each other up in the midst of such horror. We came together, and it felt good.

I remember this too, and it made me angry at the time because it came off as so phony, because of how people regarded each other before 9/11. I didn't think this "togetherness" would last, and it didn't.

THAT makes me sadder than anything else.

I too remember this; yesterday I tried to make a few strangers day just a bit better with a random act of kindness.

As for 9/11, I have not and will not forget! I am a member at another board and 9/11 has been all the discussion there.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I wish it could've lasted longer, that feeling that we actually could be better than we were.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

What really saddens me is that for a short period of time, the world really was on our side. Hell NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time ever. How things would have been different ...

 

[cultcross]

I am very surprised that I must be the one, after nearly the entire day has passed, to start this thread.


Perhaps there are those who will say it is no longer politically correct to speak.

I'm surprised people forget so soon.

People don't make a big deal of the anniversary because permanently etched into the minds of everyone in 5 or more nations who was over the age of ~10 on September 11th 2001 are the memories of that day. It is the single most significant historical event of the last decade, in global terms. We don't need special days or special threads, its legacy, good and bad, affects us on a day-to-day basis 365 days a year. In 50 years time, we might need an anniversary to 'remember' it. But no-one in our generation today needs one.

And I remember the days that followed where for one long moment in history people smiled more easily at each other. Neighbors embraced each other. We let go of our hatred and held each other up in the midst of such horror. We came together, and it felt good.

Amen to that.

 

[sidious618]

People don't make a big deal of the anniversary because permanently etched into the minds of everyone in 5 or more nations who was over the age of ~10 on September 11th 2001 are the memories of that day. It is the single most significant historical event of the last decade, in global terms. We don't need special days or special threads, its legacy, good and bad, affects us on a day-to-day basis 365 days a year. In 50 years time, we might need an anniversary to 'remember' it. But no-one in our generation today needs one.

Yeah, I didn't walk up up on 9/11 and wonder what happened in history today. No one just forgets something like that.

 

[McCovey Cove]

People don't make a big deal of the anniversary because permanently etched into the minds of everyone in 5 or more nations who was over the age of ~10 on September 11th 2001 are the memories of that day. It is the single most significant historical event of the last decade, in global terms. We don't need special days or special threads, its legacy, good and bad, affects us on a day-to-day basis 365 days a year. In 50 years time, we might need an anniversary to 'remember' it. But no-one in our generation today needs one.

I completely agree with this sentiment. Even if I didn't think about that day eight years ago anyway that morning, everywhere I looked and listened, people are still talking about it. Even our world is named for it, the "post 9/11 world."

Never underestimate the propensity for people to jump on their high horse and stare down with indignation, I guess.

And by the way, I loved this line:

Perhaps there are those who will say it is no longer politically correct to speak. But this isn't about politics.

I think by highlighting the 'politically-correct' and then saying it's not about politics automatically throws down the gauntlet/challenge, and perhaps on a sensitive subject like 9/11, the original post could have been far more tactfully worded.

-- ZC