Timewaster's Guide Archive
General => Everything Else => Topic started by: GreenMonsta on September 11, 2009, 05:02:09 PM
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So once again we find ourselves remembering this day and all those we have lost. We remember the ongoing conflicts that were spawned on that awful day eight years ago. Although I did not loose anyone on that day I feel like I owe those who were lost. I owe the soldiers who have given their lives for this country in the name of this struggle. Political beliefs are irrelevant on this day. Today is a day for remembrance. Remember that we as a country were forever changed on this day. If you find yourself around a flag today take some time to really look at it and what it really means. 9-11 will live on in our hearts and although the patriotism that followed that fateful day was bound to fade, remember that it is also in our hearts always.
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Thanks for the comment
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Is it callous of me to think that recognizing a day like 9-11 is counterproductive? I mean, 9-11 is the day of one of terrorism's greatest victories. Terrorists struck a huge blow to the entire world (though mostly the USA) by hijacking a handful of planes. It showed everyone how massively a small group of individuals could affect the lives of others for the worse. Recognizing a day of joint security failures is not my cup of tea. Learn from it, but forget about it other than that.
I realize that this post may be offensive to many people. I'm truly sorry for the loss of life and how it affected some people. It could have been avoided, but it wasn't. Like anyone who suffers the loss of a loved one in a preventable occurrence, the family of victims of this attack should seek to change the systems that allowed the tragedy to happen. Remembering the people individually and trying to prevent something like that from ever happening again is the best way to show your respects to those who have died as a result of the attacks.
Patriotism is lovely, but the loss of thousands of lives should not have any effect on whether you feel national pride or not. Be a patriot because you understand our government and feel that our country is great. The "patriotism" most people felt after these attacks and the subsequent counterattacks (regardless of whether you feel that those counterattacks were effective and/or necessary or not) was not true patriotism, but a desire to see justice done or some such thing. "Ideas are bulletproof," right? You can't kill terror. There will always be people who wish to sow the seeds of chaos or hatred, but you can't just kill a group of people because they believe that a certain person, group of people, organization, or something else should be destroyed. If they try to do something about it, that's when you can take action, and use lethal force if necessary.
...IMO.
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you can't just forget people you know who are now lost nor their families pain (not human nature)... otherwise i agree with one exception... the flight that rebelled had a great deal of courage and that is worth celebrating
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I think it's remembered in a "those who forget the past are doomed to repeate it" type of way.
Also, with your arguments, we shouldn't remember Pearl Harbor either.
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Let me tell a story that has nothing to do with 9/11, but has a great deal to do with the direction this thread is taking.
I know a family who lost a daughter to a car crash a few years back. That's a pain that fades but never truly goes away. That's a pain that can frequently return in full force, for nothing more than a random memory. It can't be understood until it is experienced (and I have not experienced it).
In talking with this family, it really comforts them to know that their friends want to remember their daughter.
Remembering 9/11 is a little like that. If we celebrate at all, it's the fact that we're still here, but it's less about celebrating than venerating. We share in a pain that most can't understand, if only a little, and by so doing draw a little closer together. Is that not worthwhile? Can we not devote a bit of brainspace to drawing together, at time when great pressures are trying to tear us apart?
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Also, with your arguments, we shouldn't remember Pearl Harbor either.
Put simply, yes.In talking with this family, it really comforts them to know that their friends want to remember their daughter.
Exactly. People should be remembered as who they were when they were alive, not just "that girl that died in that car accident". I doubt that the family would be happy if you were thinking about the way she died and not her as a person. While it may be difficult to separate the person from the way they died, that's not what you should be thinking about (or, at very least, talking about).
The same thing goes for 9-11 or Pearl Harbor. We shouldn't turn the attacks into a driving force for nationalism or a war, but learn from the mistakes made on that day. If you know someone who was injured physically or emotionally as a result of the events that occurred on a certain day, don't wait until the anniversary of the catastrophe to think of them and give them your condolences. Maybe I'm coming at this the wrong way, but this is the way I see it. Though I did not lose anyone in the attacks, I have lost people before, and I know people who did lose loved ones on 9-11.
Monsta's post just struck a chord, and while I agree with the spirit of much of his post.... :-\
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you now know another operson who lost someone in the attacks and nearly lost his wife as well. My wife had ticket in hand for the first plane, she decided not to go. I freaked out for 10 minutes until I got in touch with her. and then when she found out, she crumbled. My uncle watched the planes smash into the buildings from the Staten Island ferry. He was late, he should have been on an earlier ferry and been in his office on the 80-somethingth floor in tower 2 when the planes hit.
We should recognize and remember this terrible day each year as a reminder to be vigilant against forces which would destroy us and remember the bravery of the 300+ firefighters who ran into these gigantic buildings knowing full well they could collapse at any moment. To remember this day is to thank them for their bravery and sacrifice in the face of sheer hopelessness. Without them, hundreds more would have perished. To remember this day is to remind ourselves of the inherent evil and danger that is coupled with fanaticism (of any kind) and that we should be wary of those types of people and nations. To not remember this day, as well as Pearl Harbor, is to dishonor the sacrifices of our servicemen, our firefighters and police officers, and of the civilians who were slaughtered going about their daily lives, and the brave ones in the skies of Pennsylvania who willing sacrificed themselves to save others by trying to retake the plane. There were reports of people of that plane who called home and told their husbands, wives and children that they loved them, and said goodbye. You just cannot get any braver than that.
To "forget" this day (or to change it's meaning) is the greatest disrespect you could give them.