9/11 Anniversary

One of my favorite TV moments ever. Still makes me cry, every single time. (The whole thing is worth watching, but I set it to skip ahead to the part where Letterman talks about a small Montana town, a draught, and the idea that we're all in this together.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBLgp1qTCTg&t=5m42s

 

As a member of a generation that grew up thinking potential nuclear attacks but was fortunate to never have had an armed conflict during the prime enlistment ages (the 20s); 9/11 was chilling in that the US was under attack; that simply does not happen to us.

We as a country have lost a great deal in the past 13 years; we'll never get that sense of freedom back.

My hope though is that we also never forget the seeds of that attack, IMHO its not about a struggle between Muslims and the West; its about how the US' arrogance in Middle East affairs gave a foundation for extremists to build their anti-West platform.

 

I remember every little detail of the day.

A writer buddy called after the first plane crashed and as I was driving to the weekly press conference (I was covering a major college at the time) I heard about the second one while listening to Stern. During the press conference, the SID interrupted to tell us about the third plane crashing in DC.

This sounds insane to say now, but I think it took awhile for it to sink in. The coach spoke normally and then the star QB came out and said, "I can't talk about football when this country is under attack."

That was when it actually sank in for me.

 

Glad to see people are still burying their heads in the sand 13 years later.

 

"Gitmo shall be closed no later that 1 year from the date of this order"

 

"Major combat operations are over. The battle in Iraq has been won."

"My belief is, we will in fact, be greeted as liberators."

"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

 

Before this devolves into lunacy, here's this. I read this Hunter S. Thompson piece every year on this date: http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1250751

 

I'm not making light, but who is to say what sense of freedom we will or will not get back.

Washington DC fell, and the nation went on later to have a vast sense of freedom.
The Roaring 20s were followed by the Great Depression, and we later went on to experience other periods of excess and optimism.

 

And Great Britain became one of our closest allies even after they burned down The
White House.

 

95 percent of nations around the world would gladly take "9/11 is the worst tragedy on my country's soil in more than a century" in a heartbeat.

Use this day to remember how LUCKY we are. Not how victimized we were on one late summer day.

 

Honestly I've moved on. Not a day I try to reflect too much on
and get all weepy

 

Not much to add, other than it deserves to be recognized on this board what day it is.