9/11
10 years ago today I was sat at work in Manchester. I was working in a building on Deansgate opposite the old Manchester Evening News Building with its rolling news updates.
I recall looking up and wondering why half the office was at the window but carried on with my work. One of the girls was crying and that’s when I realised what was going on. She was Irish and, like her, many of her family working abroad. She was weeping because she had two cousins that worked at the world trade centre. I was horrified at what had happened.
Thankfully the next day she came in to tell us her cousins were alright. One had pulled a sickie so was at home; the other was late as she had missed a ferry to Manhattan Island. Even if we thought it no one made any comments about the luck of the Irish because so many others had a dearth of it.
I was living in Manchester 15 years ago when the IRA bomb went off. I understand the fear and confusion caused by terrorism; after all I have lived it. That day I spent the afternoon enjoying some sparse Manchester sunshine outside The Salutation. In those days it still had a huge square of grass there and it was filled with many different people from all sorts of walks of life. Town was completely closed, buses where really running properly. People didn’t want to stay at home so they went places like their local pubs. They had gathered there just to be, enjoy the sunshine and to remind them selves that the world doesn’t stop because of terrorism. In a way it made normal life stop for a day and we took the time to remind our selves what was important, family and friends. I recall telling my friend to not worry about work ‘cos there was no way Burger King in town was open. We were all thankful no one had died in that IRA attack.
The 9/11 attacks where a whole new level, so big, so devastating. I thought at the time that perhaps those Americans, in particular New Yorkers, who helped fund the IRA may now understand what it is they had given money to. It was a very harsh way to learn that lesson. I hoped that the USA would mature. So many Americans thought the rest of the world loved them and then this…
Has the USA matured? It is not a question easy to answer. If we look at American Foreign Policy and the rise of the Tea party perhaps we could say no. If we consider that we have seen a rise in Americans who are not so arrogant in their views on the rest of world, the movements for people to live more in harmony with their land perhaps yes.
At times the USA is the biggest bully and from my own perception, flawed though it is, it seems the bully is more cautious but still a bully.
I'll leave you with the worlds of Mahatma Gandhi.
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."
I recall looking up and wondering why half the office was at the window but carried on with my work. One of the girls was crying and that’s when I realised what was going on. She was Irish and, like her, many of her family working abroad. She was weeping because she had two cousins that worked at the world trade centre. I was horrified at what had happened.
Thankfully the next day she came in to tell us her cousins were alright. One had pulled a sickie so was at home; the other was late as she had missed a ferry to Manhattan Island. Even if we thought it no one made any comments about the luck of the Irish because so many others had a dearth of it.
I was living in Manchester 15 years ago when the IRA bomb went off. I understand the fear and confusion caused by terrorism; after all I have lived it. That day I spent the afternoon enjoying some sparse Manchester sunshine outside The Salutation. In those days it still had a huge square of grass there and it was filled with many different people from all sorts of walks of life. Town was completely closed, buses where really running properly. People didn’t want to stay at home so they went places like their local pubs. They had gathered there just to be, enjoy the sunshine and to remind them selves that the world doesn’t stop because of terrorism. In a way it made normal life stop for a day and we took the time to remind our selves what was important, family and friends. I recall telling my friend to not worry about work ‘cos there was no way Burger King in town was open. We were all thankful no one had died in that IRA attack.
The 9/11 attacks where a whole new level, so big, so devastating. I thought at the time that perhaps those Americans, in particular New Yorkers, who helped fund the IRA may now understand what it is they had given money to. It was a very harsh way to learn that lesson. I hoped that the USA would mature. So many Americans thought the rest of the world loved them and then this…
Has the USA matured? It is not a question easy to answer. If we look at American Foreign Policy and the rise of the Tea party perhaps we could say no. If we consider that we have seen a rise in Americans who are not so arrogant in their views on the rest of world, the movements for people to live more in harmony with their land perhaps yes.
At times the USA is the biggest bully and from my own perception, flawed though it is, it seems the bully is more cautious but still a bully.
I'll leave you with the worlds of Mahatma Gandhi.
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."