Obligatory 9/11 post or Emotional Catharsis? You decide...
I am very emotional right now, but I'm not sure why. Since it is Sept. 11, I am wondering if my memories are causing the emotional-ness and my mind just isn't attaching the emotion to the event. Or it could just be hormones. Who knows...
Well, I've told my where-were-you story a million times, but I don't really think it's important. I was serving in Korea and for about 15 minutes, while we went to FPCon Delta and I went to the armory to load up with weapons, we thought that Charlie was in the fucking wire. That is to say we thought North Korea had invaded South Korea. Then we reported to the briefing room for the sit-rep and our orders and we learned the truth. There was a TV on in there and we watched the second tower fall as we were assigned posts. We all felt the same things that civilians felt, but we had to suck it back and go defend our base, get fighters up in the air, and we didn't get to call anyone back home for about 24hrs.
What I do think is important is the aftermath in our country. I firmly believe that out of tragedy comes the opportunity for growth and change, and I feel that we let ourselves down on that score. America has always been so proud, and so dismissive of the problems of non-Americans, (yes, yes, I know we give loads of aid and so forth but as a nation we do not view people in other countries as being as valuable as we do other Americans) that I thought maybe in the aftermath of our own tragedy we would be more compassionate to our brothers and sisters in other countries. We weren't. Watching the news today, it would be easy to think that 9/11/2001 was the last large scale terror attack in the world, but it was not. It would be easy to believe that the only victims of violence on 9/11/2001 came from the hijacked planes - but they are not.
On this day we give lip service of thankfulness to those who protected us, to those who ran into the building instead of recording it with their cell phones. But if we respected and appreciated these brave individuals they wouldn't have had to struggle and plead and sue to get proper health care for diseases they acquired as a direct result of their selfless actions nine years ago. If we had learned compassion we would have acknowledged the attacks that other countries have taken since in a more meaningful way. England played the Star Spangled Banner for us in one of the most touching tributes I've seen...do you think America would do that for another country?
Instead of lowering ourselves down to the level of our attackers, lets make a concentrated effort to be better people. Freer people. More tolerant people. While so many Americans were deployed around the world trying to find the people who hurt us and bring them to justice, the government and the public played right into the terrorists' hands. I remember coming home in '04 and thinking, "Holy fuck! What the crap happened here?". The homeland gave up my freedoms hand over fist while I was overseas thinking that I was protecting them. We should have been stationed in D.C., that is where the threat was. I am still very angry about that.
I have more, and I might get to it later....right now I'm exhausted.
Be kind. Be generous. Accept that sometimes bad things will happen and that a society can not be free and totally safe at the same time. Mourn lost loved ones, but do not allow your heart to be filled with hate. Pray - to whoever your god is - that the sick, confused souls that commit these atrocious acts are caught so that they cannot hurt anyone else, and pray that they find peace and realize that violence is wrong. The way to win is to embrace to goodness of America and to not give it up no matter the costs. We do not negotiate with terrorists. Our liberty is not for sale, not even if the price is our lives. This, in my opinion, should have been - and still should be - our message to the world.
Well, I've told my where-were-you story a million times, but I don't really think it's important. I was serving in Korea and for about 15 minutes, while we went to FPCon Delta and I went to the armory to load up with weapons, we thought that Charlie was in the fucking wire. That is to say we thought North Korea had invaded South Korea. Then we reported to the briefing room for the sit-rep and our orders and we learned the truth. There was a TV on in there and we watched the second tower fall as we were assigned posts. We all felt the same things that civilians felt, but we had to suck it back and go defend our base, get fighters up in the air, and we didn't get to call anyone back home for about 24hrs.
What I do think is important is the aftermath in our country. I firmly believe that out of tragedy comes the opportunity for growth and change, and I feel that we let ourselves down on that score. America has always been so proud, and so dismissive of the problems of non-Americans, (yes, yes, I know we give loads of aid and so forth but as a nation we do not view people in other countries as being as valuable as we do other Americans) that I thought maybe in the aftermath of our own tragedy we would be more compassionate to our brothers and sisters in other countries. We weren't. Watching the news today, it would be easy to think that 9/11/2001 was the last large scale terror attack in the world, but it was not. It would be easy to believe that the only victims of violence on 9/11/2001 came from the hijacked planes - but they are not.
On this day we give lip service of thankfulness to those who protected us, to those who ran into the building instead of recording it with their cell phones. But if we respected and appreciated these brave individuals they wouldn't have had to struggle and plead and sue to get proper health care for diseases they acquired as a direct result of their selfless actions nine years ago. If we had learned compassion we would have acknowledged the attacks that other countries have taken since in a more meaningful way. England played the Star Spangled Banner for us in one of the most touching tributes I've seen...do you think America would do that for another country?
Instead of lowering ourselves down to the level of our attackers, lets make a concentrated effort to be better people. Freer people. More tolerant people. While so many Americans were deployed around the world trying to find the people who hurt us and bring them to justice, the government and the public played right into the terrorists' hands. I remember coming home in '04 and thinking, "Holy fuck! What the crap happened here?". The homeland gave up my freedoms hand over fist while I was overseas thinking that I was protecting them. We should have been stationed in D.C., that is where the threat was. I am still very angry about that.
I have more, and I might get to it later....right now I'm exhausted.
Be kind. Be generous. Accept that sometimes bad things will happen and that a society can not be free and totally safe at the same time. Mourn lost loved ones, but do not allow your heart to be filled with hate. Pray - to whoever your god is - that the sick, confused souls that commit these atrocious acts are caught so that they cannot hurt anyone else, and pray that they find peace and realize that violence is wrong. The way to win is to embrace to goodness of America and to not give it up no matter the costs. We do not negotiate with terrorists. Our liberty is not for sale, not even if the price is our lives. This, in my opinion, should have been - and still should be - our message to the world.