Where was I that horrible day?
I can't believe it's been three years. It feels like only a few months and yet at the same time a million years have passed. So many people are going "who gives a shit! It was three years ago!"
Well I care. I had friends and family members that nearly died. The only thing that saved them was that they were in temple. It was an important Jewish holiday and they were in temple praying. That is why so many people blamed the Jews. They thought that since the Jews knew they wouldn't be near the towers they could plan it around that day. Absurd.
Where was I that day? The first tower got hit around 8 correct? With the three hours difference I was asleep in bed since it was 5am. When my mom wakes up she goes to the bathroom and turns on the radio. She woke up at 6 our time. She came into my room and said "Sara someone bombed the WTC!!!"
I don't wake up easy but I leaped out of bed and watched the news with her. When the towers fell I started crying. She didn't. I guess she was in shock. There was still school so I got ready for school then watched the news until the van (our school used vans) honked. I grabed my walkman and left. The radio was on a news station. The stupid kids were bitching about her not listening to the usual rap morning show. I drowned them out with listening to my own radio news program (KFWB 98am). Halfway to school they call and tell the van driver to take us home. Our school is near downtown Los Angeles and they were worried that if there was a terrorist attack there we could get hurt. So I get to go home. I am in front of the tv when my dad gets home two hours later. He had to take the stairs down. He's in City Hall which is the tallest building in the city. He was on one of the higher floors. Then he had rush hour going back home. I'm in front of the television all day. I taped it. I still have those tapes. I have the newspaper articles and the magazines.
I hates Americans and loved Americans after that. I loved how we came together and showed our nation pride that we never showed before. I hated how we (we meaning America as a whole) became racist to anybody looking middle easter. I hated how it took a terrible act of terrorism to bring the country together. I loved seeing the flags. I loved hearing all the American songs. Let me make it clear that when I say "American" I mean United States. Canadians are Americans technically because they live in North America. Same with Brazil except they live in South America. Anyway. I hated seeing all the teenagers beating up the arab looking people. They could have been Italian. It wouldn't matter. I hated seeing that the 711 in my neighborhood got no business because the employees were Muslim. They weren't even from the middle east. They were from India I think. I hated knowing I was one of the few people in my neighborhood that acted friendly to these poor people. Hated seeing the hate crimes. I especially hated how Bush used 9\11 for invading Iraq. I'm very happy we went into Afghanistan but we should have continued helping those people. They are still in need of help. If there is any fighting that should be done, it should be to catch the Taliban and to help the Afghani people. We should never have been to Iraq. They don't have the means to develope nuclear warheads. Iran does but not Iraq. I am extremely dissapointed that Bush would also exploit 9\11 for his running. It's tasteless.
Basically 9\11 brought out the best and the worst of us. I want to thank all the countries that helped us. I remember that Canada sent a lot of help to us. They sent dogs for searching. I'm very grateful to these nations. I have American pride but we are not the center of the earth. I hope we learn that one day.
Something I got from fritters. It just proves my point that we are full of ourselves. We think we are so great. It's ok to have national pride but don't think you are better then every other country.
By Tony Parsons
ONE year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting - the mass murder of thousands, live on television.
As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps.
An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate.
Surely there could be consensus: the victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil.
But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance.
Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year.
There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country - too loud, too rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than Europeans - but it has become an epidemic.
And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.
America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood.
A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon?
And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children - not just Americans, but from dozens of countries - were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?
What touched the heart about those who died in the twin towers and on the planes was that we recognised them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands and wives. And children. Some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves? And their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?
These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan.
The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.
The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11.
Remember, remember.
Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers.
Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum. Remember, remember - and realise that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.
So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex.
So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti.
AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.
American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?
When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that - and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism". A real war.
The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell", if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe.
The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth.
The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.
But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.
I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich, free, strong, open, optimistic.
Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system.
America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.
Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.
Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper.
And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein.
Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange centre, oh mighty one!
Remember, remember, September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.
No, do more than remember. Never forget.
Well I care. I had friends and family members that nearly died. The only thing that saved them was that they were in temple. It was an important Jewish holiday and they were in temple praying. That is why so many people blamed the Jews. They thought that since the Jews knew they wouldn't be near the towers they could plan it around that day. Absurd.
Where was I that day? The first tower got hit around 8 correct? With the three hours difference I was asleep in bed since it was 5am. When my mom wakes up she goes to the bathroom and turns on the radio. She woke up at 6 our time. She came into my room and said "Sara someone bombed the WTC!!!"
I don't wake up easy but I leaped out of bed and watched the news with her. When the towers fell I started crying. She didn't. I guess she was in shock. There was still school so I got ready for school then watched the news until the van (our school used vans) honked. I grabed my walkman and left. The radio was on a news station. The stupid kids were bitching about her not listening to the usual rap morning show. I drowned them out with listening to my own radio news program (KFWB 98am). Halfway to school they call and tell the van driver to take us home. Our school is near downtown Los Angeles and they were worried that if there was a terrorist attack there we could get hurt. So I get to go home. I am in front of the tv when my dad gets home two hours later. He had to take the stairs down. He's in City Hall which is the tallest building in the city. He was on one of the higher floors. Then he had rush hour going back home. I'm in front of the television all day. I taped it. I still have those tapes. I have the newspaper articles and the magazines.
I hates Americans and loved Americans after that. I loved how we came together and showed our nation pride that we never showed before. I hated how we (we meaning America as a whole) became racist to anybody looking middle easter. I hated how it took a terrible act of terrorism to bring the country together. I loved seeing the flags. I loved hearing all the American songs. Let me make it clear that when I say "American" I mean United States. Canadians are Americans technically because they live in North America. Same with Brazil except they live in South America. Anyway. I hated seeing all the teenagers beating up the arab looking people. They could have been Italian. It wouldn't matter. I hated seeing that the 711 in my neighborhood got no business because the employees were Muslim. They weren't even from the middle east. They were from India I think. I hated knowing I was one of the few people in my neighborhood that acted friendly to these poor people. Hated seeing the hate crimes. I especially hated how Bush used 9\11 for invading Iraq. I'm very happy we went into Afghanistan but we should have continued helping those people. They are still in need of help. If there is any fighting that should be done, it should be to catch the Taliban and to help the Afghani people. We should never have been to Iraq. They don't have the means to develope nuclear warheads. Iran does but not Iraq. I am extremely dissapointed that Bush would also exploit 9\11 for his running. It's tasteless.
Basically 9\11 brought out the best and the worst of us. I want to thank all the countries that helped us. I remember that Canada sent a lot of help to us. They sent dogs for searching. I'm very grateful to these nations. I have American pride but we are not the center of the earth. I hope we learn that one day.
Something I got from fritters. It just proves my point that we are full of ourselves. We think we are so great. It's ok to have national pride but don't think you are better then every other country.
By Tony Parsons
ONE year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting - the mass murder of thousands, live on television.
As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps.
An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate.
Surely there could be consensus: the victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil.
But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance.
Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year.
There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country - too loud, too rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than Europeans - but it has become an epidemic.
And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.
America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood.
A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon?
And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children - not just Americans, but from dozens of countries - were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?
What touched the heart about those who died in the twin towers and on the planes was that we recognised them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands and wives. And children. Some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves? And their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?
These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan.
The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.
The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11.
Remember, remember.
Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers.
Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum. Remember, remember - and realise that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.
So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex.
So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti.
AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.
American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?
When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that - and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism". A real war.
The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell", if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe.
The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth.
The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.
But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.
I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich, free, strong, open, optimistic.
Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system.
America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.
Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.
Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper.
And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein.
Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange centre, oh mighty one!
Remember, remember, September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.
No, do more than remember. Never forget.