As we all know, tomorrow is 9/11...

[ThreeShadows]

I watched a PBS documentary "Where was God at Ground Zero?" not long after the event. Those of you who have trouble sleeping tonight might want to google it. This excerpt is a particularly moving portion:

"A couple leaped from the South Tower, hand in hand. They reached for each other and their hands met and they jumped. So many people saw this as a scar burned onto our brains. But a man reached for a woman's hand and she reached for his hand, and they jumped out the window holding hands. I try to whisper prayers for the sudden dead and the harrowed families of the dead and the screaming souls of the murderers, but I keep coming back to his hand in her hand, nestled in each other with such extraordinary, ordinary, naked love. It is the most powerful prayer I can imagine, the most eloquent, the most graceful. It is everything that we are capable of against horror and loss and tragedy. It is what makes me believe that we are not fools to believe in God, to believe that human beings have greatness and holiness within them like seeds that open only under great fire, to believe that who we are persists past what we were, to believe against evil evidenced hourly that love is why we are here.", Brian Doyle.

Yes, love is why we are all here.

 

[gcvmom]

Thank you for posting that. I will check out the link when I get home. I watched part of a program on this Tuesday night. It brought back many emotions for me that still felt raw after all this time.

 

[AnnieO]

Have we forgotten?

We have so much divisiveness in this country. Some people are rabid Obama followers, some are rabid detractors. No one can agree. But in the weeks following the attack on our country we rallied together.

Health care? No one cared. We lined up for blocks to donate blood.
Tax reform? Huh? We donated money.
Symbolism? Old Glory flew everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Homes, businesses, in the hands of small children and the elderly alike; t-shirts, pins, earrings; cars...
Military deployments? We wanted to get Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and everyone associated with hurting our home.

Our enemies need not attack. All they need to do is wait for us to tear ourselves apart. And they did find out that, when they attack us, we pull together. But not for long.

America should pull together again to fight the divisiveness that will be the end of our country, our freedom, our lives.

OK, down off my soapbox now. Sorry. Just saying it as I see it.

 

[hearts and roses]

H was watching a documentary on the 911 attacks last night. It was mostly about the conspiracy theory. I didn't watch it much. I happened to walk in just as they showed those horrible photos of the towers falling and well, it's just too much for me. I know we all have our own stories of where we were that morning, what we were doing, the look on the faces of those around us, etc.

It is still just too raw. I cannot believe that 8 years has passed already. Seeing those images conjured up feelings in me that make it feel like it happened last week.

I don't think we've forgotten at all. I think some of us are still seething, many of us have moved on to forgive so we can feel relief and there are some of us who choose to let it go because it is just too painful. All of those other things like health care and tax reform and whatever your personal cause are all still important issues. I think we've all become a bit more guarded is all.

We lost family in those attacks. My sister in law has a memorial on Facebook today for her cousin Frankie. I only met him a few times long time ago, but I remember him - he was a fun young man with a beautiful little boy who slept with his dad's NYC firefighter hat those first few months following those attacks.

At work, we lost colleagues who had become friends over the years. Following the attacks, we attended memorial services, had to eliminate street addresses and the names of our friends from our database. Every once in a while, a co-worker of a lost friend will call our office and it all comes rushing back. We have a co-worker who took early retirement shortly thereafter 911 because his grief and shock was so great. He was one of the lucky ones to get out in time, but not before all his facial and head hair was burned off and he suffered 3rd degree burns on his hands, neck and face.

I think we should all light a candle today and send up a prayer, thought, meditation (or whatever our hearts feel) to remember all of those lost and all of those damaged and all of those whose hearts and minds were touched in a way that they will never forget. Peace to all~

 

[Star*]

YOU CAN'T.............

Make people remember........
Make people have the same emotions they did that day.....
Make people crowd the churches fearing the God they worship....
Make people be a little kinder in traffic if only for one afternoon
Make people respect the flag daily......
Make people help each other because humanity came together......
Make people find the good in us all........
Make people donate blood because it was the right thing to do.......
Make people give unwanted items & time to charities for no reason....
Make people send cookies and baked goods to fire houses, police......
Make people take in strangers, cry for the dying, look on with pity.....
Make people hug each other and just pray for people they'll never meet..
Make people worry about the future and plan for more tragedy......

YOU CAN.........

DO ALL THESE THINGS EVERY DAY YOURSELF.......

and if each one of us did that every day like we all did that tragic day and the days after on 9/11 - wouldn't it be a much nicer world to live in?

I swear I hated 9/11 and I hated the tragedy of loosing loved ones in NY, and Difficult Child and PA - IT was HORRID and HORRIBLE and the worst thing to happen on American soil.

BUT.....for a few hours each day after it made me SO VERY PROUD to be an AMERICAN.

There were American flags everywhere. There were stickers in car windows and banners about unity - and PATRIOTISM......and we WERE UNITED and it FELT GOOD. IT wasn't race against race, it wasn't color against color. Crime went down....people stood absolutely SHOCKED for the first time in a long time about something horrific. We has shock value that actually sent us in record numbers to our places of worship. People cared. People were kinder.

For a week or two - it was the best and the worst of times I ever remember. And today - I'm the ONLY one that wore red white and blue and a button that had the towers and an eagle crying that said REMEMBER. When others saw it they said - WHAT is ....oh oh yeah oh today is 9-11 like - oh that's years ago. I'm sorry folks I'm about the most patriotic person I know, and it makes me very sad and angry that people forget how horrible this was. That there are still rescue workers children that are growing up without their families, that there are people who now have Messotheolioma and other diseases and are dying from the cleanup they were told was asbestos safe.

WE seem to have become a nation of convenience. Regret, forget and move on. I'm not sure which is a larger tragedy.

But at the Star household there is a flag flying.....and there will be a larger flag displayed from the side of the house today in REMEMBERANCE of all the brave people who died trying to save others on Patriots Day.

God Bless America!!!!

Thanks for the post 3 shadows......

 

[Mattsmom277]

I've been very careful about not watching much t.v. today. It isn't that I don't remember. I think I remember too much.
I have that type of personality. I still tear up thinking of the pain and destruction of lives that day. I didn't know anyone lost that day but my ex from CT, the one I left Canada to marry (not marrying wasn't due to bad reasons, we remain friends) was on the ground dropping a client off at one of the towers and ended up in hospital after being injured by falling debris.
I have such emotion every time I see the images. I for one don't forget. I couldn't forget. I hope to never live to see something like this again. I hope that one day it won't be a concern of ever happening again.
JoG, my heart goes out to you and yours.

 

[AnnieO]

Star...

Every day I wear a heart-shaped flag pin on my lanyard. I bought it to help raise money for the victims of this tragedy. I bought a bunch of them. Gave them away, except for this one. Every day I wear it.

I will never forget. And I can't make anyone else think about it, but I do. And like MM, I tear up too. I agree that I hope I never live through something like this again.

God Bless us all.

 

[DDD]

It doesn't seem possible so many years have passed. At the time of the event we had a CD family member who had a loved one who worked for the firm that lost almost everyone. I doubt anyone can forget.

Yesterday my brother in law sent me "newly released" pictures that included people at the windows trying to figure out what to do. I can't imagine the pain loved ones feel when they "see" their Dad or Son in those last minute images. I've only seen a couple of photos of jumpers and that is unreal.

Some tragedies are burned into the memory. I'll never forget Hurricane Andrew. I'll never forget Katrina and New Orleans. Obviously I will never
forget 9/11 either. So sad on so many levels. DDD