9/11

[Shooter Grrl]

I don't need them to tell me about the changes, I've lived them.

I don't need them to remind me to be a "patriot", I've ALWAYS been one.

I don't need them to tell me to pray - I've always prayed and believed in God.

I don't need them to remind me - I will never forget!

[EricW]

Amen!

I'm tired of of the mandatory, nationwide manic depressive state we've been told that we have to live now and forever.  

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My father was a fighter pilot, airshow pilot, and flew crop dusters when I was growing up.  He never had a lot of close friends.  I didn't figure out why until I started thumbing through old photo albums:  most of his friends were dead.  (Low altitude flying is a damn quick way into a coffin.)

One day, my best friend's Dad augered in right after takeoff in their new twin Piper and died.  My buddy and I were close - I felt so bad for him it was like I'd lost my own Dad.  I was pretty shook up.  

I asked my father, "How do you deal with it?  How do you get through it?"  

"You bury your dead, clean up the wreckage, and move on."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

It's time to move on...

[38supPat]

But first we need to clean up, we're not done yet....many targets left to "clean"

[3quartertime]

I'm with Pat.  Thinking about 9/11 does make me sad.  But mostly it makes me mad.  I'm told there are 'seas of golden sand'  in the middle east.  Today I wanna see them flow BLOOD RED!!!

[EricW]

Let me clarify.  I'm speaking of what we do as individuals, not as a nation.  They are different things.  

Allowing one's life to be perpetually consumed by past tragedy is a dysfunctional way to live.  You might think that you are honoring the fallen, but in reality, you have only granted your adversary victory.  Fear and hate are what allow terrorism to succeed.  If you simply decline to give in to either, terror tactics will always fail.  The greatest fallout of terror is not the damage from the attack, but the damage that we do to ourselves.

Think about it.

Addressing the root causes of senseless, barbaric violence falls under the "move on" clause.  Dad was a realist, not a pacifist.  

E

(Edited by EricW at 11:48 am on Sep. 11, 2002)

[3quartertime]

Eric,  WOW,,, I'm always impressed when someone can speak volumes with a simple phrase.  I have a tremedous respect for persons of valor and humanity.  It sounds like your father has both.

In my oppion terrorism is the foe we can not beat.  We are civil beings us Americans,  we love, live and forget.  Terrorist have no such base,  they first hate then worship whichever god promises them the biggest harem in the end.  Because of this I feel that evil is the only way to wage combat.  I read an article about the famous 'Black Jack Pershing'.  While in the Philipines he was 'terrorized' by some islamic groups.  He fought them and took prisinors,  the prisoners  he covered with pigs blood and sent back to their armies.   He told them that this is the punishment we will levy.  He never had another islamic terrorist act.  

The story may be a farce but the messege isn't.  Fear is stopped by fear.  

My feeling is that most of us don't stop feeling outraged, we just see the futility of wasted effort.  The tragity of this is the waning support for US backed missions.  My only power is my freedoms,  namely my speech.  If I can keep my fire/determination I may win the local battle and help garner support for the larger objective.  

Ok I rambled endlessly again.  In the end I'm in favor of the memorials.  I'm a patriot,  I don't need to be reminded of how to feel about dead Americans.  But I'm not the only one.  (thanks John)  I do need to remember that freedom isn't a god given right,  its something that we protect till each of us is gone.  THAT is America the beautiful to me.

(Edited by 3quartertime at 1:29 pm on Sep. 11, 2002)

[Shipster]

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Quote: from 3quartertime on 2:10 pm on Sep. 11, 2002

 I'm told there are 'seas of golden sand'  in the middle east.  Today I wanna see them flow BLOOD RED!!!

---

 A SEA OF GLASS  sounds good to me.

[Ron Ankeny]

EricW:

Great post.

[ErikW]

"Addressing the root causes of senseless, barbaric violence"

Too bad that's not happening.

"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they've exhausted all other possibilities." --Winston Churchill

[sfinney]

We can "Address the root causes of senseless, barbaric violence" by make the "seas of golden sand" into "SEAS OF GLASS", IMHO.

Would it be barbaric to nuke them back into the stone age? Maybe. Definitely violent. But it wouldn't be senseless.

[Ron Ankeny]

Good grief...

[Duane Thomas]

Hang in there, Charlie Brown!!

[BigDave]

Hence we see the problem of trying to wage "conventional" warfare on "unconventional combatants", compounded by the fact that "unconventional combatants" are also non-state actors.  

Like George Carlin put it:

Q: Do you believe in God?

A:  No.

Reply: BANG you're dead!

Q: Do you believe in God?

A: Yes!

Q: Do you believe in my God?

A: No!

Reply: BANG you're dead!

If I never see another show or article on what happened that day, it will be too soon.  I think anyone who has even a marginally functioning brain will remember that day for all of their days.  What I would rather see or read about is what we are doing now to combat the problem.  And no, I don't mean nightly updates of where SEAL Team 2 is and what they are doing, that is irresponsible journalism (IMO).

(Edited by BigDave at 2:18 pm on Sep. 21, 2002)