Seven years ago at this time, I was sitting in my office in a large suburb of Washington, D.C. We were just about to receive word that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York. Initial reports were that it was a small plane, and several of us were joking, wondering what kind of an idiot could manage to fly a plane into a building that big on a clear day.
Several minutes later, word filtered in that another airplane had hit the second tower, and that it was a full sized passenger jet. As had been the first crash. Suddenly the joking was over, as we realized this was truly something serious.
In 2001, the internet was not nearly the source of live streaming video that it is today. CNN.com and MSNBC.com were among the primary sources of information on the attacks, along with local radio stations we were able to pull in. Online images were static snapshots, and as horrific as the pictures were they paled in comparison to motion footage. Work all but came to a halt that day. By 9:30 in the morning, the phones on our call center floor were nearly silent. We didn't have television available in the office, but as a technology company we had some pretty savvy players on our team. Within a few hours someone managed to get a broadcast signal pulled in and fed through a projector onto a darkened wall. The grainy images of people leaping to their deaths ahead of the collapse of the towers was the first thing we saw of the events in New York. We weren't working that day, but no one went anywhere, either. Some had no place else to go. Others, such as me, were effectively trapped in the area when the decision was made to suspend commuter rail service. Though train service was later restored that evening, I arranged to spend that night at the home of colleagues who lived nearby.
Seven years later, web news services acknowledge the day in passing, and all the radio news broadcasts I have heard give a nod to the day by reciting a laundry list of events before moving on to more important matters. We still have troops in the field taking fire as a result of these attacks. In Afghanistan we continue to pursue bin Laden. More indirectly as a result of the attacks, troops are also on active duty in Iraq.
We have not only been allowed to forget what really happened on 9-11, there has in fact been an active effort to put a wall between then and now. Remember, just not too acutely. Video of the planes hitting the towers? The towers falling? Fires burning and smoke rising over Manhattan? Dust covered wraiths wandering in a daze through the streets of New York? Effective refugees streaming across the river bridges to escape the island? Devastated friends and relatives desperate to find loved ones? All of these images are too intense to share with the American people. The wounds are too raw. We need to heal and move on. Seeing these pictures only inflames hate, and we need to be better than that.
Bullshit.
That's right, bullshit. We need to be reminded as often as possible of exactly what happened. What was done to us. Why we have men and women dying today in the Middle East, dying to help prevent even more Americans from dying here at home tomorrow.
Too many want everything to be all better, for the horror to be gone. And well, if Osama bin Laden and his buddies are still out there, well he hasn't done much recently. We're in his back yard now. We're provoking them. We should just be nice and go home and they'll just leave us all alone.
The growing segment of this population who wants to play ostrich, who thinks that it will all just get better if we stop worrying about 9-11 so much, disgusts me. The notion that running away from evil will end evil will only empower and embolden evil.
Two years ago, CNN online replayed their television broadcast for that day. I went to their web site that morning. I turned on the video stream, and I watched it every minute of the next six to eight hours. Yes it was disturbing. Yes it brought up memories and emotions I had forgotten I was experiencing that day, emotions I am feeling freshly again as these words are being written today. That was the single greatest public service that CNN has ever performed, and if only they would run that webcast again I would gladly watch. Again and again.
Maybe then this would stop being "Bush's War". Maybe then this would stop being "Bush Lied and Soldiers Died". Maybe we would remember what it is we're supposed to be fighting for, and actually rediscover the nerve to get the job done. Yes we need more men, and more materiel, especially in Afghanistan. What we need more than those though, desperately more, is will. The will to decide that what was done to us is not acceptable and will not be done again to us or anyone else. The will to partner with other nations and root out Al-Qaeda and all related terrorist organizations around the globe. The will to commit to winning rather than just treading water. The will to take this war back from the politicians and return it to honoring the memories of those who have died as a result of this war, not just here in the United States but in an ever growing list of countries around the world.
There is a web site that has gathered together much of what is available regarding 9-11. The September 11 Digital Archive (http://911digitalarchive.org/index.php). Go there. Review. Remember. Get those feelings back. Then find the courage to confront your political leaders. Tell them in no uncertain terms that 9-11 does not belong to either political party, that the lives of our soldiers are not to be used as sacrifices for domestic political victories. That the war on terror is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, but that it is a human issue. That politicians who can see no farther than "how will this effect our chances in the election" do a disservice to their country, to their constituents, and to the world. That if they can't do anything useful they should simply get off the stage, and if they can't figure out where the exit is on their own we will be more than happy to help them find it.
Sadly, we can't all just get along. We can however remember, stand up, and do our part to ensure that those who won't get along are not in a position to prevent the rest of us from getting along, living our lives and enjoying our families and loved ones.
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