After ten years' time, I still remember the colors vividly: the amazing blue sky, the brilliant yellow sunshine, the verdant greens of the summer foliage soon to turn to autumn tones. I remember the indigo blue of the new car I'd purchased and drove home only the night before. I remember the color of the pavement upon which I happily drove the new car to work that gorgeous morning. I remember the matte black of the car's stereo volume knob as I turned on the radio to listen to my regular morning talk show. I remember feeling so joyous that I'd reached a point in my life where I could finally afford something like a new car. I remember hearing the morning talk show hosts make mention of a news report of an airplane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers. Early reports were sketchy, so my first assumption was that some errant Cessna with an amateur pilot at the stick must have made a really outrageous error in piloting. I proceeded to roll into work to start my day and show off the new wheels to my co-workers.
Upon arrival, one co-worker listening to a radio at his desk immediately asked if I'd heard about the airplane that had crashed into the tower in New York. I responded with my amateur pilot theory, and he indicated that the reports were beginning to come in that it was a passenger jet. Then it began to sink in. Passenger jet pilots are among the best and most professional out there. They don't generally make errors like accidentally flying directly into skyscrapers. I became unsettled at the thought of an airplane full of people instantly colliding with a busy office building. The death tolls, if these reports were correct, were going to be catastrophic -- possibly in the hundreds. Little did anyone know just how catastrophic things were going to become.
We had access in my office to a television, so we went over to it and turned on the news. I remember the distant camera shot of the towers, with one of them billowing black smoke. We attentively huddled around the TV, listening to the news reporters try to make sense of the scene. After a while, a low-flying passenger jet came into view, and flew directly into the other tower. We were all agasp at what we had just witnessed. Then we knew. Everyone knew. This was wrong. This was evil. This was horror.
Ten years after, but I can still remember it so vividly: the orange of the flaming fireball, the sparkles of silvery white as shards of glass flew everywhere. I remember the white flutters of papers dancing downward and outward in the wind. I remember the rush of red fire trucks being shown racing toward the scene. I remember white police cars doing the same. I remember gray smoke and haze. I remember the navy blue of police uniforms, as the officers wearing them were trying to corral panicked New Yorkers away from the smoldering towers. I remember firefighters in black and yellow scrambling to save lives at the crash site of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. I remember the grey and white dust cloud as the first of the towers fell. I remember the same of the second tower. I remember the ashen gray dust covering those who were caught too close to the falling towers. I remember that ashen gray dust mixed with dark crimson blood on some who were far closer to the falling towers than they would have liked. All of these colors stay with me.
I can't believe something that occurred ten years ago stays with me so vividly even today. I'm writing this during the time window where ten years ago we would have seen two smoldering towers that would later fall. It is unfathomable that this nation had to endure something so horrifically unfathomable. But we have.
There is a strange contradiction in bowing one's head in deference to those lost on 9/11/01 while at the same time trying to keep one's chin up because the United States of America is continuing to emerge victorious over the enemies that brought this pain upon us ten years ago. For me, the defeat of our enemies brings peace to my soul. With each report of another al Qaeda operative or figurehead having been removed from this earth, I get closer to a place where I can look at life the same way I did on September 10th, 2001. True, there will always be those that seek to destroy us, and with each enemy removed another soon takes his/her place. But that reality does not exempt us from remaining vigilant, or from continuing to fight those enemies. It may be an easy thing for some to dismiss all of the tragedy and consider it a past from which we must move on. But that past is prologue to where we are going. We wouldn't have the comparably comfortable present without having dealt with that past. We have faced significantly fewer attacks and threats here at home since 9/11/01 because some have chosen to make it their lives' missions to do what is necessary to protect us. For this, I am eternally grateful. I feel a great deal better knowing those individuals are out there doing what is necessary.
On the ten year anniversary of September 11th, 2001, I find myself reflecting on how much the world has changed since that fateful day. The casualty count from that horrific day has been revised many times over since then, but a quick Internet check puts the figure at 2977 victims (American and foreign), excluding the 19 al Qaeda attackers, who I do not feel are worthy of inclusion in the total. Frankly, it pains me to have had to mention them at all.
This year, Osama Bin Laden was found and promptly killed, a momentous day for the nation, and a testament to our resolve to pursue justice for the victims of 9/11. I, like many Americans, was beginning to feel like that day may never come. I can’t tell you how satisfied I am that we finally found and killed that bastard. I’m especially grateful that we didn’t take him alive and put him through our criminal justice system. While I believe in the system, I do not feel that Bin Laden was worthy of being given American civil rights, since he stood for everything that America is not. He would have made a mockery of the whole thing every step of the way, with countless opportunities to spew propaganda and hate. I don’t think this nation would have been able to stomach seeing his smug face in court on TV every day for years. His quick demise was the right ending for him, although I personally would have loved to see him suffer some excruciating pain for awhile first. That’s my sick sense of revenge talking, but I don’t apologize for my visceral responses towards him and his ilk. He had it coming, plain and simple.
Looking at the world stage since 9/11, Afghanistan is not much closer to stabilizing, Pakistan is an ever-worsening black hole of anti-American hatred, and Iraq, for all the controversy surrounding it, may be actually be progressing the best of those three nations. Iraq is still an internal mess, and there’s plenty of horror taking place there on a regular basis, but it almost seems as if there might be light at the end of that tunnel. Only time will tell.
Elsewhere since 9/11, we’ve seen significant change beginning to take hold in the Middle East. The jury is still out on whether the Arab Spring will turn out to be a positive or negative thing in the end (if there ever IS an end to it), but things needed to change there regardless. The status quo was certainly a mess. But major change is underway in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, and a host of other nations in the Middle East. It’s crazy to grasp that the whole thing sparked off from one man lighting himself on fire in protest of police brutality and corruption in Tunisia. It’s been fascinating to watch the ripple effect of one man’s self-immolation. Entire governments have fallen. I guess if you think one person can’t change the world, this man certainly disproves that theory. I suppose the same could be said of Bin Laden. He succeeded in changing our world too, in more ways than I care to think about.
Many aspects of our daily life have changed as a direct result of 9/11. Air travel was forever altered in the wake of the attacks, one of the first and most visible changes that occurred. Soon, many other facets of life followed suit. The government and the private sector had to rethink security from every angle. Emergency response systems were overhauled. Threat considerations of every kind had to be factored into daily life. Economics have been forever impacted, which sadly was one of Bin Laden’s primary goals – to cause the United States to spend itself out of existence. The good news is that we’re still here, and he is not.
I’ve made mention many times in the past that I never want to forget 9/11 or its impact. I make a point every year to reflect on that day when September rolls around. One of the things that really strikes me as difficult is to consider the viewpoint of those who were mere children in 2001 that are coming into adulthood now, and their relative sense of removal from 9/11. I vividly remember so many feelings and emotions regarding the events of 9/11, but I wonder if today’s young adults really have any grasp of what transpired in 2001 when they were kids. Now that the 9/11 Memorial is unveiled and young adults stroll across that hallowed ground, will they ever fully understand what it all means? Or will it just be a pretty park to them? When I paid my first visit to Ground Zero in 2009, there was really very little to see except fencing and construction equipment. Nevertheless, just being there moved me more than words can describe. But to someone else who may only have fleeting memories of buildings falling down on TV because they were young kids back then, I suspect that the full impact of 9/11 is lost on them. Perhaps some would argue that ignorance is bliss, and that future generations should never have to know the pain and suffering of 9/11 the way we experienced it. I would disagree. But even so, I’m not sure of the best way to convey the importance of acknowledging and respecting that day to youngsters going forward. Having them watch the documentary entitled “102 Minutes That Changed The World” would be a good start. (Which reminds me that I need to track down a copy of that on disc…)
A week or so ago, I had spent hours watching a mini-series on Discovery entitled, “Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero”. I was very moved and impressed with what I saw. The amount of consideration and planning that have gone into what is being constructed at Ground Zero is mind boggling. I have the utmost respect for what is being built there, and for those who are building it. I have tentative plans in mind to visit the site for the second time in 2013. That is the year that the One WTC (formerly known as the “Freedom Tower”) is supposed to be completed, although from what I saw in the mini-series, it appears that in order to see everything else completed at the site I will likely need to plan yet another visit there in or beyond 2015. One way or another, I want to go there when everything is completed and spend some time there. It is truly amazing what they are creating, and even more amazing how many aspects of the design pay tribute to the victims and the events of 9/11. I look forward to seeing the site when it’s fully complete.
Today, the nation is remembering and honoring those lost on 9/11. I remember. I remember the victims, I remember (and still feel) the sorrow, I remember the pain, and I remember all of those brave souls lost in the subsequent wars that followed 9/11. I also remember the colors. Today, the colors I want to remember are red, white, and blue. They represent everything we’re about, and everything we’ve endured. On this day, I look upon our flag’s colors with pride for how far we’ve come. But as my flag somberly waves in the bright yellow sun today, I remember September 11th, 2001. I remember.
