I guess that the whole of the US will be inundated with the media focusing on the anniversary of the two airplanes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Remember that lives have been ripped apart and five short years on, there are still still people grieving. I'm not going to put up any image of that. You know what it looked like.
My sister Sally and her husband live in New Jersey. My brother-in-law commutes into Manhattan every day. I was so frightened for them that day. Thank God I managed to get them on the phone early on. They have heartbreaking stories of parents of my nephew and nieces' friends not coming home that day or any day afterwards. Cars in the parking lot of the train station that were never collected.
I don't live very far from Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway. If you remember, we had our own airplane disaster right here in December 1988.
The nose cone of Pan Am Flight 103 fell in the field right in front of Kevin the plasterer's house. He was the first person to walk out and see this:
If you come to visit us here at Whitelees, you can talk to Kevin about that night if you want. He doesn't mind talking about it but I haven't brought the subject up in years.Sadly, there are more terrorist incidents than my two highlighted incidents. The list of victims keeps growing and we don't seem to be able to either stop the terrorists or prevent this sort of hatred from building.
Don't believe lies about why terrorists do these sinful things. People don't do these things out of jealousy. They are not envious of our freedoms, they have real hatred and anger. There isn't a metal detector in any airport that is going to detect hatred. You can prevent passengers from taking fingernail clippers on board or liquids that might be explosives but you let them on the plane with a heart filled with hatred.
What about the underlying causes of this problem? We can increase security and minimise the symptoms, but what about the root of the problem? Has there been a drastic improvement in foreign policy? Has there been a change in how we deal with smaller, less powerful nations or have we tightened the screws on them? The entire world was horrified by the attack on the US in September 2001. There had never been a larger outpouring of good will. What happened to that good will?
Remember ALL victims of terror today. Remember the Egyptians, Turks and Jordanians who get exploded while going about their daily business. There have been French, Spanish, British and German victims too. Remember the Israelis and Irish who get exploded by hidden bombs in restaurants and shops.
I still feel sad every time I see the New York skyline. If there is an older photo and the towers are still there, I think. "It hasn't happened yet. " More recent photos with the towers no longer there saddens me too. The New York skyline was a wonderful thing. It was celebrated. Now the famous skyline with its missing towers is just a reminder of pain and suffering. The terrorists ruined that too.
7 comments:
Good post. There are so many threats all over the world. But, nobody wants to deal with the underlying problems that cause those threats. Much of it is religous, but a lot of it is the result of decades of political policies.
It is good to see this day on a global level, for the hatred and violence is not owned by any one country or people. In the end it reaches us all. I agree with Jay in that much of it is religious and has been so forever.
I would like to tell you though, that I have found a bit of good will, residual from 9/11 that I will post about tomorrow. It does a heart good.
I agree with you completely Peggy that "remembering the victims" should include the other thousands of innocents whose lives were taken from them.
Much focus has been paid to the tragedy and it's daily, sad aftermath. And yes, life in our NYC/NJ neck of the woods has changed. But it hasn't been all negative. New York is a much kinder place even now. A year or so after 9/11 we had a terrific black out on the East Coast of the US and Canada. I was in NYC that day with my sons and we had to find my husband AND get home to NJ before dark. The streets were PACKED with people. We didn't hear one cross word, no complaints, no pushing or butting in line to get on a bus, no looting, fighting or rioting. Sometimes people just decide that it's better to help out and get along. Now if only our leaders could do the same.
Sal
That was a great post, Peggy. And I agree with you--terrorists don't do this out of jealousy. And metal detectors don't detect hate--sad but true.
Slight correction:
"The entire world was horrified by the attack on the US in September 2003." -- you meant 2001?
Yes - thank you
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