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Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Other 9/11's
Recently I wrote a post titled Cognitive Dissonance. I should have saved it for today, but without realizing it, I was probably having what is known as anniversary grief in how 9/11 and events that followed traumatized me and my family. We lived just outside of DC and coping with it was hard. Enjoy it if you haven't already.
There is an article I read a few years ago that stuck in my mind. It details other 9/11's in other countries that coincidentally occurred on this date. The link is here. It's interesting because it helps keep our tragedy in perspective, and perhaps will motivate some of us to do small things to help make this a better world. Pushing for peace and diplomacy is the key.
Today I'll have Open Comments where you can describe how 9/11 and/or related events that followed, i.e., the anthrax scare, the Afghanistan-Iraq wars, etc. affected you and/or your family.
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ReplyDeleteMaybe folks are tired of rehashing this issue?
ReplyDeleteAt the time it happened, I was working out in Kansas City Ks. I walked into my office to see everybody huddled around a TV watching the events. Until I got to work I had no idea what happened.
ReplyDeleteAs a New Yorker, I was horrified beyond being numb. I knew people who worked in those buidings, not to mention my family. I was unable to contact any of them by phone for about two weeks after that day, and it was probably one of the darkest feelings in my life.
Fast forward to today. I think the gov't had alot to do with it. It sounds crazy, but I'm a conspiracy theorist like that. In recent years as I've looked back on that day, and the days shortly there after, I get pissed, and not pissed at "alleged terrorists", but rather the gov't.
Weirdly, Katrina is a more standout date for me, prolly because I was DIRECTLY affected, but meh, 9/11 is not quite the same as it used to be for me. I think Katrina took it's place for me.
ReplyDeleteBut, if I was from DC or NYC I'm quite sure it'd be different for me. But down here at school in ATL, I heard more about Katrina and as far as today, it was a mention of 9/11 in class this afternoon (the one in which I'm posting as class wraps up after a very uninteresting class), but nothing, not even a moment of silence was taken place.
I think it's interesting to see how black folks in general deal with national tragedies. Don't get me wrong, we were ALL quite affected when it happened, we ALL remember where we were when it happened, but aside from those of us in DC and NYC and who were directly affected, we really didn't internalize 9/11--but we all internalized Katrina.
Katrina comes up in every SOTBU, all eyes in the black community are still focused on NOLA. I don't know if it was really a cognitive dissonance where it was too hard for us to deal with--someone bombing our country--or was it a cognitive dissonance of someone bombing a country that we just HAPPENED to live in, who's chicken's our coming home to roost.
Personally, mine is more the latter. I side with my former pastor Jeremiah Wright on this one, America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the name of war and didn't bat an eye and the moment the terror is brought home, we get indignant and say "How dare they!"
In fact our chickens are coming home to roost.
It was traumatizing at first, but I think so much time has passed. The only time I really think about 9/11 anymore is when I see Rudy Guillianni's fake ass is getting famous off it. Like we dont remember ALL of NY hated his ass as of 9/10.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and when I think about how the GOP has yet to find Bin Laden, despite their persistant claims they will follow him to the gates of hell. Did you see that on CNN, when Bill Maher was talking about that and the Palin/Stewardess comments? It was so true.
Anywhoo, other than that I try not to think about 9/11 too much. I hope the survivors and the family of lost ones are able to deal with all the media attention this issue will garner from now until the end of time though. I feel worse for them than anyone else.
Hey Kit. I totally understand. I worked in downtown D.C. at the time (20th & L) so I was only a few blocks from the White House. When the first plane hit it didn't dawn on anyone that we needed to head home...quick. The second plane hit and everyone in my office had a look of dispair on their faces, especially because no one knew what to do. The metro was spotty at best. Traffic was a nightmare. All kinds of news reports with false info. I called my friend, BJ (of all people), who worked at the State Dept at the time. I could hear a recording in the background essentially saying "get the hell out the building".
ReplyDeleteThat day is forever etched in my mind. Every year I think of what the outcome could have been if the heros on the flight that crashed in PA hadn't fought the terrorists. Like you throughly noted, that period of time was a series of evil events.
Those first responders and survivers have real health concerns and are being told that there is no more money for their care!!!! I have a sister-in-law who made it out just in time before those towers fell and now suffers from pulmonary disease which her healthcare plan will not cover because it was a pre-existing illness!!!! And the 911 Healthcare Fund tells her there is nothing more they can do for her, she's on her own!! So spare me the 911 sentimentality, there are live people dying and sick and no one is listening or helping.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @2:47AM, that's a damn shame re: your sister-in-law and inexcusable for her being medically neglected b/c there was sooo much money donated for 9/11 victims. WTF happened to it all? Who got it and why? It's a disgrace, and I sure didn't hear the news talk about that yesterday. Bastards. They're just using is as an election tool and to stir up fear for an attack on Iran.
ReplyDeleteCurvyGirl, my DC sistah, you said, "no one knew what to do." Wasn't that the truth?! Didn't we though when the Pentagon got hit? We hauled azz home!
Dom, Yeah, Rudy was fairly despised pre-9/11 by a bunch of New Yorkers, and Bill Maher was on time last week when he questioned if Trig is Palin's grandbaby. Loved that he talked about the 'elephant in the livng room.' And yeah, sadly someone with a family member lost to 9/11 will have a harder time than most Americans with the media's annual spotlight on it.
Uppity, I'm so with you on this. Katrina was black folks' 9/11. We didn't jack afterwards compared to the 9/11 survivors either. I'll NEVER get over what FEMA, HS and the WH did and din't do.
Rippa, you said as a New Yorker, you were "horrified beyond being numb." Oh, I'm so feelin' ya on that. There's too much evidence out there that could prove that best, the WH was negligent, and perhaps at worst, complicit. Why else would the Bushies fight an investigation tooth and nail? Too bad the Articles of Impeachment Hearing from Dennis Kucinich this year wasn't allowed to take place. If they're innocent of anything other than genuine incompetence, Bush & Co. have nothing to hide, right?
Thank you all for sharing your feelings and stories.