Honestly, it really doesn’t matter where I was or what I thought five year ago today. I wasn’t in New York City or Washington DC. I didn’t have a loved one die as a victim or a hero. I have no personal connection whatsoever with any of the 3,000 individuals who lost their lives on that day, so in that sense my thoughts and my reaction mean very little. But I still thought I would share my thoughts, for whatever it is worth.
The more interesting thing is not where I was that day, but where I was supposed to be.
My wife and I had our wedding scheduled for Sept. 8, 2001. We were to fly to West Palm Beach, FL on Sept. 9 and stay there for a week. Instead we moved our wedding up to Sept. 1. We left for Florida on the 2nd for our honeymoon and came back on the 8th.
I found out later that several of the hijackers were living in and around West Palm Beach at the time. I have no idea if I ever saw them there or possibly even flew with them on our return trip.
On the morning of Sept. 11, I woke up with a nasty one-day stomach virus. I was busy lying on the couch throwing up. My wife called work for me to let them know I would not be in that day. Then she weht outside to take out the trash. Because we had a good bit of trash, she drove my truck to carry it to the dumpster. When she came in she looked pale and told me to turn on the TV. She had heard that planes had hit the World Trade Center over the radio.
I lay there on the couch the rest of the day, alternating between throwing up and staring aghast at the sites on the television screen. I don’t remember too much else from that day, simply shock and wondering who had done this.
I do remember the next few days at work. At that time I worked at a newspaper and we had TV’s on all through the office. I remember the dread of waiting for the next attack to come, waiting for any kind of information, waiting to know who could possibly do this.
Five years have passed since Muslim terrorists hijacked our planes and crashed them into our buildings. They struck the first two blows that day, but within hours we began to fight back and that continues to this day.
It’s nice to remember those days when everyone was “proud to be an American.” When no one even considered the fact that our government was responsible for the deaths and if someone had suggested it, they would have gotten a “very harsh” response.
I don’t expect everyone to cheer the President today or stand behind his policy decisions. It is no more or less patriotic to agree or disagree with someone in power. I simply hope that we wil cheer our nation today, that we will stand behind our troops, our firemen and our police officers. I pray that we will remember the sacrifice of many on that day, who displayed what Jesus called the greatest love – laying their life down for a friend or even a stranger.
If anyone would like to share their story or memories, please feel free to do so.
May God bless America.
This is what I wrote that day. Just a terrible, terrible experience, for everybody.
Whenever anybody tries to suggest that somebody loves America more than somebody else – and we know which direction that accusation usually travels – I get upset in part because I remember the reactions of people on my side of the fence that day: the horror, the fear, the compassion, the dedication. I hope that we’ll never again witness evil this unimaginable, but I should probably know better.
Here is my account of where we were that day. I just pray we never see another day like that again.
I wish I had written down my thoughts somewhere that day, but that was before my blogging days and after my college opinion writing days. I was doing layout and sports writing at a paper and they already had opinion writers who were ready to share their thoughts.
I do think that it is silly for both sides to make gross generalizations about loving America. Clearly, some people on both sides do not love America, but the vast majority do they just have differences of opinions on how best to improve America and keep it as the greatest nation in the world.
I agree – I hope we never see this type of carnage again, but as you say the threat will most likely always be with us.
Hey Daddypundit, that link isn't working.
Hi, Daddy pundit. I lived in Richmond, VA as well during 9/11.
I won't speak of 9/11 much because this picture can speak for me. It has great sentimental value. It reminds me of of how everything can change in an instant. It was taken by my mother prior to 9/11. She has passed away since then.
The World Trade Center
Cineaste, that is nice photo – it's kind of erie thinking about it now. The clouds rolling peacefully overhead look almost like smoke billowing from the tops of the buildings. How our perspective has changed, since your mom took that photo.
I was talking with a coworker about 9/11. Even now when I see a plane I cringe a little. Again, I have no personal connection to the attacks at all, but when I see a plane coming in I can't help but wonder.
For some reason the permalink I included in the previous comment isn't working. Just go to the main page and it's at the top.
I believe the war on terrorism is actually a war against ignorance. Here is an example of the ignorance that must be destroyed by science education.
Muslim Sesame Street V: Pepsi Cola, the Apes, Pigs and Jews
Here is a call for reason which we should all remember on this day, 9/11.
Arab Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan
Well said.
Ignorance must be destoryed by Truth, be it science or otherwise. Science is not always truth, that should be evident from the past.
Aaron, surely you're not implying the Bible represents Truth, are you? Also, how do we get from 9/11 back to this argument?
Ignorance must be destoryed by Truth, be it science or otherwise. Science is not always truth, that should be evident from the past.
Aaron, that little girl is taught the Islamic "truth" by her parents just as you teach the Christian "truth" to your children. Christians program their children to be Christians and Muslims do the same. Science, being grounded in the empirical, does not depend on Jesus or Allah and does not teach hate and bigotry. I see no difference in the methods used by Christian and Islamic fundamentalists to teach their children religion. They both rely on their own view of what "truth" is and both are equally and ignorantly grounded in supernatural belief. Both Christians and Muslims are equaly zealous about their Gods and what they consider blasphemy, heresy, righteous, and TRUTH.
I said nothing about the Bible or anything else. I simply said that Truth is what corrects ignorance and that the Truth comes from various sources science and otherwise. Science is not the end all, be all of Truth. It represents part of it – as it is true that I love my wife, but I cannot prove that scientifically.
Science can also be blinded by ignorance and bias. I am not even going into the evolution issue and note that I didn't bring this up Cineaste did. That is why I said look at the past – Earth is flat, geocentrism, race superiority (which by the way was in the disputed Scopes trial textbook, but I digress), etc. Those are things that science believed that was false. I'm sure you will blame those on religion, but science was complicit in those and has made many mistakes on their own.
I find it odd that both of you seem to be holding on to a modernist way of thinking in terms of science, instead of postmodernism. I think both have their flaws, but it is impossible to say that only those things which can be "emperically" tested can be true.
Aaron,
I know we've done this before, but why again is Jesus represented as a white man of Nordic appearance, when he almost certainly must have been darker skinned? Is it by accident? Of course not – that stems from racial superiority. And let's not even address the number of scientists killed by Christians for spouting unChristian theories.
Aaron, when you watch that video of a 3 1/2 year old girl learning how to hate Jews, its not scienctific truth she is learning, it's religious truth.
You correctly point out that science has been wrong in the past. Do you think this comes as a surprise to anyone? Science has recognized it's mistakes, has tried to correct them, and scientists know more mistakes are in store. That's why if the little girl learned science, she can admit her hate for Jews is unfounded. That is the great strength of science. Science gives one the power to evaluate the world outside of superstition, outside of what you are told to believe. But the Christian and Muslim fundamentalists can NEVER admit a mistake in scripture, for it would destroy the divinity of their Gods, their faith. Without science, that little girl is doomed to an existence of religious ingnorance.
The same reason Jamaicans often depict Him with dreadlocks or Africans draw Him as black – they feel more comfortable with a Jesus that looks like them. It has nothing to do with racial superority, which by the way was furthered greatly by evolutionist thinking, it is about making God in your image.
I think it is wrong for anyone to do that. We were created in God's image not the other way around. Jesus was most certainly dark skinned or olive complexion. He was Jewish, not white or Asian or black or anything else.
Most of the "scientist killed by Christians" were people killed by the Catholic church for violating church policy of some sort and viewed as political enemies much more than religious enemies.
But again none of this is even relevant to my point – science has made mistakes in the past. Can we not agree on that? If not, you have elevated science to a position far beyond one it deserves. It is not infalliable, it is totally dependent on the culture of the moment and the humans doing the research, including their limited knowledge. The more we know and find out the more science changes because it had mistaken ideas before.
Of course science has made mistakes Aaron – which it then fixed. Some Christians still think that the Earth is 6000 years old, because the Bible tells them so. That's a problem, which nobody seems interested in fixing.
Does that knowledge lead them to kill innocent people? Then, I don't think a comparrison to Islamic terrorism is justified – as Cineaste did.
Not to mention the scientific data for a younger Earth. You may not believe it, but there is data there. There is no data that says – killing innocent people is good.
But to get to our acknowledge agreement – Science has made mistakes, which means that science is not always right, so it alone cannot be used to trump and defeat ignorance. That was my only point.
Science has made mistakes, which means that science is not always right, so it alone cannot be used to trump and defeat ignorance. That was my only point.
Science is the trump that can defeat RELIGIOUS ignorance.
Why? Because science does not claim to hold spiritual truths only empirical ones. Because those empirical truths can be proven wrong and revised. Example, gravity. Einstein expanded on Newton's original theory but scientists still have yet to come up with a full comprehensive theory of gravity that answers all questions. Religion, unlike science, claims to have ownership of the truth. This religious dogma Christians and Muslims have, that it is impossible for their religion to be wrong, is exactly what that little 3 1/2 year old, future suicide bomber, is learning. She is learning, rather being programmed by her religion, to live in ignorance and hate. An education in science would lift her religious ignorance.
How would learning about gravity change a terrorists mind? How does telling a suicide bomber about evolution cause them to drop the explosives?
I also find it offensive for you to claim that teaching a child to be a suicide bomber and teaching a child that the Earth is 6,000 years old is equivalent. Can you please explain to me how that is so? How is telling a child God created them and loves them, the same as telling a child that Allah wants them to blow up their classmates today?
I have never said that religion has the ownership of the Truth. I hold my faith to be part of The Truth. I believe that "all truth is God's Truth" in that a truth from chemistry, biology, philosophy, etc is all part of God's Truth. We should draw the Truth from every realm of thought and experience, not simply limit it to emperical data. That is the definition of ignorance.
Truth is Truth no matter where you find it. If something is true then it is true through out. I don't view science and religion in seperate spheres, but come under the confines of Truth.
There is NO data anywhere that any serious scientist considers worthwhile supporting young earth. There is plenty of absurd nonsense offered to us by Christians posing as scientists. But that isn't the same thing.
It's hard to show any data, when you dismiss out of hand anything that goes against what you believe. When you conclude that someone is by definition not a "serious scientist" if they don't hold to your view then how do you expect anyone to challenge you. Sounds kind of like a religious argument.
How does telling a suicide bomber about evolution cause them to drop the explosives?
Because if the child accepts evolution then, that child is forced to question the Muslim creation myth. If the child can question the Muslim "truth" on this part of the Koran then that child can question other parts, like the parts that teach them to hate Jews.
I also find it offensive for you to claim that teaching a child to be a suicide bomber and teaching a child that the Earth is 6,000 years old is equivalent. Can you please explain to me how that is so? How is telling a child God created them and loves them, the same as telling a child that Allah wants them to blow up their classmates today?
Aaron, I don't mean to offend. I am truly hoping that you see the following connection.
Teaching a child to be a suicide bomber and teaching a child creationism are both religious dogma; superstitions that have no basis in empirical science. Though the goals are different, the methods, programming the child with religion, are identical between Muslim fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists.
I believe that "all truth is God's Truth" in that a truth from chemistry, biology, philosophy, etc is all part of God's Truth.
And I would bet you my life that this is the same thing that Muslim fundamentalists believe. They, like you, believe "all truth is God's Truth." Don't jump the gun and think I am comparing you with Muslim fundamentalists. I am not, okay? What I am trying to bring to your attention is that a little education in science, a wider world view than a strict religious dogma, would do that 3 year old girl some good. I urge you to watch the Arab Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan video again so you can understand my viewpoint. I am trying to be a voice of reason but its difficult when reason conflicts with deep seated religious beliefs.
Truth is Truth no matter where you find it.
Moral truth depends upon the circumstance. That 1 + 1 = 2 is true but that is not a moral truth. Killing is wrong is a moral truth but in the case of IVF, it's a "necessary evil" in your eyes? I am just trying to point out that morality is not black and white, that's all.