Welcome to #SMH Fridays! Obviously, that’s Internet speak for “shaking my head” Fridays, but you already knew that.
Here at Red Alert Politics we are giving a special 9/11 tribute this week.
Here’s last week’s edition for the gist of what it’s all about. Enjoy!
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I was a freshman in high school, second day, second period, I was sitting in the library talking to a girl I met in homeroom when my uncle walked up to me and said, “we spoke to your mom, she’s fine.”
“What happened?” I asked.
That’s my first memory of 9/11/01. My mother worked in the 97th floor of tower one but thankfully, with the help of New York City traffic, she was late to work and was in the subway when the plane hit the building.
More than 350 of my mother’s coworkers never made it home that night.
My father, a New York City police officer, was up in the North Bronx for a primary election and couldn’t get down in time to rush into the buildings.
While I know I’m one of the many lucky ones, the aftermath of that day has only gotten more difficult.
At least half-a-dozen kids I grew up with lost a parent 14 years ago, and I see them become adults, I can’t help but reflect on how part of their lives were broken that day. The daughters who never had their dads walk them down aisle or the sons who never were able to make their moms proud.
It makes this day harder every year, when I see the memories they never got to have.
And as a sixth-generation New Yorker, I still cry for the city that I love and how a piece of it was lost forever that day.
College freshmen were only 4 years old when September 11, 2001 happened, as YAF points out in a video project. So, it may not be too surprising that they wouldn’t really have concrete answers as to why we were attacked that day. It’s not really an excuse though.
As the video project mentions at the end:
The rest of the short video involved students being asked “Why was America attacked on 9/11?” The students in the clip aren’t able to provide the right answers, and many of the offered responses are flat out wrong. They mention economics or religion. There was also a bit of a theme about blaming Bush and America.
One young woman offered up the response that:
Another one said “they were mad at us for something, I don’t know.” A young man said he would “err towards our interventionist foreign policy.” Another young woman had a similar response when she said “they weren’t happy with us, I mean with the U.S., being in their area.”
Many other students admitted they didn’t have the answer. “That’s a good question. I should know more, but I don’t,” mentioned one young man.
For this ignorance, I blame those who have not spread the truth of that day and instead turn to conspiracy theories and the like. I’m especially mad about those who are so quick to blame Bush and our own American policies. We were attacked, many, many people died, and we didn’t deserve that.
People also came together as a nation on 9/11, and we should be remembering and reminding others of that too.
Fortunately, the video did take on an encouraging note at the end, as students all seemed to be able to agree that “we should teach more about 9/11 in the classroom.”
Today communities across the United States get together to commemorate the terrible tragedy that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, and pledge to “never forget” those who lost their lives that day.
Unfortunately, the threat of attack still remains. A 20 year-old Florida man was arrested Thursday after the FBI discovered his plan to set off a deadly pipe bomb at a 9/11 commemoration event in Kansas City, Missouri.
Joshua Ryne Goldberg offered advice online to an FBI source, including instructions on how to build explosives and where to stage the attack. He even instructed the FBI source to “dip the screws and other shrapnel in rat poison in order to inflict more casualties.”
Authorities tied the posts to an IP address in Goldberg’s Florida home, where he admitted to encouraging a recent terrorist attack in Garland, Texas and promoting jihad around the world through his “network of mujahideen.”
Thank goodness his plot was thwarted, and I hope that no other American lives are threatened on this day as people attempt to pay tribute to the lives that were lost on 9/11.
The Kansas City Stair Climb event is scheduled for Sept. 13, and will honor the 343 New York City firefighters killed in the terrorist attack.
American children 14 years old and younger have known nothing in their lives beyond perpetual war and restrictions on civil liberties.
September 11th gives us the time to pause and remember those who have been victimized. It’s a tragic day, and one that, in the immediate years preceding the terrorists attacks, was politicized.
I find today useful to dwell on what America is and what it should be. Matt Welch has a thoughtful piece on the importance of intellectual humility in grappling with the after-effects of 9/11 and America’s place in the world:
In the face of tragedy, American response has been knee-jerk at best, and another tragedy at worst. Tragedy does not elicit wisdom at breakneck speed. To honor the victims of 9/11, I see no better way than to approach the issues of war, security, and, especially, freedom, with wisdom, temperance, and honor.
