The Empire State building was red, white, and blue last night.
When I was a little kid, I remember walking by the World Trade Centers with my grandmother, and asking her why they had those massive cement planters in front of the lobby, taking up most of the entrance.
"That's so you can't drive a car with a bomb in it through the building."
I was not a stupid kid, even at that age; it's arguable that actually, I was smarter than. There were no naive thoughts about why someone would want to do such a thing... I knew politics. I knew war. I knew terrorism.
But also, what I knew, was that they didn't happen in America. I knew bombs went off in places like Israel, or Croatia, Chechnya. I didn't know it would happen to us.
As I looked across the river last night, again feeling that cool breeze come off the water... sometimes it's hard for me to comprehend that 9/11 really happened. It's hard to look at that skyline that I've lived next to my whole life and realize that something like that truly went on, and that I saw it, an 18-year-old kid smoking a cigarette in his pickup truck with friends, listening to the radio, wondering if we were going to war...
It still brings tears to my eyes.
4 comments:
I think that is what makes it even worse (if it's possible to make it worse) - things like that just don't (didn't) happen to us. Not here. No one would dare. I don't think it's an accident that it occurred after our military had been cut to 50% of what it once was either. I think for those of us in a younger generation it's similar to the Kennedy assasination - you will always remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened.
I know... but what bothers me most is the rest of the country using it as an excuse for doing this, or doing that.
Don't fucking talk to me about 9/11 and how we should cope with it! You're from fucking Iowa! The fuck do you know? (And I don't mean you BH, I just mean Americans in general). It'd be like someone blowing up the golden gate- sure it's America, but I've never seen it. It's not my home. It was our home that got attacked... and that's why I get angry when people use 9/11 as justification for this or that.
I may write something about that in a seperate post.
I think you should touch on how many failing businesses aroung the country used 9-11 as an excuse to close their doors because they lost business....there was a study done 5 or so years back on this and found something like 25-30% of all businesses that shut their doors and blamed 9-11 were failing before the towers fell.
But I don't agree with you about it not affecting people outside of NY. There were more then just New Yawkers working in those buildings, and when a landmark dies, it affects everyone, not just the people living in it's shadow.
I agree with not telling people how to cope, but I agree with that principle in every area. Everyone finds their own way through their grief. Just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for me.
Yes, it impacted those who live in NY differently than those of us in the rest of the country, but I lost a friend too. Many people did. No, I didn't walk by the remains every single day, but I was still impacted.
That said, no, people shouldn't be using it as an excuse for other bs.
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