Three Years Later

[azskyman]

As we approach the third anniversary of 9/11 and the attack on our country, it is no surprise that most of us can still vividly picture the images of the planes crashing into the buildings or the collapse of the towers followed by all the dense, dense ash sweeping through the streets of New York.

It is a sad chapter in our country's history...and the emotion of that day is hidden only a single micron below our skin. Seems that every news bulletin or breaking news story allows it to percolate back to the surface....and we hold our breath knowing that another chapter is someday going to happen.

Politics aside, I personally believe that we as Americans should periodically go back to the video of that day and relive those painful moments and days that followed.

In my eyes, we need to do that to remind us of our vulnerability, and we need to do that to help us stay the course and be vigilant in our lives. For as the years go by, we need to be reminded of the anguish in order to better prepare ourselves for a post 9/11 life in America.

That can also serve to help us remember and honor the individuals who died that day.

Do you believe it is a good thing to go back and relive those events and days, or do you believe it is best to let it lie...at peace with the past?

[Miss Mary]

Yes I believe it's a good thing to go back and relive those events. I'm already thinking of them since we're about to begin the month of September. Thinking how peaceful it was back then, how shocked we were that day, how terribly sad it all was. I'm sure the victims' families thoughts are those leading up to 9/11 - their loved one(s) last days. I'm sure 9/11 is never far from their thoughts. Personally speaking, I know I'll always think back to 9/11, days leading up to it, the day of and the aftermath for years to come. I would venture a guess I'll do this each and every year.

Mary

[j]

I think about 911 everyday, and whenever I hear a song like "Where were you when the world stopped turning", or "Have you forgotten"...I have that instant adrenaline rush of patriotism. and I'm reminded of just how easy it is to take life for granted.

Personally, I don't need to be reminded....its a day I will never forget, however...there are those who have forgotten why we are fighting terrorism today.

[CaptinCrunch]

Serves NO purpose

If I want to see it again all I need is to pop in a video tape, I recorded the whole days events(12hrs).

[Stephanie]

I think it is good to be reminded as well. To me, it is not unlike the films, movies and books that remind us of the Holocaust and why we shouldn't forget that as well.

[Pburgh]

I too believe that the images of that day should be a reminder of how vulnerable we are. More than that it's a reminder of how precious and fleeting life is. It should remind us to enjoy every moment and cherish every relationship we have in our lives. You never know what might happen.

I remember the days following 9/11 and all the flags that flew. Every car in the Burgh area was displaying a flag. Every house had a flag flying. I believe reviewing that day may make us realize that we do need to stay the course and stick together as a nation.

[David]

They always go back to Peral Harbor.. this is no different.

[Brent]

I don't have to watch on TV, I have the actual events recorded(plus a CNN documentary that came out on the 1-year anniversary).

I am having a hard time believing it's been THREE YEARS. I'm getting old.

[wx247]

How true j and Miss Mary. I agree... we should see the footage. It serves to remind and focus on the war on terror.

[btsgmdad]

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. We must never forget those who were murdered that September morn.

[streetsoldier]

I concur with the majority opinion here; the footage should have been shown, and OFTEN.

We need to remind ourselves what happened, where it came from, and redouble our collective and individual efforts, as did our parents and grandparents in WW II, until we are FINISHED with this war...however long it has to take.

[Miss Mary]

Pearl Harbor/JFK's Assassination/9/11 - All 3 brought this nation to it's knees. We didn't stay on our knees for long though. Possibly with JFK we did. I was only 8 then and I remember 3 or 4 long days watching endless live TV coverage with my mom. She cried the entire time. I'll just never forget that time period. The day 9/11 happened I said then and there - this is much sadder than JFK and I honestly didn't think anything could have been more tragic than JFK's brutal murder. I was wrong. So wrong. I don't want to ever see anything tragic again, that can top 9/11. In that sense we need to keep the shock, sights/sounds from that day and resolve to fight terror not far from our memories.

My dad would talk about Pearl Harbor and what that awful day was like. Everyone turned to their radios, instantly. With 9/11 we turned to the TV and Computer. I remember being on the phone also, with several relatives, first my husband then my mom. Thankfully a neighbor called me otherwise I never would have known what happened until later in the day. She watched the second plane hit the second tower live. I can't imagine what that shock must have been like. She called me instantly and within 5 minutes I knew what was going on in NYC. I began my list of phone calls and was online when I saw Askyman/Steve IM me. Told him the sad news. My husband's office didn't know about it either. While you hate to be the one to tell folks tragic news like 9/11 you wanted to tell as many people as you could, b/c you wanted everyone to know what was going on that day. If you'll recall, none of us knew what to expect next. One of the strangest aspects of 9/11 was not seeing aircraft fly above our house. We are along a route path planes take to the Greater Cincinnati airport, at a high altitude. We often don't even hear the planes but if you watch for them, you'll see one very 20 seconds or so. Both my husband and I would go out onto our deck and say - did you ever think planes would be grounded in this country? People complain about aircraft noise around here but at that time, we really missed seeing the normalcy of planes coming in, one after another, all lined up.

Let's just hope and pray we never have to live thru another 9/11.

Mary

[j]

I remember golfing on the Tuesday following the attacks. We golfed, on this, the one-week anniversary of the attacks, because we needed to get back to doing the things, we were used to doing. However, it wasn't the same, we were all different people than we had been one week before.

We were better. We were prouder. We were united.

We were on hole #7 when a large plane flew overhead, slowly, and closer to the ground than we are accustomed to seeing. There hadn’t been any air traffic since 911. Everybody stopped, everybody looked, and we all for an instant, had the exact same thought.

Turns out that this low flying plane was a military plane, not sure what kind, but one of our group identified it.

Just another example of how our lives would never be the same again.

[Miss Mary]

I bookmarked this site after last year's second anniversary of 9/11. I'm sure there are many more websites like this one, but I wanted to share it anyway with anyone who might be interested:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/septemb ... 0249.shtml

Here's another....I actually created a New York/9/11 section so I could save these websites:

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/news/articl ... /index.htm

Mary

[Stephanie]

Thanks Miss Mary. I'll look at those later and probably bookmark them as well.

[pojo]

I definitely remember 9/11... I was almost on a plane out to NYC to aid in the recovery... thankfully my bosses talked the Neenah/Menasha Chapter of American Red Cross out of pulling me away from my family, school and work for 3-6 months. That day was rough for everyone. I worked at WFRV Channel 5 at that time and only one thing was written on the assignment board "Attack On America" in big bold letters.

Candlelight Vigils were everywhere, flags were flying at 1/2 mass for months. People were extremely patriotic.

Now what happened... People are begging Pres Bush to bring the troops home. We (everyone at my base) crosses our fingers that we don't have to go play in the sand (Iraq). We still have people coming and going, but thankfully, we are only allowed to stay in Iraq for upto 6 months. Nothing more. When we deployed in November, I received the call, but because I had not completed BMT yet, they told me to hope and pray that our squadron will be home by the time I get done with BMT... and they were HOME in Feb. Our Sister Squadron in Minneapolis just recently returned home from the Sandbox... they were there for about a year (Flight crew)

[streetsoldier]

Shannon, I'm too old and sick, BUT...if you wanted to have your deployment orders rewritten with my name and former rank (1 LT, REG AF) on them, I'll go in your place.

Sand is MUCH better to fight on than in rice paddies and steaming jungles; trust me on this one.