9/11

[Teaos]

Living in NY today has been especially subdue. More police around than usual and all the trains heading downtown to WTC are loaded. Apparently the service down there was nice, several people from my building went and it took them hours to get back.

With the new building almost finished (at least on the outside) it seems people are forgetting the pain. A lot of the people I talk to who were in the city when it happen now talk about it like ancient history, the city has well and truly moved on.

I still remember when it happened, I was 14 and it happened at 2am our time so I woke up to my Dad handing me the paper with a picture of the planes hitting. All the talk at my all boys school was if the USA, and by extension probably us would be at war soon.

Seems so long ago now...

[Mikey]

People may be moving on and continuin with their lives, but I don't get the feeling that anyone is forgetting the pain. My daughter's school ran several remembrance programs, and everyone I know locally has had some sort of memorial in one way or another. America is a pragmatic nation, and NYC more pragmatic than many places; but "moving on" and "forgetting" are two completely different things. Bear in mind that we didn't view the events as referenced by what would happen next. I've heard the previous generation talk about how they would never forget where they were when JFK was shot, or somesuch; insofar as Americans, at least, this was our generation's JFK assassination and then some. Just because I was able to live my daily life today doesn't mean that I will ever forget exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news, or that I will ever forget the disbelief, shock, and then anguish that I felt.

[Deepcrush]

I have to agree with Mikey, moving on is one thing but Americans are not good at forgetting. There are places on the eastern shore of Maryland then still remember the rape parties sent ashore by the English in the War of 1812 and slaving raids along the coast when the french and british wanted ship crews. My family, being Appalachia blood, still remembers the old feuds and who was on which side during the Civil War. The US has a short history but a very long memory. I suspect that 9/11 will forever be a scar on the US as a whole.

[Tsukiyumi]

The US has a short history but a very long memory. I suspect that 9/11 will forever be a scar on the US as a whole.

Agreed. We'll keep moving, but we won't forget or abide such an attack.

[mwhittington]

I still like that line from the Toby Keith song: "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American Way!" And the U.S. did, too.

[McAvoy]

I have seen people who were not even close to being born in 1941 remembering Pearl Harbor.

[Mikey]

I have seen people who were not even close to being born in 1941 remembering Pearl Harbor.

Commemorating it, perhaps, or recalling being educated on the point. But "remembering it?" How, exactly?

[McAvoy]

Brainfarted a better word.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I remember where I was, and I'll remember until I die.

[McAvoy]

I remember where I was, and I'll remember until I die.

I was running a mile for gym at the time in high school. The teacher had us stop and come inside to see what is going on.

School wasn't cancelled that day but no one teached as we watched it live.

[Tsukiyumi]

i watched live after the first plane hit; when the second one hit, my exact words were, "We're at war."

Of course, I never for a second thought we'd still be at war a decade later.

[Captain Seafort]

i watched live after the first plane hit; when the second one hit, my exact words were, "We're at war."

And you were wrong. As I might have mentioned once or twice before, the notion of being "at war" with a bunch of crooks is at best as meaningless as the "war" on drugs and at worst counter-productive. You started a war as a result of the attack (with the Taliban), but the causus belli for that was their refusal to extradite bin Laden, not the attacks themselves.

Of course, I never for a second thought we'd still be at war a decade later.

Why not? If you want to call those US counterterrorism operations targeted specifically at AQ a war, you should have expected it to last at least that long - the Troubles have been going for over forty years and they're still rumbling on.

[Teaos]

No really, the war could well have been over with in 2 years according to many of the military analysts I've read reports from. If they went in with sufficient power and money.

[Captain Seafort]

No really, the war could well have been over with in 2 years according to many of the military analysts I've read reports from. If they went in with sufficient power and money.

I assume you're talking about the Afghan War. That could certainly have been done and dusted quickly if the US hadn't shown the attention span of a five year old an disappeared off to Iraq. Dealing with AQ was always going to take much longer, mainly because killing lots of terrorists will not, by itself, end the threat.

[Mikey]

I was sitting on my couch eating a bowl of Cheerios and watching the NBC a.m. news. I was scheduled for an evening shift, so I was having kind of a lazy morning. I couldn't even wrap my head around what was happening, and then I switched immediately into "holy shit" mode - it's almost impossible to live in New Jersey without somehow knowing someone who lives and/or works in lower Manhattan.