Remember, 20 years on.

September 11, 2021.  20 years on.  

A Joke on a Saturday, as is customary, would just not be right on this day.  

But today I did have a choice that thousands who were murdered by extremists did not have.  I was able to get up, early as usual, and complain that I should have known better to put on the BBC World Service to get the news.  As Usual.

Coverage saying President Biden would be visiting all three sites for memorials.  New York, Pentagon, and Shenksville PA I assumed. 

BBC went on to review the last 20 years of actions in the middle east.  

Usual has changed.

That morning in 2001, I was sitting in my office at my desk trying to get to any news outlet online that would connect.  The internet was flooded with requests and I was working at a major university in Philadelphia.  This was not a place that should have had problems connecting to a news site.

Today, though, I went on to walk the dog.  Or rather to be towed around the block by my own dog.

I did have that choice.

Running into a neighbor, I pulled the headphones from my ears and said "I should have known better than to listen to the BBC on 9/11".  I got lecture of a list of ways to avoid media ending with his plan to watch "Old Sitcoms".  That's what I do on a normal evening so I smiled.

I did have that choice.

I did also put the BBC back on my headphones and continued to the house.  

Remember, You have the choice.

I kept thinking of when they had stopped all flights as of that day and the later resumption of the flights.  On the day of resumption, I was out in Fairmount Park skating a marathon as usual.  It was a clear day and I was talking to a random bicyclist heading south on West River Drive when a jet passed overhead on its way to Philadelphia International Airport.  I remarked that it was the first plane in "weeks" and we both rolled to a stop and watched it.

It's 20 years on.   There's a generation of children that grew up in its wake.  They will never know what it was like before.  If you wanted to say something had past for a while you simply said "That is so September Tenth" and went on.  

We who can, should remember.  After all, we do have the choice.

Remember

The link for the 9/11 memorial site is here.  You can watch the memorial ceremony today live from New York at the site, and find out more about how they are honoring those fallen on and after September 11th.

 

http://www.911memorial.org

World Trade Center, 1986 - Photo Courtesy of Eric Reivik

 

In my own case, that morning was until the time, unremarkable.  I arrived at the university, had my 7:15AM Call with Purchasing to work over things that they had needed, and was settling in at my desk to get started.  

 

The hallway was abuzz with very random activity, more like when you knock over a hornet's nest than anything else.  

 

I took my headphones off to get a clearer picture of what was going on, and went back to the routine.  

I noticed that the internet was becoming quite slow.  In a large university, the internet would run well until something major happened in that time and place.  I was trying to hit the news site of the BBC, and it simply stopped loading. 

My boss and my team crowded around asking me what was up when some people began to get details.  The world had changed, and not for the better.  

 

Anger almost never effects positive change.

Remember

It is September 11, 2015.

If you would like to explore the National September 11th Memorial Site for the Museum in New York, the link is here.

The 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony will be held in New York at 8:40 AM.  The link for the webcast for the event can be found at this page on the Museum site.

If you would like something perhaps a little more uplifting, the last remaining rescue dog is being given a Dream Day.



Yes, it has been 14 years.  It doesn't mean we need to forget.

Thoughts And Decisions And Clearing Your Mind

Take a breather.
Enjoy the moment.
Congratulate friends on their hard work.
Thank your allies.


Great.  There is a lot more work to get done.

No, not a "bring down" moment.  Just reality.

Share the moment, the glow of the decision, and breathe in the hope.  Think of the things in society that are wrong and need to be fixed.  Think of the work that will be needed to bring those who disagree with you, sometimes kicking and screaming.

I am fond of saying "It is a marathon, not a sprint" or "You're in it for the long haul".  There will always be naysayers, people who will refuse.  Their loss.  They are on the wrong side of history and they will be left behind.  The parking brake left on after the car is pulled into traffic.

Smug?  Perhaps.  I can think of other Civil Rights issues that were argued about in the past and decided and people adapted.

When is the last time you heard about someone complaining about a woman's right to vote with any sort of seriousness?

But there are many issues that need just the same attention as did same sex marriage.  Pick one.  Be involved.

If you are progressive in your society and you decide to sit at home next time voting day comes around, you are the problem, not the solution, and I will silently judge you as will many others.

If you are not progressive in your society, and that is your right, I have to ask you why.  If there is something incorrect, wrong, or broken, it certainly needs to be fixed.

Just ask anyone who crossed that bridge in Selma, Alabama if things are perfect.  They will tell you no.

Oh and that flag?  It's not a Pride flag, not that anything is wrong with flying a Pride flag no matter what your political bend.  It's an Italian Peace flag.  The word says Peace in Italian.  It's a wish for Peace towards all.  Even those you disagree with.  High goal to work towards.  I know I've got a way to go with that one too.  I have been told that I can be a bit ... "irascible" at times.

Remember

The link for the 9/11 memorial site is here.  You can watch the memorial ceremony today live from New York at the site, and find out more about how they are honoring those fallen on and after September 11th.

http://www.911memorial.org

World Trade Center, 1986 - Photo Courtesy of Eric Reivik

Remember

12 years ago the Towers were needlessly destroyed and the world changed.

There was an account of someone who had witnessed the offense from Lower Manhattan that day.   It was an email that got passed around the world many times.   Reproduced on Neil deGrasse Tyson's web page, I have the link here. 

The current use of the site is for the National September 11th Memorial Museum.  You can see the write up on Wikipedia here.   The picture below is from that page.

Remember

11 years later, we all remember where we were when the towers came down.

I was in my office, after having finished a call to my Purchasing client, I was busy.  Head down, writing specifications for my programmers and myself to follow when there was noise out in the hallway.   The music stream that I was listening to had just sputtered off.

My office suddenly filled up with people.  They were telling me that "something happened" and they couldn't "get to the news sites".  That continued all day long, the news sites were sporadically available, and more details got through as people found portable radios stashed in bottom desk drawers.   Those radios later become a must have instead of a minor embarrassment.

Nothing really got done that day, other than the needless snuffing out of thousands of lives in three events, New York, Shanksville PA, and the Pentagon. 

That was the day the world changed.

Remember

March 2001 - Image courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Remember

Another Christmas Tree, New Years Day 2010

On New Years Day 2010, I and a good friend, Kevin went to the Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for lunch.  Before we got there I managed to take some pictures and will be posting them.  This was the view from the plaza just West of the Andrews Avenue Bridge.  What you're seeing in the middle of the frame is one of many decorated Christmas Trees next to a rather pretty fountain.   It is a typically Florida scene, because you get this fake tree decorated up in a festive way that would fit in well in a Northern city parked right next to a Palm Tree or three.  

It is a nice plaza, there are plenty of places to sit and watch the boats on the New River behind me in that picture.   Off to the right, there is a smallish music stage built out of concrete with plenty of Handicap ramps for their ease of access.  This of course means that it is popular with the skateboarders in the area.  It isn't another Love Park, but it still is popular. 

This place being right square in the middle of Downtown is a bit of an island of quiet in the middle of the hubbub. It also is a nice place to pass through, linger a bit, then head off to the restaurants on Riverwalk.

Congress Hall, Cape May NJ

What you're seeing is a Historically Significant Building.   This is the Congress Hall Hotel in Cape May, NJ.   Way South Jersey, near the southernmost point where the Delaware River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

I liked the scene.  I had paid a visit just before I moved to Florida, and we spent the day walking around looking at trinkets both two legged and in stores in their quaint shopping district.   The Rockers are nice and comfortable, and it affords you a great view of the ocean.   The place was a playground for the rich in the 1800s and early 1900s, fell into the hands of a church and then into disrepair.   The rehab of the building turned it into a fully functioning resort and a Victorian marvel that was worth the visit.