9/11 Remembered

OK, I wanted to post yesterday but a lot of things were going on both with work and some personal stuff that I’m not sure I’m ready to post about yet…although I might make some comments.

Anyway, I got up for an easy 4 mile run (changed schedule once again) and tried out my Nike Zoom Elites. I’m planning on wearing them for the marathon and I really wanted to try them first. They feel a little less cushy than my Structure Triax, but definitely lighter, my run was just an typical easy one over a typical route and I ran it 30 seconds per mile faster than normal…So anyway, after the run I got ready for work.

I got to my desk, settled in, changed my day calendar and started working…a bit later I glanced at my day calendar and saw the big “11” on it…I knew all along what the day was. I’d been thinking about it for some time, but it really didn’t hit me till I saw it on my calendar. I went to CNN.com to read headlines and pulled up the video clip they had of coverage from that day 5 years ago…the day that changed this nation so much. I watched only as far as the second plane hitting. I still have the clip up, but I don’t think I can bring myself to watching the towers crash down. I have video tape footage from 9/11 that I haven’t watched. I taped it to save in case some day I had children and I wanted to show them what that day really means and why it’s so important to always remember the one day that this country really came together, the day that other countries reached out and showed their support, caring and understanding too. The day that everyone was happy and proud to claim their American heritage. Even now 5 years later, things have gone so far downhill from that day, the politics, the freedoms, the change, it’s horrible. I wish people could look on that day, remember how it was, and remember that it brought us together. I still remember I was e-mailing with a friend something about work and not enjoying the job and he said something like be thankful you don't work in the WTC, and I was thinking what, so I went to cnn.com and other news sites and nothing would come up, so I turned on my radio (which I normally do in the morning anyway but hadn't gotten that far yet) and heard the news that the towers had been hit...and I still distinctly remember the DJ, he went by the name Van, saying "Oh my God, the tower just fell"...I was in a state of shock...I went to an area that had TVs during lunch and saw the replays of both towers falling and just could not believe it. I had been there when I was 11, and you could still go to the top of the towers at that time. I saw the Statue of Liberty from the top of them...It's a tragic day and tragic event and now we have movies and TV series and all kinds of things pushing agendas and all the political propaganda, and this all bothers me. Iraq and 9/11 are constantly repeated together and people are supposed to continue to buy into the link…They are two different things and I think the people who died on 9/11 deserve to be remembered and thought of apart from those that have died in Iraq, and those that have died in Iraq should have their lives remembered as separate from 9/11…but unfortunately the politics have to come in from both sides. And it makes me glad to live in a free country (well as free as we can try to claim these days) where I don’t have to follow the leader, I can believe what I want, and not what is force fed to me, and I can try to find out the reality of things and not just what I’m told by the media. I also don’t have to affiliate with any of the parties, because let’s face it, neither of the ruling parties are doing much that is that great. And they both just keep warring with each other. Maybe if everyone could work together instead of focusing on keeping this great power that is bestowed on them, we could find a way to focus inward on the problems inside this country and stop trying to fix everyone else…sigh…To those that died on 9/11 and those that survived to the loss of a loved one, or even survived one of the attack sites, you’re in my thoughts and prayers.