How much thought did you give to 9/11 today?

Question

No matter your party affliation, no matter how you feel about this war, did part of your day go to remembrance and sorrow?

P.S. Even you conspiracy theorists who think Bush and Cheney engineered it. People still died, lots of them. Did you think about them?

Every 9/11 I wake up angry. I think about that day and am filled with impotent rage. But today, I tried to subdue that and thought about what those people went through, the first responders, and what their families must feel on this day. I'm sure all of you have too. This question is really just has that "misery loves company" feeling behind it. Thanks.

Sorry, my English just sucked on that last sentence, but I'm sure you get the drift. ;-)

T-monster:
Sorry, I guess I just don't have enough respect for conspiracy theorists to address them without a little heat behind it. Oh well...

Ferret:
Since this is the American section of Yahoo Answers it's natural I would be speaking to Americans. But come to think of it why should you have to be American to feel sorrow about that awful day?

Ferret:
Why would I see your address? All we see is your screen name: Ferret. I look at the bottom of this page and there is Answers International with a flag for each country's site. If you click on a country you get that country's language up on the screen, so assumed it was a separate entity for each country. If that is not the case, then thank you for correcting me. But you didn't answer to the rest of what I wrote. Why do you have to be an American for what happened that horrible day to make you feel emotion about it?

To those who made very eloquent points about how many others have died that we never seem to remember I do agree with you.

But, I asked only about 9/11 because it has had an incredible effect on American's lives in the last six years. We have suspended freedoms we always took for granted and we remain bitterly divided over a war that originally had no connection but is now entwined with it in so many people's minds. It caused a permanent change in the psyche of our nation in a way nothing has since WWII. So forgive me for concentrating on us alone in a typical American-selfish way, but today I do feel selfish about my memories and what that day has done to the country I love.

Thank you to everyone who answered. I was feeling especially melancholy today and reading most of your answers made me feel less alone in my thoughts.

Answer 1

I created a new backdrop and blog last evening in commemoration of 9/11 and the people who died, and fell asleep thinking about them and those horrid scenes that were shown for what seemed like months. It was a fitful night's sleep. Not for the fear of a terrorism attack but because of what we've gone through as a nation and the division that it's created among us.

Yes, I'm angry and upset and 9/11 is something that will remain embedded in my memory forever more.

I vowed that today in remembrance of that horrid event, I would not be partisan when it came to politics and to honor those who lost their lives to such a tragic event. So far I've kept my promise.

I appreciate your question very much. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just get along for a few hours in remembrance?

Answer 2

I thought about how people remember it with fear, sadness, anger. Are we going to keep plumbing along, people dragging out the date 9/11 whenever they want to make a point? Are we going to fear a date, fear the name Al Qaeda? Shudder whenever we hear about the attack, see the planes? Are we going to let it gnaw on our collective conscience, pointing fingers at others, trying to turn the blame because of course, SOMEONE has to be at fault? Why can't it be that some people just want us dead?

I thought about all the people that died; their sacrifice both for the conspiracy theorists and warhawks. Americans standing on opposite sides of the fence, calling each other ignorant, getting heated and angry, yelling, cursing, screaming at one another. Conspiracy theorists demanding the president's execution; but what if he didn't have anything to do with it? Have you ever considered that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if Al Gore was in office during the attacks, and everything had happened the same. Would you still call for his impeachment, bring up the tapes calling for his ousting? Then, those among us who believe that we need to have a hand in everything around the world if it could harm us. We can't, we just can't. But we need to stop yelling at each other across the fence, we need to realize that there are different views, different ideas, and that nothing will ever get accomplished if we don't compromise.

But that's the thing. Has much been done since then? Maybe we should tune down remembering the dead, every 9/11 waking up angry, and instead, think about how to live. This does not mean to forget those who died, but rather, learn from what was done and fix it. Make sure that no one else will die for any 'failure' that resulted in this tragedy.

Stop acting like the general public knows what's really going on in the War on Terror, or in Iraq, or what 'really' happened on 9/11. We have no idea what is planned, what is known about, what our government knows. There is probably never going to be a day when we do. If that was the case, then we could never get anything done, as our enemies would know as well. And that's it; try to trust those who we've elected to power, but always remember that they do have to explain things.

Edit:
X-Man, I couldn't agree more.

Answer 3

I thought about 9/11 all day today, not a day goes by I don't think about it. Today my heart and prayers went out to the families in remembrance to this tragic day. I remember this day so vividly...6 years ago I was at work...I remember my boss coming in my office and telling me about the first plane hitting the first tower, I immediately logging on to cnn.com to read what was happening. Not even cnn, knew, yet. That day at work, we all huddled around a little t.v. and watched the events unfold. Jaws dropped, an occasional comment, but mostly "Hows?" and "Whys?" came from our mouths. I only remember a few days of my life like the back of my hand, one is the day I got married, the day my children were born and thirdly, the day the planes flew into the towers and the Pentagon. It's one of the events to go into American history that has shaped us and changed us forever. Our country will continue to be effected for many years to come. What we all need to remember is we are all in this together, regardless of our party affiliation or how we feel about war. I'm certain we will persevere.

My thoughts and prayers are with all the families and friends who lost someone in the 9/11. I'm very grateful for all the service workers, firemen and police officers that helped on that day and the days following.

Answer 4

I live in New York and had smoke flood my school six years ago. But even though I feel sorry for them, and three thousand people may seem a lot to some people, namely Americans, it's because they haven't witnessed the death of hundreds of thousands as I and countless others have.

Every year on 9/11 we lower our flags to half staff and have our moments of silence, but we never stop to commemorate the 2 Million + civilians killed during the Vietnam War, or the hundreds of thousands killed by Hutu militia in Rwanda WITH the support of the French government, or even the 12 million who died in German concentration camps, of which only half were Jewish.

Oh no, they don't count. Why not? They were not on American soil; 9/11 gained infamy for being on American soil, no?

I just hope that our foreign policy doesn't resemble this paradox:
http://208.116.9.205/10/graphics/pics/pictures_democracy-comes-to-you.thumbnail.jpg

Answer 5

Most Americans share your emotions on this day of remembrance. Rage, sorrow, sadness disbelief are all common when thinking back on the enormity of the situation.

I cant help pouring over in my mind what needs to be done to prevent this from ever happening again though.

Our country has a LONG memory on these matters and justice will be served just ask the commies, nazi's and facists... Oh yeah you can't ... we destroyed them!

Answer 6

I thought about them people who died, both on September 11th and in the war since then. I thought about their families. I thought about how different the world is and who is really at fault (the radical Muslim terrorists). I wondered why more of the Muslim world does not rise up in condemnation and what the world will be like 50 years from now.
I thought about it a lot.
I thought about Bush and how hard his job is and has been but I didn't think of Cheney for some reason.
I thought about the fire and police personnel who were heroes on that day and how we have soldiers that are heroes now.
I thought how proud I am that we (the rest of the world) can still fight and win and argue and debate and have workable governments.

Answer 7

The saddest thing about 9-11 is that after it occurred, the entire world was in America's corner. But because Bush's lying, torturing, invading Iraq for no reason, and other insane neocon policies, more than 80% of the world is now against us and the U.S. itself is more divided than it's been since the Civil War. The guy really knows how to unite people, doesn't he.

Answer 8

I thought about our future a lot today...

I was watching this show called TMZ and they were interviewing drunks outside of nightclubs and asking them what year September 11th took place... and of course, no one could answer correctly.
The Spin was that the show kept calling the drunk bimbos "liberal hollywood types" and painted them as Democrats without going so far as to come right out and say it...
I was so mad that American media would do such a heinous thing...
Using this kind of tragedy as a political tool to score points is the most shameless act and we are exposed to it 24 hours a day... its pumped into our living rooms.

I really worry about Media manipulation more than anything... people need to turn off their TV's and go out and live life to know what's really going on in this world.

Answer 9

everyone I am working with today doesnt seem to care. I have this gnawing feeling when I think about people dying and leaving others behind. How my wife and kids would feel. But like all funerals everyone cares for a little while and you are expected to get over it. I dont feel bummed out or sad just feel bad for the ones that have loved ones gone.

Answer 10

Tonight, going to have a silent tribute to the people who died as well as the warfighters who have fallen for the country. Nothing too fancy, just some candles and a moment of silence.

It's good that you pointed out that it has nothing to do with party affiliation or politics at all.

Sometimes it's good to have moments to reflect and remember in order to put things into perspective in our lives.