A day of some reflection

[rareboy]

21 years ago, in the space of a few short hours, the entire trajectory of our history, and for many of us, our lives were changed in an instant with the attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

We lost a friend who was breakfasting at Windows on the World that day.

It irrevocably has altered the way we travel.

It has led to a rolling war that has lasted for the last two decades.

It changed American politics forever.

And this morning, as I watch the Ukrainian army re-occupy all of the Kharkiv oblast and think of the over 150,000 Ukrainians known to have been slaughtered in the last 7 months and the tens of thousands who have been kidnapped and shipped into RuZzia where they will surely just disappear, I am both terribly, terribly sad but enjoying the first real moment of hope that I have had in the last 6 months.

I also am thinking of an entire life of having Queen Elizabeth as our Head of State in Canada and her steadying influence in the world...apprehensive that with her passing, actual evil state actors will be successful in agitating and fomenting chaos. I see it already with the trolls who a week or so ago were activated to create protests in various European capitals.

And of course I am also thinking of those who were born into a post 9-11 world...that everything since that day is in some way tainted by terrorism.

 

[NotHardUp1]

21 years ago, in the space of a few short hours, the entire trajectory of our history, and for many of us, our lives were changed in an instant with the attack on the World Trade Centre[sic] and the Pentagon.

Little did Americans foresee that our greatest threat to existence wasn't the animus from overseas, but from our own natures. We've never failed to rally in times of attack from foreign militaries, but we are failing in stellar manner today to come together to quell the civil cultural war that has been brewing since the 1960's.

To borrow a phrase, the "centre cannot hold," and a "rough beast" indeed "slouches towards" Washington.

Our polar opposite camps are filled with hate for the other, and those who value the unity of our people are not ascendant. We soon will fall and the orcs will be loosed upon us all.

 

[cabinfever]

-I deeply empathize with the families and friends quite frequently who lost a loved one and their grief and having to live with that every day. On this day though - I have to shut it all off - too overwhelming for me.

 

[ShadowCat]

I am sorry that so many people died, and it was a tragedy indeed but there was just too much of it in too short an amount of time and I just burned out on it to the point that week 2 of it I was done with it! 21 years later still have the same feelings.