Remembering 911

I can't believe this is the 10th anniversary of that horrible day. 10 years!

I might be crazy, but we're going to Shanksville tomorrow. It's only 40 minutes from me, but I'm sure traffic will be horrendous and it will take hours. I'd love to see Bush, but probably won't get close enough to even hear him. I'll just be happy to be a small part of the history.

Did you go? I watched on TV, and it didn't look too crowded in Shanksville, but maybe it was just lack of buildings. Could you hear? If so, I hope you like bagpipes! I liked Paul Simon's tune better. I needed to hear all the personal stories as the names were read, and my thoughts are with all the survivors and families and responders tonight.


What a day... Here in Florida, I was doing therapy with little boy in the home of a pilot that morning... and he was in the air... his wife was a wreck when I had to leave...

Yes, I did go. It didn't look very crowded, but we waited in traffic on the rural roads for 2 1/2 hours. Traffic inched. People were parking on the side of the road and jumping out to walk. A woman with two small kids and a stroller got way ahead of us.

It was a nice memorial, but I was surprised at the surroundings. It was a very muddy field (see below). Everyone that went had muddy shoes and had to step in puddles. There were very few flowers or flags. The crash site itself was just a big rock with a pot of flowers on top of it. You'd think they could have at least mowed the weeds and planted something around it. Anything!

I took my camera to take pictures, but there really wasn't anything to shoot. It was not aesthetically pleasing at all.

Oh - I could hear just fine. I liked the bag pipes, but the sound just cut off at the end. I got to hear Sarah McMachlan sing and heard the former Presidents speak. I cried when they called the names of the passengers and rang the bell. I'd heard a lot of those names so many times before from documentaries and movies; I knew the roles they played in the events that went on that day.

If I remember right the loved ones wanted the area kept simple. It was their wishes.

I must admitt that I avoided our news programmes yesterday as one would think that all what happend yesterday for UK. Please don't misunderstand me. It is something that should be a marked occaision least we forget. Like rememberence Sunday we should remember as to never make the same mistakes again etc but we are not learning are we.... not really.

Our sermon yesterday touched on 9/11 too as the general theme of the sermon was forgiveness. The famous question of how many times should we forgive and Jesus replied 7 x 77 which in the words of our priest the answer to 7 x 77 is as often as it takes.
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Knowning it is very difficult to forgive or can be too easy to forgive when not directly affected by what happend on 9/11 or other times. It can be too easy sometimes to point the finger and accuse people of not being more forgiving. Forgetting that forgivenss is part of the process of which we arrive at, at different times. In other words it is easy for me to forgive the bombers on 9/11 because I wasn't directly afffected. If I was, would I find it so easy to forgive? I don't know is the real answer. Initially I certainly misunderstood the need to 'celebrate' it but once I started typing this I completely understood the need to celebrate it in one sense because we remember the 2 world wars and other wars since. It is a similar approach, remembering those who were killed in that memorial day. I attend our own cenotaph for rememberance sunday and therefore I should be more understanding about people wanting to be at the service of rememberence for 9/11. I think if it had been worded as such I would have understood a lot quicker what it was all about.

But I do wonder if the whole thing hadn't have happened if media hadn't played such a big part in announcing every terrorist attack going? Though am aware that terrorist may commit bigger attacks to be heard by media. Are we all pawns to media?

Simple is fine, but I thought it was unsightly. Small, white crosses would have been nice.

Sandi, not everyone is Christian.
Erica

I suppose. It was just a thought I threw out there. Flags or flowers would have been fine also. I was thinking of Arlington. Don't all of those soldiers have white crosses, Christian or not?

Arlington has a variety of symbols. The majority are crosses. www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/funeral_information/authorized_emblems.html

This article talks about how the headstones are actually rounded stone, and the symbols are carved on them:
militaryreporter.net/2011/05/23/reporters-need-to-do-a-better-job-of-getting-the-facts

Erica

A holy place. Even with the traffic.