On this day... 18 years ago 246 people went to the airports for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to work in the World Trade Centers area. 343 firefighters were on their morning shift. 60 police officers were out on morning patrol. 8 paramedics were standing by to save lives. None of them saw past 10:00am Sept 11, 2001. In one single moment life may never be the same. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never take one second of your life for granted. Never forget them.
Sadly I see this day taking on less meaning and importance with every passing year. Much like how 12/07 has been steadily diminished with time. What does it say about our nation that such days so quickly lose their importance and impact?
Just as we put artificial importance on 5-10-25 year anniversaries means nothing.
As time passes memories fade. My son was not born yet on 9/11/2001. To him it is just a history lesson. We have told him the stories over and over and he understand the significance of the event...but it is less significant than anything that happened within his sphere of experience.
The OP (which has been posted over social media a lot this year) really encapsulates what happened...and it tries to invoke those feelings in people who may not have been around for the attack. But as time marches on there will be fewer and fewer of us.
Quote:There are not many who remember
They say a handful still survive To tell the world about The way the lights went out And keep the memory alive
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
None of my students were alive for 9/11. We talked about the social impacts of it and the personal impacts in my Sociology and Psych classes today. It takes showing them the raw footage in 102 Minutes (great documentary from History Channel that just shows personal footage of the morning off as it unfolds in real time) to show them what it meant and how much it changed the nation.
(09-11-2019, 03:40 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: None of my students were alive for 9/11. We talked about the social impacts of it and the personal impacts in my Sociology and Psych classes today. It takes showing them the raw footage in 102 Minutes (great documentary from History Channel that just shows personal footage of the morning off as it unfolds in real time) to show them what it meant and how much it changed the nation.
Your story got me to thinking. I'm an old dude and I probably first learned about Pearl Harbor in school around 1975ish. I guarantee the teacher who taught me about it was well over 40. Back then I looked at it as ancient history not realizing the person teaching me lived through the day.
(09-11-2019, 06:20 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Your story got me to thinking. I'm an old dude and I probably first learned about Pearl Harbor in school around 1975ish. I guarantee the teacher who taught me about it was well over 40. Back then I looked at it as ancient history not realizing the person teaching me lived through the day.
Pearl Harbor, Kennedy Assassination, Fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11.
Every generation will have one of those moments where you remember where you were. I told them today that I hope it's not a tragedy for their generation.
Kennedy, Vietnam, and the Cold War seemed so distant, especially after 9/11 reframed my worldview. Like your experience, though, they're events my teachers lived through and I never appreciated that until college.
(09-11-2019, 11:45 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I'd be more inclined to agree with you if this event wasn't so damn recent. I suppose in today's short attention span era I shouldn't be surprised.
I mean you brought up pearl harbor too previously which was over 70 years ago, so is it the "short attention span era" you are rallying against here or is it just angry old guy wanting to rag on the next generation? When has it been long enough not to be about the "short attention span era"? The reality is there are tragedies almost every year now and with the internet we are exposed to more bad news today then any time in the existence of man. It's not short attention spans as much as a numbing to death.
Do you stop and remember the 1,500 Americans who died in Hurricane Katrina each year?
(09-12-2019, 08:45 AM)Au165 Wrote: I mean you brought up pearl harbor too previously which was over 70 years ago, so is it the "short attention span era" you are rallying against here or is it just angry old guy wanting to rag on the next generation? When has it been long enough not to be about the "short attention span era"? The reality is there are tragedies almost every year now and with the internet we are exposed to more bad news today then any time in the existence of man. It's not short attention spans as much as a numbing to death.
Do you stop and remember the 1,500 Americans who died in Hurricane Katrina each year?
Perhaps the elephant in the room that you are missing is that both Pearl Harbor and 9-11 were surprise attacks by a force with bad intentions toward America. Katrina was a natural disaster.
(09-12-2019, 10:07 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Perhaps the elephant in the room that you are missing is that both Pearl Harbor and 9-11 were surprise attacks by a force with bad intentions toward America. Katrina was a natural disaster.
Weird, so we only should remember people killed by attacks? Were their lives less valuable because of the way of their untimely death?
If the leap is too great for some to make for Katrina then how about the Oklahoma City bombing? I doubt many here know the date without googling it and it was "forgotten" long before the short attention span era we live in now. My point remains, it says nothing about our country today.
(09-12-2019, 10:27 AM)Au165 Wrote: Weird, so we only should remember people killed by attacks? Were their lives less valuable because of the way of their untimely death?
Which is more traumatic, if your loved one is killed by a tornado or if they are kidnapped and murdered? Answer that question and you answer yours.
(09-12-2019, 10:36 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Which is more traumatic, if your loved one is killed by a tornado or if they are kidnapped and murdered? Answer that question and you answer yours.
Have you ever had someone killed by either? I'm not sure you or I are equipped to answer that other than just guessing. I'd imagine in the case of death in a hurricane knowing your family member drowned gasping for air in one of the worst ways to die is pretty traumatic, much like I'd guess people thought their family member burning alive (another horrible way to die) or being crushed in the towers was traumatic.
This weird gate keeping of traumatic deaths is interesting.
(09-12-2019, 10:07 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Perhaps the elephant in the room that you are missing is that both Pearl Harbor and 9-11 were surprise attacks by a force with bad intentions toward America. Katrina was a natural disaster.
(09-12-2019, 10:27 AM)Au165 Wrote: Weird, so we only should remember people killed by attacks? Were their lives less valuable because of the way of their untimely death?
If the leap is too great for some to make for Katrina then how about the Oklahoma City bombing? I doubt many here know the date without googling it and it was "forgotten" long before the short attention span era we live in now. My point remains, it says nothing about our country today.
I will refrain from answering this in the manner I truly desire but let's just go with: Nobody said any such thing and I thought you were above making such strawmen.
(09-12-2019, 04:22 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I will refrain from answering this in the manner I truly desire but let's just go with: Nobody said any such thing and I thought you were above making such strawmen.
You made that argument though that people should remember the people killed in the attacks more than natural disasters.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
(09-12-2019, 04:29 PM)GMDino Wrote: You made that argument though that people should remember the people killed in the attacks more than natural disasters.
(09-12-2019, 04:29 PM)GMDino Wrote: You made that argument though that people should remember the people killed in the attacks more than natural disasters.
(09-12-2019, 04:39 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Show me where I made any such argument.
(09-12-2019, 08:45 AM)Au165 Wrote: I mean you brought up pearl harbor too previously which was over 70 years ago, so is it the "short attention span era" you are rallying against here or is it just angry old guy wanting to rag on the next generation? When has it been long enough not to be about the "short attention span era"? The reality is there are tragedies almost every year now and with the internet we are exposed to more bad news today then any time in the existence of man. It's not short attention spans as much as a numbing to death.
Do you stop and remember the 1,500 Americans who died in Hurricane Katrina each year?
(09-12-2019, 10:07 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Perhaps the elephant in the room that you are missing is that both Pearl Harbor and 9-11 were surprise attacks by a force with bad intentions toward America. Katrina was a natural disaster.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
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