September 11, 2007

[desertvixen]

 Today is September 11th.

 My feelings on the day and how it is treated are mixed.

 I am a Westerner.  I can't say I felt the impact that many people seem to feel about 9/11.  It didn't affect me, it didn't affect my family.  It did affect my life. 

 The Iraq war, however, has affected my life more.  People I knew have been maimed, have died.  I've felt the fear that many other military spouses felt, especially in the early days of the Iraq war when the news reports were alarming, and not complete enough to reassure us.  I have seen the toll it has taken on my fellow servicemembers.

 I agree with others, however, that there is a difference between remembering it and acting like it just happened.  The whole MSNBC showing "live footage" (from 01) in the morning, in my opinion, is over the top.  Just my opinion.  I think the memorial where they read the names is touching and appropriate.

 I will always remember coming back from PT and watching the second tower fall.  Not so much the image, but standing there with my fellow soldiers, all of us giving the CQ and the TV crazy looks, wondering "What happens now?" and reflecting that we lived in the shadow of NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain.

 Today?  We got up, did PT, and went to work. 

 DV
 

Comments

[filkferengi]

9/11 didn't hit me directly, either. It wasn't until later, through the words, songs, and experiences of others, that it became more real.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

There are healthy ways to deal with memorializing tragedies and unhealthy ways. I don't think the way a lot of people act on 9/11 is healthy. Watching that live video footage from the attacks and getting all riled up about it seems unhealthy to me. Hatred is not a healthy emotion. It seems to me that continuing that kind of behavior leads to situations where the hatred becomes so ingrained that people are still dying for it centuries later. Sorrow for the people who died is much more appropriate for memorializing than hatred.