I just finished watching 3 hours of documentaries concerning the events of 9/11/01. Just like 9 years ago, numb is the best word to describe my mood right now. It's simply hard to fathom.
If you will remember, a lot of people were outraged when Bill Maher suggested that, while a lot of things could be said about the hijackers, calling them cowards shouldn't be one of them. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I agree with the statement. It takes an incredible amount of guts to steer a jet plane into a building. Of course, it also takes a tremendous amount of delusion to think that such an act would please a god!
A few months after I received my driver's license, I went out to a vacant stretch of the interstate near Kansas City, MO. It was early evening and I couldn't see any other vehicles anywhere around. I was on a straightaway and I pushed the accelerator until I was doing nearly 100 miles per hour. I did this simply to know what it felt like. I actually didn't like the sensation and quickly returned to around the posted speed limit.
If you've ever driven this fast or faster, imagine doing it on a road that has a concrete barrier at the end. As you hurtle towards the barrier, you continue to increase your speed. As you seem almost upon it, you grip the steering wheel tightly.
However, you're not driving your car; you're driving a bus fully loaded with passengers. Everyone is screaming in panic. The barrier is right in front you and then...IMPACT.
In the seconds before the bus became a ball of flames, what would go through your mind? Even if you were deluded to believe this act was for a greater good, I can't imagine that any person wouldn't think to themselves, "What in the hell am I doing?" It's hard for me to fathom that one or more of the hijackers didn't change their minds only a second or two before oblivion...but it was too late to change the reality of the situation.
Most of us like to believe we exercise a modicum of control over our lives. One of the thoughts that gives me nightmares is when I think of the horror for the passengers of Flights 11 and 175 as they realized they were flying too low over downtown NYC. It must have dawned on some of them that they would likely crash into a building. What would go through a person's mind at that juncture?
Finally, I realize that 9/11 grips so many Americans because we saw it play out on our TV screens in real time. It was a national tragedy, no doubt. But I realize that people who live in war zones see, hear and experience atrocities daily. We simply had to experience what many others have been experiencing for years.
Will this madness ever end?
If you will remember, a lot of people were outraged when Bill Maher suggested that, while a lot of things could be said about the hijackers, calling them cowards shouldn't be one of them. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I agree with the statement. It takes an incredible amount of guts to steer a jet plane into a building. Of course, it also takes a tremendous amount of delusion to think that such an act would please a god!
A few months after I received my driver's license, I went out to a vacant stretch of the interstate near Kansas City, MO. It was early evening and I couldn't see any other vehicles anywhere around. I was on a straightaway and I pushed the accelerator until I was doing nearly 100 miles per hour. I did this simply to know what it felt like. I actually didn't like the sensation and quickly returned to around the posted speed limit.
If you've ever driven this fast or faster, imagine doing it on a road that has a concrete barrier at the end. As you hurtle towards the barrier, you continue to increase your speed. As you seem almost upon it, you grip the steering wheel tightly.
However, you're not driving your car; you're driving a bus fully loaded with passengers. Everyone is screaming in panic. The barrier is right in front you and then...IMPACT.
In the seconds before the bus became a ball of flames, what would go through your mind? Even if you were deluded to believe this act was for a greater good, I can't imagine that any person wouldn't think to themselves, "What in the hell am I doing?" It's hard for me to fathom that one or more of the hijackers didn't change their minds only a second or two before oblivion...but it was too late to change the reality of the situation.
Most of us like to believe we exercise a modicum of control over our lives. One of the thoughts that gives me nightmares is when I think of the horror for the passengers of Flights 11 and 175 as they realized they were flying too low over downtown NYC. It must have dawned on some of them that they would likely crash into a building. What would go through a person's mind at that juncture?
Finally, I realize that 9/11 grips so many Americans because we saw it play out on our TV screens in real time. It was a national tragedy, no doubt. But I realize that people who live in war zones see, hear and experience atrocities daily. We simply had to experience what many others have been experiencing for years.
Will this madness ever end?
No !
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I agree.
ReplyDelete