Today represents the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
If I am to think of a similar sort event, this would be the equivalent of this being the year 1966, 25 years after the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 07 December 1941.
The world changed a lot in those intervening 25 years; the world has changed a lot since 2001.
It staggers me to think that it is a quarter of century later.
By chronological date, there is an entire age cohort that was born, attended school and possibly college and is now in the work force, perhaps with families of their own, that have absolutely no first-hand knowledge of the event. They only know what they see in pictures and videos.
Likewise, there is an entire age cohort that was there for all of these events but is no longer here now.
On the one hand I suppose, this is the way of history.
Events which shocked and changed the world eventually pass into the realm of history, and then legend. At some point, the last soldier that fought in the Peloponnesian War, the Conquest of Gaul, the Battle of Hastings, the Fall of Constantinople, the American Revolutionary War, or World War I passed away. Sometime later, the last person that remembered those events in person died as well. And in some ways, the sense of outrage and anger and grief passed away as well - the real-time shock of such events eventually attenuates for those who have no visceral reaction to the events having seen them in time.
That may be the way of history and in a sense, the way of humanity. But for those of us that lived through such things, they are as raw and visceral as ever.
Aye TB, one item I won't forget......2,977 died that day, victims and not counting the hijackers. A well wrought post sir.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nylon12.
DeleteThe wound is raw after all these years.
Indeed, the feelings still run deep in me.
ReplyDeleteMyself as well, Ed.
DeleteWent to the OKC memorial the day after. Drove up since flights were grounded. Most sober experience I've ever had. We were all alone in our own thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I remember the day that happened as well. That must have been thought provoking - and hard - indeed.
DeleteI, along with my IT departmental colleagues, watched the horrific attacks unfold live on our PC screens - a truly unforgettable experience.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on reflection, one thought did occur to me - how many of those US citizens watching that destruction unfold had been contributors to IRA terrorist funds, facilitating the wanton destruction of property and lives across Northern Ireland and mainland Britain?
Did any of them give any thoughts that this was just a larger, more destructive, version of the terror that they had been funding in a foreign country supposedly a close ally?
Will, I would be willing to bet the answer there is no (you likely knew that too).
DeleteThis is the problem with the sliding scale of morality that cannot call evil "evil" but rather looks for justification of the behaviour. Bombing becomes justifiable because it is "okay" in this instance. But sadly, it often just serves as a justification for an even more terrible act.