5 Years Ago...
Five years ago, I was lying in bed, sound asleep. The phone on the nightstand rang, I checked the clock it was still a few minutes until eight A.M. My mother was on the other end of the line. "Wake up. Turn on the news. Something is happening."
Something was happening. As I sat on my couch, watching fuzzy over-the-air reception from the Monroe NBC station, I saw what that something was. As Katie Couric and Matt Lauer told us what they knew (which wasn't much) I watched live video of one of the World Trade Center towers burning. As the "Today Show" team speculated about whether or not it was an accident, I saw a plane fly into the second tower. Still on the phone with my mother, we wondered aloud at who could have done this. Who would? Why? And then the towers fell.
The rest of the day was a blur. I had classes to get to, and despite my feelings to the contrary, everyone else seemed to think life should go on. My Professors (having arrived at school, before the attacks) didn't seem to understand that it was definitely not coincidence. Four planes, three targets, and one miss to many to be a coincidence.
The next few days were a haze, wondering, making calls to loved ones. Is everyone accounted for, is everyone all right? The same conversation over and over, where were you when you heard? After Pearl Harbor, we're taught that there was a surge of patriotism, huge numbers of volunteers for the military. In those days all I heard was doubt, and fear. How many dead? How did it happen? Would it happen again?
It's been five years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. It's amazing the amount of weight such an action can give to a day. Before it was just a day, now it is a reminder. A reminder that we are not invincible. Our natural defenses, the two oceans that have always kept us safe from the world's conflicts are not quite as big as they once were. We are not invincible, but neither are we weak. We are resilient and we have proved that in the five years since September 11th became for than a day.
In the past five years, we have retaliated against those that would, and did, do us harm. We have chased them out of Kabul, and Baghdad. We have worked to strengthen our defenses by sharing intelligence amongst the different agencies of the government. This move has not been completely successful, but we have made great strides. President Bush, his administration and his allies in congress have made missteps, but they have also made progress in this new war. For the first time in human history, we aren't fighting a country, or an army, we are fighting an idea. Islamofacism is our new enemy, and thus far we are winning.
We know we are winning because for the past five years, we have been safe. We read occasionally about terrorist plots that are stopped. Would-be hi-jackers arrested. But we don't hear about how many plans are scrapped, because our security is just too tight. How many plots never get off the ground, because the plotters have to flee from the authorities? There is an old adage that no news is good news. In this new war, for us that is truer than ever before. Every day there is no headline, is another day that we have won.
Five years ago, I was sad and frightened. Today I am hopeful, that tomorrow we will be safe.
Something was happening. As I sat on my couch, watching fuzzy over-the-air reception from the Monroe NBC station, I saw what that something was. As Katie Couric and Matt Lauer told us what they knew (which wasn't much) I watched live video of one of the World Trade Center towers burning. As the "Today Show" team speculated about whether or not it was an accident, I saw a plane fly into the second tower. Still on the phone with my mother, we wondered aloud at who could have done this. Who would? Why? And then the towers fell.
The rest of the day was a blur. I had classes to get to, and despite my feelings to the contrary, everyone else seemed to think life should go on. My Professors (having arrived at school, before the attacks) didn't seem to understand that it was definitely not coincidence. Four planes, three targets, and one miss to many to be a coincidence.
The next few days were a haze, wondering, making calls to loved ones. Is everyone accounted for, is everyone all right? The same conversation over and over, where were you when you heard? After Pearl Harbor, we're taught that there was a surge of patriotism, huge numbers of volunteers for the military. In those days all I heard was doubt, and fear. How many dead? How did it happen? Would it happen again?
It's been five years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. It's amazing the amount of weight such an action can give to a day. Before it was just a day, now it is a reminder. A reminder that we are not invincible. Our natural defenses, the two oceans that have always kept us safe from the world's conflicts are not quite as big as they once were. We are not invincible, but neither are we weak. We are resilient and we have proved that in the five years since September 11th became for than a day.
In the past five years, we have retaliated against those that would, and did, do us harm. We have chased them out of Kabul, and Baghdad. We have worked to strengthen our defenses by sharing intelligence amongst the different agencies of the government. This move has not been completely successful, but we have made great strides. President Bush, his administration and his allies in congress have made missteps, but they have also made progress in this new war. For the first time in human history, we aren't fighting a country, or an army, we are fighting an idea. Islamofacism is our new enemy, and thus far we are winning.
We know we are winning because for the past five years, we have been safe. We read occasionally about terrorist plots that are stopped. Would-be hi-jackers arrested. But we don't hear about how many plans are scrapped, because our security is just too tight. How many plots never get off the ground, because the plotters have to flee from the authorities? There is an old adage that no news is good news. In this new war, for us that is truer than ever before. Every day there is no headline, is another day that we have won.
Five years ago, I was sad and frightened. Today I am hopeful, that tomorrow we will be safe.
posted by Daddy Rogue at 4:42 PM
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