WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5

The 1yr anniversary of 9/11 keeps playing with my head as well. I don't believe in really any of the "security protective measures" that have been taken, but that all seems rather beside the point now.

The point is, maybe we can finally start as a nation picking up the pieces and working towards real healing?

Re the new school year: At least your kids will have a better SAT to look forward to. Some things do improve if you holler loud enough.

Wil:

I was on an airplane when all the bad shit happened - and I honestly don't know what to feel. I'm way more liberal than you, but although a day doesn't go by without my blood pressure rising about something new our current "leadership" is doing in response, the only real feeling that comes to mind is... empty.

But your answer is already in your post. Your kids are going back to school. So are mine. Life does go on, no matter how bad it can sometimes be. With answers, sure we want more, demand more, but sometimes the isn't more. Sometimes, "is" really just means... "is"

Good luck to you, and hell - everyone else for that matter, coping with what is, and what will be.

Cool Userfriendly reference too!

unfortunately for all of us i don't think our government will ever let us fully recover from all of this in a way that benefits us as a people. not just those of us in the usa, but we the people of the world.

I think in this instance the good thing is, no one will forget. This was a scar too big to go unnoticed. So if something good could possibly come out of it, it's that we won't take our freedoms for granted any longer, at least I won't.

September 3rd + 6 = September 9th.

Nothing bad happened then.

Wil:
It's messing with me too,bro. First of all I can't believe it has been a year. Second, I'm sure the big bad Shrub will find a way to horn in on some politicing and take advantage of the remembrance. Third, I'm scared. Scared of what my country is contemplating in the ever widening "war on terrorism" while at the same time being scared myself that some wacko is going to bring anthrax to my little corner of the world.
Lots of uncertainty, lots of grief. Will this world ever be safe for my nephew and new niece or your Nolan and Ryan to live in?
I know, gloomy post. Life marches on, and we deal with whatever comes. Let's just hope that we make better choices in the future.

Ahud

Its now part of our normal routine.

Wil was in Vegas on the 9th...

:P In two days = Sept 5 and
6 days after that is Sept 11.

Sept. 11 is a day like the day President Kennedy got shot. You always remember where you were and what you were doing. We will NEVER forget because quite frankly we can't.

Sometimes I wish everyone would turn off their TVs for a while and forget about things that are not happening in their immediate sphere of influence.

I propose a national Don't Watch TV holiday. One day a year, at least, we all observe the holiday by conserving electricity, turning off the television and all other media devices (radio, PCs, telephones, etc) and going outside or sleeping all day. It would be wicked to see EVERYONE in your neighborhood out doing the lawn on the same day. Or at the park. Or at a ballgame, concert, or party.

Any takers? Nah, me neither. I'm going to watch Golden Girls.

-Jacks

I don't think everything can be "ok" again because it never was "ok" in the first place. Until the world is without intolerance and hate, there will always be someone who is out there looking for another way to go above and beyond the security measures to cause a tragedy. I know this sounds fatalistic, but it is true. I do think that people did put many things in perspective after 9/11. I know I did.

Yeah, I agree. I was only 5 years old when Kennedy was shot.

I remember how upset all the 'Grown ups' were then. I kept having nightmares about it for weeks, that maybe my parents were going to be next or something.

I wonder how today's kids will remember 9/11, and if they too had nightmares that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

On a lighter note ... As for the cartoon ... good one Wil!

You know you've arrived, and have 'the power' when cartoons like that one pop up!

;-D

I'm concerned at what "revelation" will be made by our government on that day to further incite the masses to roll over and wag their tails for the thoroughly evil men who have turned tragedy into opportunity for despotism.

Or what other "unforeseen" act may occur, cashing in innocent lives for the ill-gotten gain of our false "leaders."

Me, paranoid?

Probably, but it doesn't automatically mean I'm wrong.

First to everyone who is doing the math. I think Wil means two days until the kids start school and six days AFTER THAT is the anniversary.

Wil, look forward to the future, not with grief, but with hope. Some questions have no answers. Some things (such as hatred) just don't make sense.

Anyone able to log on to their computer and read this today should realize that he/she is better off than someone else, somewhere else in the world.

I don't really have a profound point to make, but as Wil states, summer is over and a new season is upon us. Can we make it better for ourselves and others? This is a question worth answering.

Wil, specifically what questions do you feel are still unanswered? We found out the who, why*, and how. At least for a time the nation rallied behind the ideal that terrorism is wrong, and in order to stop it the people supporting the acts as well as committing them should be stopped. I have a feeling the answers you are looking for derive from the why. The problem is that there are so many answers to it, and most of them we cannot possibly comprehend.
I feel things as a whole, in American, and around the world are better, certainly safer today than they were a year ago. I don't look to the future with a sense of dread or doubt. I think we can learn from our mistakes, and better ourselves. Don't look to the government to make the world a better place, start with yourself, and then move on to your family, friends, and community. For God's sake, stop watching all the depressing coverage, do something productive. Remember this, if no one watches all of the fluff, they won't do it again. Its not a matter of them catering to your tastes, its a matter of them paying their bills.
Buck up little campers, it aint as bad as the little box tells us. Go outside and see for yourself.

Fixed the math to make it more clear.

My bad. :-|

Not to nitpick, Wil, but 9+3=12. Where is Data when we need him?

I think you are looking for an "8".

Poor Wil, being attacked by the swarm of killer mathmaticians!

;-D

Third times a charm?

I can't believe it's been a year. It seems like it was just yesterday. Where the hell is time going?

Wtf? Where is Time?

Holy ShiT!!!

Well, if we count today as the number 1 and have tomorrow as the number 2, it works out okay. :D

(Good one Jan, first comment and it's totally gormless. XD)

Hi All,

I guess being British i have a different view of Sept 11th than all of you. When I watched the first tower fall I actually vomited but it was because i suddenly thought that WWIII had broken out. I have family in America and it really frightens me when I hear George Bush talking about taking on Saddam Husein now no offence but isn't one enough at the moment. You have shown in here that you voices can be heard and can make changes to your world maybe it's time to shout outside the confines of WWDN. Please remember to use thsi anniversary to remember the innocent lives of those who were lost and not to use this anniversary to recollect on those who caused the pain. Good Wishes to you all.

Everyone says that 9/11/01 was this generation's Pearl Harbor. I could handle that. Let's just hope George Bush's inherent stupidity doesn't make it this generation's JFK assassination, something our grandchildren will talk about over drinks or some reefer, wondering what really did happen all those years ago.

Wil-
"but each day seems to bring more questions and more uncertainty and grief."

I have to disagree.
I don't have questions about why it happened.
People hate people. Hate builds and leads to action.

The only uncertain thing is that will the hate build in people's hearts that we strike first?

Grief.

shit. I can't comment on that. I was so lucky in the scheme of things.
I was in LA 2 months ago for a wedding. My New York cousins all flew in as well. We all celebrated the comming together of two families in a marriage- and a massive reunion that has never been seen since the days of my mother's childhood summer's in Queens.
The 11th brought my family together when others were torn asunder. I guess that's fate and balance working through the universe. I don't feel deserving enough to be this lucky though.
When I saw my cousins, and talked to them about what happened, I could still see the loss, and haunted look in their eyes.
Expecially in my cousin, Pete Hayden, Deputy Chief, in charge of lower manhattan and of what was once the two proud WTC buildings. The man saw so much as he led the charge into the buildings, oversaw and sent the men upstairs to save all those people. He had a hard time relating how he found Father Judge, dead in a corner near the elevator banks, a look of peace on his face.
He described the sound of bodies hitting the pavement. The smell.
And still... I'll never really know or understand.
Pete is something I've always looked for- a Hero- a real life non-flying, non-tight wearing guy.
He smiles. He doesn't brood in what he was unable to prevent, though he tried and prayed that it would not.

I don't think there's more grief- you sort of max out at a certain point and it's just this awful stone in your stomach, weighing you down on aniversaries and such.

I only hope as a new year dawns for many of us- the year of the 11th behind us- we move on into a better life.

Well.. that's it.. my cynical nature is gnawing at my fingers to type more.

Have a good day everyone

-MKF

Whether it's a good thing or not, the upcoming anniversary isn't messing with my head. It's just something that's going to happen, will make me remember how I found out and how I felt, and I'll spend most of the day thinking about my friend Deb, whose brother was in that first tower, and of my friends Ian and Mitch, who I was terrified might be at the Pentagon. And I'll wonder if my husband will wind up deployed, a result of last 9/11, and if he'll miss Christmas at home, and I'll have mixed feelings about that... but remembering and reflecting, and saying a few prayers for those who were lost and the ones they left behind isn't the same as letting the whole thing mess with your head.

This is with us forever. Twenty five years from now our kids and grandkids will have to hear about where we were and what we were doing, and who we were with, and with any luck, the world they live in will be so much better than now. Pretty much the way the world really is a better place than it was for our parents and our grandparents, who have the memories of Hitler, of concentration camps, and of Pearl Harbor.

We'll get through it, we really will.

I thought for a minute about the impact of Sept 11 and how it compares to the impact of Nov 22.

When President Kennedy was killed, the country felt anguished, felt there was nothing that could be done (he was shot by an American, after all), and felt a loss of the hope his youth and charisma brought to a nation of aging institutions.

When civilian aircraft became lethal guided missiles and destroyed some of America's greatest cultural monuments, the country felt anguished, felt that Afghanistan should vanish beneath a rain of nuclear weapons (the planes were taken over by foreigners, after all), and felt a loss of normality that going to work on a pleasant sunny summer day represented.

Both events, political events aimed at the United States, are tragic and personal.

Americans are different, though, in our response to each event: in 1963, there was no-one to strike against. In 2001 and 2002, we strike against anyone who looks crosswise at us.

I don't think it is professional for the officials responsible for setting this country's foreign policy to advocate taking action against a dictator because he is "evil." I want to know who at the CIA or the NSC is compiling the "evil" list. I want to know if they have a Ph.D.

I don't think it is right for the United States accord better treatment for Citizens than aliens within its borders -- especially for an "inalienable" right like liberty.

I don't think there is an answer to the question of why people die needlessly. I don't think there is resolution or satisfaction in revenge. I don't think grief goes away. I don't think fear goes away.

These things become part of us, and the best we can do is draw on them as hard, hard lessons that guide our decisions in the future. That's healing and wisdom.

It would be wrong to forget the pain.

I for one am not afraid, nor was I last year, instead I felt pride for the first time in a long time. You might say what the hell are you talking about Biff, but it's simple, it was the first time American's shut their fat mouths and decided to get along for a month. They threw down their hatred for each other and stood side by side for a common cause. That night I stood on a group of people which included skinheads holding flags alongside blacks and mexicans, everyone(save the Arabians) stood together and mourned for their country. It sucked it had to be for such a horrible event, but sometimes you have to be kicked in the ass to open your eyes. And in 8 days I shall feel the same, the pride of being American.

YES!! It's messing with me..and the people i work
with..LOTS of us don't want to come to work..
so MANY of us asked for the day off that the
evil people in charge said "NO"!!

So we will come to work..being thankful we STILL
can ..and YES ..be scared.

PEACE.

I'll be spending the second anniversary similar to the way I spent 9/11/01... at the Toronto International Film Festival. I remember walking around downtown and finding absolute silence in contrast to the usual flurry of activity. Hotel lobbies were quiet too, as everyone was sitting around TVs and in their rooms making phone calls and comforting one another. Screenings, press conferences and other events were cancelled. At the premiere of The Grey Zone shortly afterwards Harvey Keitel gave a beautiful speech and called for a moment of silence (his co-stars weren't in town because they weren't due to arrive until after the 11th). Similar tributes were made around the city. The atmosphere was grave for the rest of the festival and it was a struggle to push on with the festival.
On 9/11/02 morning events will not be held. At 9:30pm a film called 11'09''01 will be shown (the description is in the URL linked from my name below).

It didn't start messing with me until now. I suddently have a creepy, sick feeling running through me.

On other things... I hope that Wil's boys are having a fantastic day at school.

First off, congrats on the UF reference :) I worked there for a year (paid, and a year unpaid) and never did get the mention I got promised. Heh ;) (just kidding, Illiad, if you're reading this! (he does read this site often))

Second off... yeah, the 9/11 thing is screwing with me too. My boyfriend broke up with me on 9/9... and two days later I watched the world come down. Any wonder why I'm still depressed? heh.

I'm still scared, I'm still paranoid. I still love my country, and fear my government. I wish it would all go back to the Way It Was Before. I know that's a pipe dream.

I watch the specials that have started this week and it feels so surreal. I'll always remember with distinct clarity waking up at 6am to get a blanket, and instead got an eyefull. I feel like I'm not old enough to have witnessed something so shocking and so historical.

I pray I never witness anything like that again.

the posts were getting kinda long there, wil. nice to have a shorter one i can read in one sitting :)

yay for kids going back to school!

I thought for a minute about the impact of Sept 11 and how it compares to the impact of Nov 22.

When President Kennedy was killed, the country felt anguished, felt there was nothing that could be done (he was shot by an American, after all), and felt a loss of the hope his youth and charisma brought to a nation of aging institutions.

When civilian aircraft became lethal guided missiles and destroyed some of America's greatest cultural monuments, the country felt anguished, felt that Afghanistan should vanish beneath a rain of nuclear weapons (the planes were taken over by foreigners, after all), and felt a loss of normality that going to work on a pleasant sunny summer day represented.

Both events, political events aimed at the United States, are tragic and personal.

Americans are different, though, in our response to each event: in 1963, there was no-one to strike against. In 2001 and 2002, we strike against anyone who looks crosswise at us.

I don't think it is professional for the officials responsible for setting this country's foreign policy to advocate taking action against a dictator because he is "evil." I want to know who at the CIA or the NSC is compiling the "evil" list. I want to know if they have a Ph.D.

I don't think it is right for the United States accord better treatment for Citizens than aliens within its borders -- especially for an "inalienable" right like liberty.

I don't think there is an answer to the question of why people die needlessly. I don't think there is resolution or satisfaction in revenge. I don't think grief goes away. I don't think fear goes away.

These things become part of us, and the best we can do is draw on them as hard, hard lessons that guide our decisions in the future. That's healing and wisdom.

It would be wrong to forget the pain.

I thought for a minute about the impact of Sept 11 and how it compares to the impact of Nov 22.

When President Kennedy was killed, the country felt anguished, felt there was nothing that could be done (he was shot by an American, after all), and felt a loss of the hope his youth and charisma brought to a nation of aging institutions.

When civilian aircraft became lethal guided missiles and destroyed some of America's greatest cultural monuments, the country felt anguished, felt that Afghanistan should vanish beneath a rain of nuclear weapons (the planes were taken over by foreigners, after all), and felt a loss of normality that going to work on a pleasant sunny summer day represented.

Both events, political events aimed at the United States, are tragic and personal.

Americans are different, though, in our response to each event: in 1963, there was no-one to strike against. In 2001 and 2002, we strike against anyone who looks crosswise at us.

I don't think it is professional for the officials responsible for setting this country's foreign policy to advocate taking action against a dictator because he is "evil." I want to know who at the CIA or the NSC is compiling the "evil" list. I want to know if they have a Ph.D.

I don't think it is right for the United States accord better treatment for Citizens than aliens within its borders -- especially for an "inalienable" right like liberty.

I don't think there is an answer to the question of why people die needlessly. I don't think there is resolution or satisfaction in revenge. I don't think grief goes away. I don't think fear goes away.

These things become part of us, and the best we can do is draw on them as hard, hard lessons that guide our decisions in the future. That's healing and wisdom.

It would be wrong to forget the pain.

did anyone here ever read "ishmael"? by daniel quinn? it's considered to be neo-junk-philosophy by some but personally it made me think... appropriately the one metaphor that stuck with me is about how when we (humans) were first learning to fly, we'd jump off a cliff with wax wings and think for a brief moment that we were actually flying -- then CRASH. well, civilization is at a point right now where it "thinks" it is flying, but we are disregarding the basic laws of existence (causing overpopulation, starvation, war, etc.) so eventually we will crash. we will have to keep flapping harder and harder (daily life becomes more difficult despite "technology") to stay at the same level and yet we keep falling... we have to learn the laws of aerodynamics to really fly and likewise we have to understand and live by the laws of existence, living in peace and not destroying the planet and each other, to really EXIST. umm... this isn't really off-topic if you think about it. right...?

I thought for a minute about the impact of Sept 11 and how it compares to the impact of Nov 22.

When President Kennedy was killed, the country felt anguished, felt there was nothing that could be done (he was shot by an American, after all), and felt a loss of the hope his youth and charisma brought to a nation of aging institutions.

When civilian aircraft became lethal guided missiles and destroyed some of America's greatest cultural monuments, the country felt anguished, felt that Afghanistan should vanish beneath a rain of nuclear weapons (the planes were taken over by foreigners, after all), and felt a loss of normality that going to work on a pleasant sunny summer day represented.

Both events, political events aimed at the United States, are tragic and personal.

Americans are different, though, in our response to each event: in 1963, there was no-one to strike against. In 2001 and 2002, we strike against anyone who looks crosswise at us.

I don't think it is professional for the officials responsible for setting this country's foreign policy to advocate taking action against a dictator because he is "evil." I want to know who at the CIA or the NSC is compiling the "evil" list. I want to know if they have a Ph.D.

I don't think it is right for the United States accord better treatment for Citizens than aliens within its borders -- especially for an "inalienable" right like liberty.

I don't think there is an answer to the question of why people die needlessly. I don't think there is resolution or satisfaction in revenge. I don't think grief goes away. I don't think fear goes away.

These things become part of us, and the best we can do is draw on them as hard, hard lessons that guide our decisions in the future. That's healing and wisdom.

It would be wrong to forget the pain.

Wil,

Wow it is September already kinda shocks the mind when you think of it. Not just because of the horrible events of 9/11/01, but because a new season is right around the corner. Kids have or are returning to school, and people are reliving the fear of last years attacks on this nation. I personally havn't seen anything but annoying airport security change and I have heard alot of empty promises about terrorism. The fact is nobody and I mean nobody can fully stop terrorism. Not even the great George Bush in all his splender..(smell that? that is sarcasm) anyway I think what we all need to do is remember the 11th the way we each individually need to. I personally will never forget where I was or what I was doing when it happned and I do not think anyone will.

Best of luck to you Wil in all you do and best wishes to your family. I have been with this site so long I feel like I know you and I wish you luck each day.

Until your next post......

Matt......

Whoops. Note to Self: Don't press "refresh", cause it reposts your damn message and makes people think you are completely full of youreself and a huge ass.

I should go back to school.

Duh.

In my own life, so much has happened in the past year. . . I feel like it's been a rather long one. Or extremely busy and productive, at least.

But it still feels like the hijackings were only a few weeks ago. Maybe that's because it's been all over the popular media CONSTANTLY for the past 357 days. Not a day has gone by that I haven't recalled what I saw that day, or had somebody remind me of it. It just means that all the days start to run together.

I'd like to know how we're supposed to commemorate what happened on the anniversary when every day has held some sort of commemoration since it happened?

What I want is a day when I DON'T have to remember it. Maybe the victim's families are wishing for a day like that, too.

Data has apparently taken over the blog.

It's messing with me as well. I don't want to deal with it, but I feel like I have to stay in the city for te day. Can't explain it....

Wil,

No, the approaching 9/11 anniversary isn't really messing with me at all. I am interested to see how it will be covered, what will emphasized, etc. For those who were lost and their families, there should be further remembrance and healing. And, it's different for those who were in NYC and DC when the atrocities took place. But for Americans further removed, maybe our thoughts should involve how to prevent more such atrocities which might be even worse than 9/11.

I think anyone serious about understanding 9/11 would have spent part of the past year learning more about Islam, its history, its beliefs, and particularly the fundamentalists strain which is part of more than thirty conflicts around the world at present. The U. S. is far from the only one to have been a target in the past year, just the most spectacular. And, the fundamentalist strain is not some tiny minority, but a sizable minority, estimated at 20% or more, with more than half supporting or sympathizing.

I'll be hoping that our government, armed forces and spooks have learned enough to thwart their plans in the future, and to deal with any who would still give them aid or safe haven. Unless to remember the victims, holding hands and singing Kumbaya, or candlelight vigils, will do little but provide opportunites for some to wallow in aimless emotions. It's the ones some on the left love to hate who will solve this one, and it'll take years to solve it.

Deploring hatred, as some posters have done here, will accomplish nothing because there have always been those who will hate, especially a powerful country like the U. S. They do it of their own volition, for their own reasons, and unless we want to all become Muslims and adopt Islamic law, some Muslims will always hate us.

News from Afghanistan. A recent BBC report said that, in Kabul, they have now banned Bollywood (Indian) movies and "women singing on TV." Hardliners are regaining some influence there. Of course, Bollywood movies are pretty tame compared to Hollywood movies. How do you think some steamy Hollywood sex scene is viewed by a fundamentalist, in a society where the women must go around in what I've seen described as "a tent with peepholes?"

One way we could make the fundamentalists not hate us so much would be to shut down our pop culture industry, i.e., Hollywood and poular music. In this global economy, and with the internet all over the world, there's no way to keep these infidel movies from finding their way into any nation where people want them. I assure you, after our foreign policy in the Middle East, nothing pisses off the fundamentalist more than the decadence of Hollywood and our pop culture in general (much of our way of life, actually). It corrupts their youth in particular. Anyone for banning our pop culture? The fundamentalist would think much higher of us if we did, for those Americans who wring their hands wondering why they hate us so much.

No one ever seems to post specifics of what we should do. There's plenty of knee-jerk criticism of Dubya and our gov't in general. Nothing is easier to do. But, specifically, what should our government's response have been/be? Do nothing? Stay home and play defense? Something had to be decided. It's not a Kumbaya hand holding session.
But, I know they'd appreciate it if we'd just shut down our decadent pop culture industry. That would be a start.

On a more positive note. Despite Korea, Vietnam and several shorter conflicts, those of us born sice WWII have lived in the most peaceful period in U. S. and European history. Those around Wil's age have seen no conflicts that lasted more than a few months. The terrorists could do great harm to the U. S., by causing even more destruction and by disrupting major segments of our economy. But, still, no one is drafted into the military, and our conflicts are minor compared to the two world wars and the wars which preceded them.

Amercians never had it so good, or lived in such peace and with such opportunity. On 9/11, we should be hoping and praying our gov't can keep it this way by defeating the goals of the terrorists.

Anyone for shutting down Hollywood to appease them?

William

(on the lighter, totally egocentric side of September)

Yes, I too am totally freaked out that it's September already... I can't believe the last year went so fast, nor that I'll be married in less than 60 days! *ACK!*

Uncertainty is something that will always be around. It doesnt mean you cant be positive about the future. Look at it this way- in Star Trek lore, you have a massive WW3 that leads to a future of enlightenment and prosperity. That can happen in real life too. Whatever happens, war, no war, terrorists, no terrorists- we can be sure that good things await in the future if the majority of people keep being positive and doing good constructive things.

And BTW I live in Manhattan- and if I can be positive about the Year 1 anniversary, you can be too....

I'm hoping that it means people will remember the actual people who died and start asking some serious questions about what the hell the administration is actually doing. Granted, we've liberated Afghanistan, but the plight of women there hasn't sustantially improved because the warlords aren't that much different than the Taliban.

We haven't determined what happened to Osama bin Laden, which is a giant failure in my mind. We let large numbers of Al Quaeda escape, which is another huge failure. And now we're lobbying for a war with Iraq, which really has not a thing to do with the WTC attack. When are people going to wake up out of their post-attack naivete and start taking Bush's number?

Until we recognize the extent to which other people suffer as a direct result of our high octane lifestyle, we will make no meaningful progress towards peace.

This does not exonerate those misguided souls who executed this attack.

But until our government admits that Bin Laden was OUR creature (just as Musharef (sp?) is becoming our creature) and that we AIDED Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War when it fit our purposes, we are dealing with fantasy not reality in the so-called war on terror.

God bless those who lost their lives and God bless those who love them.

I can't believe it's already 2002.
Wake me in 10 years, when 9/11 will have been converted into just another advertising pitch for beer, SUV's, and the fast food burger of your choice.

Wow, a semi-regular metion on slashdot and now you have a userfriendly comic dedicated to you. Soon you will become a geek legend such as Linus or RMS who people turn to for opinions on events.
...I think thats a good thing ;)

Wil,
I know this should have been posted on the entry from the other day...so I'm a little slow.
I just wanted to say that I am so glad I happened to be listening to my local (seattle, WA) radio station KZOK when Bob, Spike & Joe interviewed you recently. I have been a faithful reader ever since, and trust me I'm no trekky. I was one of the people who thought of Wil (the character) as sort of a geek, so it has been very nice to see that the real person is pretty cool & would be someone I'd hang out with. Thank you for sharing your life with us it's sort of like therapy even for the reader. Go for the convention but don't ever grovel or be too subservient, you have proven yourself to be a funny, intelligent and talented individual with or without those people. We like you for you right now, not nec. who you were years ago, that kid is grown up and a whole new creature. Congrats!
Angela Peterson

yeah...it's been in my head....all day long, quietly in the background...whenever I stopped thinking about something at work, there it was, whenever I changed lanes to cruise for a while...there it was...when I patiently waited for a page to load or some files to copy over...there it was...in the back of my head...1 year, 8 days, what's next. 1 year, 8 days...what's next. All day long.

Yeah, time has flown far too fast. I most certainly was not ready for a 6 week separation from my boyfriend. (He left for college.) I can only hope that september goes by just as fast and homecoming is here before I know it.

Of course, you're talking about September 11th. Personally, I'm over that now. Have been for a long time--my life has changed so much over my first year in high school that the start of freshman year (when 9/11 happened) seems like four hundred years ago....

*laugh* I stopped reading UF a while back, but I'm glad I clicked through to see that strip.

Not to blow off the other more serious topic. It's not really messing with me, except on a "wow, it's been a year" level.

It's been sixteen years since the Challenger explosion.

That was the one -- not that 9/11 wasn't profoundly affecting -- but the Challenger was my 'Kennedy moment'.

9/11 was ... different. Partly because I'm older. Partly, maybe, because it still seems so ... unreal. Despite all the footage, one does not simply make sixteen acres of building ... disappear.

Gosh, what a lot of ellipses.

-Catie

I turn 33 in two days. Six days later I will mourn those who fell. I've been kind've depresses around my birthdays in recent years, this just adds to it. I guess the one thing I feel the most over this is dread. Not over what "may" happen on the 11th, but dread over where this country is heading. 9-11 did something to me, it shattered my world and left me feeling 15 again. I was helpless, angry and I blew up. Now we're on the verge of a year and I can't say with complete certainty that I have recovered. I'm still a little raw, and I'm not exactly the poster boy for rationality, but I'll manage. I only hope that this country regains some semblance of sanity and realizes that this mad war is not the way.

Let's see, two recent posts.

1. Our country is being run by lunatics and criminals, each with their own price tag.

2. The questions keep piling up with no answers to go along with them about September 11.

Add these two together, and perhaps you will get an inkling as to why there will never be answers to this televised work of fiction.

Consider this: if you live in a bad neighborhood, and you leave your doors and windows wide open when you go to sleep at night, would you be surprised if someone waltzed in and robbed you?

Do you really think the government would be so stupid as to leave the doors open?

I worked on the 80th Floor of WTC2. I know who sneaked in and murdered my friends and coworkers. I'd like to know who left the door open for them. And why.

Perhaps we are better off NOT knowing the whole story, because the truth would be as horrifying as the events.

I will remember the 11th. Being frightened watching t.v., thinking W.W.III was on the way, thinking my brother in the army was off to war, waking up my husband, telling him the world was coming to an end. I'll also remember the days and weeks that followed, being frightened, talking to the nice Iranian couple that run the corner store about how they took their little girl out of school because she was being threatened in grade 2, how my husband had to stop a grown man from harassing an Indian lady, calling her a terrorist and a murderer. I still don't know what frightened me more.

Well I'm probably going to sound like a real asshole for saying this, but a lot worse things have happened in America before and since September 11, 2001. The one that springs to my mind first is that more people have been getting killed by drunken idiots in cars every single month than by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Every month since last September, and every month before then, going back for decades. For the friends and relatives of all those folks, those deaths were just as sudden and wrenching, the feelings of helplessness and violation just as deep. Only spread out thinly, so as not to create as much of a ripple on our overall sense of normality.

Doesn't that kind of suck? But we don't see marines stationed at onramps with breathalizers. We don't see a huge high-tech push to defeat the average drunken dickhead from starting a car. If you can figure out which hole the key goes in you're there. This problem has been going on consistently through the terms of a dozen presidents, not one of whom has ever declared war on it or even attempted to make fixing it a national priority.

There are numerous ways in which people are continually getting fucked up by complete assholes, who usually walk away unscathed. God knows we aren't going to see SWAT teams crashing into the homes of CEOs' who have bankrupted their own companies, put thousands of their own employees out of their jobs, ruined plans those people have worked hard for for years -- retirement, kids' college, whatever. Not one of those shitbags in suits is going to get a cruise missiles up the ass, or be duct-taped to a stretcher and dragged into a detention camp.

Crap like this happens *all the time*. It's a part of our landscape, usually not presented to us in the form of a vivid, sensational, Spielberg-scale event. If we need that level of stimulation to focus our feelings, it's because we just don't pay attention.

Wil,

no, it doesn't mess with me.. I saw this comeing
many years ago.. and more will happen..
times have changed.. it could as bad as what happens in Isreal.. scripture tells us that in the
end, man will be in fear of everyday events;
"not knowing the way out"
and "unless those days were cut short, no life
would be saved"

still, there will be a day when John Lennon
will be able to sing "Imagine" and it will be true..

"vengenance is mine." sayth the Lord God Jehovah
"I shall repay."

with that promise, I fear not what will happen.

peace be with you all...

Yes Wil...it's messing with me quite a bit. I work for a PBS station on the overnight shift. Ever since that day a year ago, I've had to watch the footage or hear stories about it every night (sometimes twice) since then. I knew no one in any of the atrocities, so I can't say that I suffer anymore than anyone else. But already the footage has began again. We are a week away right now, and already I'm wanting to crawl into a hole to escape. I wish nothing but happiness for anyone that reads this, and I hope that you all remain safe in whatever you do.

Newbie to WWDN (but notice how quickly I pick up the acronyms and act in general like I know what the hell is going on), and had to comment here (as it would be silly and off-topic to do so elsewhere): I'm really wondering what this anniversary will be like. I was blessed enough not to lose anyone I knew or loved on 9/11, but it still was one hell of a shakeup. This year, purely by coincidence, I find myself booked on a cross-country flight on 9/12. My husband fondly says that it will be me and a bunch of air marshalls and no one else. I'm honestly a little frightened to fly; I'm a seasoned traveler, and I've never had anything worse than turbulence. But this seems...*big* now.

I'm not very fond of the armchair patriotism that swept our nation last year; it got to be a sort of show-us-your-flag-or-show-us-your-papers for a while there, and I don't favor that. Part of being in Free-Speech-America is having the freedom *not* to wave the flag and sing the praises of a great but flawed country.

We have a flag, and I still have faded and frayed red, white and blue ribbons dangling from the antenna of my car. Normally, though, I don't feel the need to declare my patriotism in strident, bumper-sticker-y ways.

However...I will be wearing a shirt with an American flag on it when I fly. I can't quite name what is motivating me to do so; I don't know if it's respect or patriotism or fear or the hope that it will help me get through the security checkpoints that much quicker. I do know that it feels *right* to wear it.

Yeah, it's messing with me as well, Wil. I work in Times Square and it seems like it was only yesterday that the chaos of that entire week was running rampant on the streets. Bomb scares. Buildings shut down for the remainder of the week. No trains running, then suddenly you could get out.

It was and remains a moment burned into my psyche.

I will never forget where I was at on 9/11... Just about to my office in 2 World Trade Center! I was only a dozen blocks from the complex when Tower 2 collapsed.

Luckily I didn't know anyone who was lost and everyone in my company got out unharmed. While everyone feels very deeply for those who lost loved ones, I hope eveyone will remember that the survivors are suffering, too.

For me, it's been a very unproductive year and I still tear up from time to time. I haven't been able to gather the emotional strength to go back to Ground Zero since 9/11. Hopefully, the pain of thinking of that day will fade with time.

My biggest wish, however, is that everyone remember 9/11 as a period in history when mankind witnessed the extremities of humanity. From the horror of the attack to the outpouring of help and support for victims and their families we saw it all that week. But the most important lesson to be learned is that we choose what level of humanity we present to the world. May we all choose love, understanding, tollerance, and peace.

Visit http://www.politicsandprotest.org/ to remember 9/11. Make sure your speakers are on and give it time to load. You will cry and then you will get angry again.

Thank goodness W. and the republicans are in power. I shudder to think what Gore would have done in their place. We would be paying the Taliban reparations by now.

Hey Wil;

I was affected by the events of last 9.11, I was angry--Jesus, I even recall saying "I'm glad there's a Republican in office." but I may have been trying to comfort a conservative co-worker [at least that's my preferred delusion].

But I find that like everything that I experience through the infinite picture window of TV, the outrage faded, quickly giving over to doubts and fear that the idiot in the White House was going to do something idiotic. Which he has, but not the idiotic thing that I was afraid of. We have liberated yet another Arabic country under false pretenses. Yes, Bin Laden was there, maybe he's dead now, maybe living in a Tel Aviv penthouse, who the fuck knows? Not anyone who can do anything about it. And that's the small measure of revenge that I feel, get that guy, just that guy, that shit, and bring him back here. To New York. To trial. Which won't be anything but a spectacle, but Rome loves it's spectacle, doesn't it? However, the Bush family, and extrapolated from that, the entire Bush administration, has oil interests in Afghanistan that were being threatened by the Taliban's continued hold on power in that country. So why are we there and, aside from the human rights abuses [of which we contribute to with certain sanctions], why do we concern ourselves with Saddam Hussein?

Anyway, I have gone far afield from what I was going to say.

I work for Borders Books. I am a supervisor in #201 of nearly 400 stores. We are required to display in our front window, a large vinyl banner with a tasteful photo of a front porch--somewhere in America--replete with rocking chairs, peeling paint, and the hint of the Star-Spangled Banner off to the left, showing just enough red, white and blue to spark...what? What are we doing with this display?

...An aside, Borders lost a store in 3 [or 4, I can't remember] World Trade Center. No employees were hurt or killed, one was missing for a while but she was playing hookey...

Are we commemorating the loss of our capital expenditures? The trauma of our faithful 30 employees? Or is it a pseudo-psycho tug to try to get people through the door and pick up one of the myriad books on the subject? I choose that last one. It is exploitation, pure and simple, by a corporate entity that will do anything to keep it's stock prices up. I am embarassed to enter the door beside that banner with it's black band embossed with the simple "We Remember". And I am sickened to think that I helped hang it. Which I did, because it's part of my job, and other than the normal dehumanizing elements of retail work, and the occassional uncooperative nature of my staff, I like my job. But I am beginning to dislike my company. As I look across the parking lots of the massive retail center that I work in, from mega-store to mega-store, I don't see anyone else engaging in this kind of crap, not even Wal-Mart!

So, yeah, 9.11 is messing with me--but it's no longer the incident, it's this massive lingering grief that's fucking me up. And now heaped on that is this guilt that I'm contributing. It became gratuitious long ago, now it's pornographic, cheap titillation for the programmed masses.

Let's get on with the healing, for chrissakes!

Anyway, it's all the media's fault.

Wil -

You were also linked from today's Iambe column...

As for 9/11 - I plan on going to work that day, on the Red Line, and working all day in the state building, and eating lunch in the Deloitte food court as usual, and going home on the Red Line. That's about it AFAIK.

Wil,

I can't honestly say that the looming date of September 11, 2002 is messing with my head.

It terrifies me.
I'm scared of the possibility that Bin Laden and his ilk will try to use the anniversary of their attack on the Twin Towers to make another terror attack which will lead to the loss of more lives.

I'm scared because I'm living in a world where people in powerful possitions are actually daring to use the tragedy as an excuse to manipulate the masses, and i'm scared that they are going to use the coming anniversary as an excuse to drive us into accepting a war against a dictator who is not connected to Al Quaeda.

Behind it all is a dreadful cynicism, that tells me that the shit is going to hit the fan, again, and that all I will be able to do is stand by and watch, again.

I was at a funeral on 9/11. As we left the "reception" in the hotel afterwards, we saw the footage of what was happening. It didn't seem real, at first. It was too horrific. As the day wore on, and we drove home listening to reports on our car radio, I could almost predict what would happen next.
Racial violence.
Fatuous retoric.
Brutal retaliation.
More death. More violence.
The perpetrators would elude capture (Bin Laden is still out there).
The situsation would get worse, not better.
Everyones horror and grief would be twisted by the heartless for their own ends.
Innocent people would be hounded and harried.
Liberty would crumble.
The new drive to prevent a repeat atrocity would get sidetracked.

As 9/11/2002 rears its head, I ask this question. What is being done to bring Bin Laden and Al Quaeda to justice? With the Taliban gone, where are we searching now? Why have we become sidetracked into aiming at Iraq, less than a year after the Twin Towers were attacked?

I'll tell you whats messing with my head. Its the knowledge that Al Quaeda are still operational, and we don't know where they are. Its nearly a year since we started this "war on terror", and guess what? Terrorism still exists, and by our actions, perhaps in greater fervour than before.

I just hope we mange to sort things out without some wacko nuking someone.

And that includes Bush.

The first anniversary of anything can be either the most exciting or the hardest to bear!

9/11 is no different. How many people die every day in tragic circumstances? The fact that these incidents are more widespread makes it easier because the whole world doesn't grieve at the same time. When a terrorist attempt takes thousands of lives in one go it seems pointless and even more terrifying. Why let that terror ruin your lives from day to day - what will be, will be. We can only deal with our own grief and we WILL deal as and when it happens. If you spend your time in grief or fear it won't take away the shadow of events of 9/11, it keeps them alive!

Feel sorrow for the people lost and the people who lose. Feel sad for yourself for a time for this loss, but don't lose all perspective - you are wasting your own life, don't be terrified by every day. You risk your life every day by waking up, you never know which will be your last breath - make the most of every day free of worry.

We started the school 2nd September. It is new me, becouse I am the other side now...and forever!Yes, I am a teacher!

I'm wondering what headlines the press will come up with. In my head I see a simple one.... "The Day America Stood Still"
(not that I want to compare 9/11 to a sci-fi movie but I remember watching the flames increase in the second tower seconds before
it collapsed, thinking it was like some kind of Hollywood movie, Die Hard 4 or something but for real.
The things to think about are how it has impacted your life in this last year/what you have done with it, what progress has been
made in catching the people behind it - as well as the obvious screw-ups by the agencies involved - and what has manifested as a
result of it, and whether those manifestations are actually for the good of The People and the Freedoms for which this country was
created, and not for the good of Big Brother.

I remember in our family lore, my mom had a dream the night before Kennedy was shot, she dreamt he was stabbed during the parade, and then just about fainted watching it the next day on live t.v. The morning of September 11, I swung my feet onto the floor and said, out loud, just for me and the cats, "what a beautiful day". Being in Toronto then, I freaked when I heard about what happened in New York, but I think I really shook when I heard about the Pentagon. A woman I worked with had her best friend working at the WTC, and thankfully, he escaped with a broken leg. Since moving now to Winnipeg, I worked this summer at a place where a nurse was killed that day at the WTC, visiting her brother who worked there, on the 101st floor. It's like wherever I go, it is there. So no, I don't think we should make it huge, but yes, it was only a year ago, and it is our Kennedy, our Martin Luther King, Jr..We can pretend to forget but we can't really let it go just now.

Hi Wil
I have to say I find the anniversary a depressing prospect, if only for the way that some will no doubt attempt to capitalise on it (whatever their persuasion). The posts of many people here have given me some reason for hope. As long as people continue to pay attention, and demand to be kept in the picture, and as long as people do not let their rights be consumed by the demands of security, goverments may find they have to pursue policies that actually make things better.
I would like to see a concerted effort to pursue a legal prosecution of anyone who can genuinely be found to have colluded in the attacks of Sept 11th. This in conjunction with earnest work to repair relations with the middle east, seems to me to be a much better way to honor the dead of Sept 11th than the farcical 'War Against Terrorism'. I do hope they stop that monster in time. When will The War Against Terrorism turn its sights on the USA, and the UK (Al Quaeda were initially trained by both in Fort William, Scotland)? Or is there a statute of limitation deal?
Although my thoughts are with the victims families, their grief is their own. No amount hideous media tributes will make the deaths anything other than cruel, stupid, and pointless.
I know what I'll be doing 09-11-02, I'll be doing my best to enjoy the day with those I care about. I wish everyone else the same.

I'm in Australia.

I work for the fire brigade here and while our brigade is hardly going to have an effect on NYFD - it affects firefighters everywhere.

I'm involved in the memorial we are doing here - and even being so far away, let me tell you, the first year anniversary has come too soon.

Natalie

This had to be the most shocking event ever...and it's been a whole year since it happened...seems like yesterday...
We're having extra security here in Sydney as well on the 11th...just feels really weird...but you just can't blame anyone for taking precautionary measures, however unnecessary they may be...the world's full of bad, bad people. No matter where it is, not matter who's doing it...killing people is no answer to anything. Destroying lives, separating families for ever...it's hard to believe how many sick individuals there are in this world. My heart goes out to everyone who was affected either directly or indirectly by these attacks...I'll say a prayer for everyone.
My birthday's on the 12th...so after last year it feels really weird to switch from remembering those tragic events one day and then blowing out candles and cutting a cake the next day...but that's just how it is I guess...life goes on.

Take care everyone.

This really is messing my head. I remember my wife comming in crying and waking me up like 5 minutes before normal and the panic. I walked out into the living room and just sat there and watched as the second plane hit the tower. Then running into the bedroom to get dressed for work and rushing out to see what I missed. Just before I had to really leave to get to work a few minutes late, the first tower collapsed. Our son had just turned one month old on the 8th and we just wondered what would change and how life would be for him after 9/11. So far so good I guess...

When it happened, everyone said our lives would be changed forever. What's changed? Doesn't seem like much has changed "for the better" ...

I bought milk last week.

I usually buy a specific brand, we'll call it brand A. I used to buy brand B. But like that freaky little girl in "Signs" I always thought brand B had a funny aftertaste. So I started buying brand A. Much better.

Until last week. Last week, I reached for my milk and, like always, checked the expiration date.

I'm a rational guy. I usually laugh at things like this. They don't affect me. I know what's what.

But last week, I bought brand B milk.

I was woken up by my father who was passing on grossly inaccurate reports about world-wide hijackings and saying "we're at war!" Thinking it was bullshit because he knew my wife and I were leaving the country for good in two weeks I turned on the tv to see the towers burning.

It was quite surreal. Our main concern was when the airports would re-open naturally so we could get the hell out of there in case any further madness took place, but like much of what we see on tv these days I could only think "wow that's pretty surreal." It still doesn't quite seem real to me, but it had no personal impact on me.

Now we can only dread the actual day and hope that the airwaves aren't dominated by bullshit doucumentaries. I'm still waiting for the big Hollywood spectacular about the heroes who crashed the plane (that would have been shot down by fighter jets anyway before it got anywhere significant) starring Harrison Ford.

Sadly I've moved to a country whose leadership seems to think that being running dog to the USA is more important than listening to the populace who are against a war in Iraq.

Time to get on with life already.

My husband is a Petty Officer Second Class in the US Navy. He is currently in the Indian Ocean on his way to the Gulf. He is going to be in the lion's den for the Anniversary. I have to say, what they did to us should have changed us forever. Unfortunately, it was a shock that wore off for too many. My husband is out there trying to keep us safe, but he can't help us with the people in our own backyard that just got another reason to hate. Violence begets violence. You know sometimes, we need to give up things like fear and hate to get along. Sometimes, we even ned to give up a few of our many freedoms. I think keeping my husband out of WWIII is worth not knowing if the library received a subpoena or if a few people were not allowed to burn the symbol of our wonderful country. You have the right to think what you want, but you don't have the right to hurt those who think differently.

You want to talk about being messed with by the memories of 9/11? I can tell you all about what a great day it was for me:

I live in a suburb of Washington DC, and I spend my weekdays toiling in academia just minutes away from the Pentagon. When the planes hit, basically every phone on campus ceased to function, and what students and faculty heard was filtered through about a hundred ears and mouths like some sadistic game of "Telephone." There are more planes in the air! The National Guard is sealing off the beltway! The President is missing! Okay, so that last one was true, but you get the picture.

Within a few minutes we had a bomb threat in the administration building, complete with a suitcase apparently filled with explosives and rigged to go off. Police sirens howled as a horde of cops descended on the scene. People were streaming around all over the place trying to reach family, the parking lots, or anywhere. I couldn't get hold of my wife, on another nearby campus, or my mother-in-law, who was at that time taking care of my infant son. I, and everyone around me, had no clue what was happening, or what was going to happen, and we were practically right in the middle of it!

Eventually I abandoned my schedule and left campus, even though the university president announced that we were in no danger, and that faculty should conduct classes normally. Yeah. Right. I still can't believe that little announcement.

The roadways were jammed with people trying to get out of the city. Maybe they had heard the same rumors about road blocks as I had. I was still cut off from my wife and child by phone as I tried to cut through the gridlock and get to them. On NPR, I heard about the buildings collapsing, and still more conjecture about another crash, and on and on and on.

Eventually we were all united back at our home, where we watched, like everyone else, the endless replays of the World Trade Center impacts. After hours of that, we shut it off and didn't turn the television on again for two days. I had practically been scared out of my mind for my family, and they for me, because for all we knew in the DC Metro area, the planes would keep on dropping from the sky, or something equally horrible might happen on the ground.

It all worked out, of course. The bomb threat on my campus turned out to be a hoax (probably by students, though we never did find out), and we were all together quickly enough. The day was rough, and the emotions rougher, but we were never in any real danger, unlike many others.

And the real kicker? The icing on this particular cake? September 11, 2001 was my thirty-first birthday. I went to campus that morning expecting a routine day, followed by a nice dinner out with my family. What I got was a visitation by the holiest of holy terrors, right in the heart of DC, when it really seemed as if things really were falling apart, and that the center could not hold.

Thanks to a confluence of dates, I now get to remember that day every year I grow older. My birthday is inextricably entwined with mass murder, and all the awful things that have (and will) proceed from those murders. That's not exactly the best present I can think of, or much of a reason for me to look forward to blowing out the candles.

Hi everyone,

I live 2 blocks away from the World Trade Center site and saw the whole thing happen from my living room window. Our neighborhood (Battery Park City) was hit really hard by the event - fortunately nobody in my apartment building was killed or injured. We couldn't go back home for 2 weeks after 9/11 and once we did, the smell of the WTC fires was at times overwhelming - and it went on round the clock for 2 months.

I'm happy to say that our neighborhood and my neighbors are back as strong as ever. In fact, we're all just kind of dreading the next few days as every TV network from around the world it seems will be setting up their satellite trucks all over our neighborhood. Kind of makes our area look like one big media circus. Sheesh!

Anyway, enough rambling for now...

Chris

I think this is messing with people's minds more because they are LETTING it mess with them.
Yes, something terrible happened. But it is not something that we can't recover from. The minorities in Germany endured far worse during World War II and their torment lasted much longer. Bombings happen in Israel all the time. One of the first rules of Buddhism is that suffering exists. This is true. Shit happens but we deal with it. I'm not saying we should forget the people who suffered because of the attacks. But we should NOT give the attackers what they wanted. They WANTED to change our way of life. They wanted to make us frightened. Well y'know what? I'm not scared. And I'm not going to let their shit interefere with my life. It sucks that it happened. But it's over. We are much luckier than people in other places where there is constant terror and death. We should be happy about that. This sort of thing will only bother us if we let it. Humans have had to endure all manner of atrocities and hardships. We have to be strong and move on. If we let ourselves get caught in the past we never move forward.
luv,
-Su

Somebody asked if the world would ever be safe. My answer, insensitive as it may sound, is that the world was never safe, and will never be 100% safe, no matter what people do. Although what happened was certainly life-changing and all of that, I believe that we (America and Canada) got what we most needed - a kick in our complacency. That's been said somewhere before, but it's the truth. When you get past the emotions, logic tells you that we really needed to step down from our "godly" pedestal, and if the attack hadn't happened on September 11th, 2001, it would have happened sometime later.