9/11: 10 Years Later

     What have we gained or lost? Have we learned anything? I'd like to think that we gained some things not to mention learned some things-for me always the biggest gain of all is learning- but certainly we have lost somethings as well.

      As it happens, in the last 10 years I haven't done any flying at all. My last plane ride was a trip back to the land of my birth-England-back in 1999. I guess for this you can consider me lucky in a way. At least I have avoided the fun of heightened security where passengers now have to come early to catch a flight and submit to long lines and evasive "security" measures like taking of your shoe laces and even submitting to cavity searches.

      Still I don't know that I would call it lucky: I didn't fly mostly as I never had the time/resources to. If I did I probably would have. Not only did we (de)celebrate 10 years after 9/11 we also have the Bush tax cuts to-and here there is no ambiguity-decelebrate.  Few of us our better off than we were 10 years ago.

       As to the positives of 9/11 one thing that I find an inspiring positive is completion of the WTC Reflectiong Pool. Let me quote the words of Indira Bhukan of Union, NJ who lost her daughter Bella Bhukan, at this very spot 10 years ago. What can be more tragic than a mother having to bury her daughter?

      "It was not there last year. The water flow, depth of the pool and the settings in a park make it an ideal memorial," said the Union, New Jersey native, whose young daughter Bella Bhukan, died at this spot a decade ago. Bella was just 24 and was working at the human resources department, Cantor Fitzgerald, on the 104th floor of North Tower. Bella was the youngest of three sisters.

     http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-wtc-memorial-remembering-what-is-lost-forever/20110912.htm

    

    "We can never get back the lives we lost on that day, or the Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the wars that followed," Obama said. "Yet today, it is worth remembering what has not changed. Our character as a nation has not changed."

    http://news.yahoo.com/america-mourns-sept-11-dead-somber-ceremonies-004425979.html

   I hope this last sentence by President Obama is right. I think our character has improved since electing him to office. And it is certainly a relief that the main lines in the "War on Terror" are winding down.

   For a fairly upbeat assessment of where we are a decade after 9/11 the September edition of Commentary is a good place to go with front magazine title in large caps "WHAT WE GOT RIGHT IN THE WAR ON TERROR.'

   The piece by Abe Greenwald, starts on pg. 14. He lists 6 areas of success. His first one is closure. Without question there is closure with the killing of Bin Laden in May 1, 2011. The second area is defining the threat for which Greenwald quotes Bush:

   "Our war on terror begins with al-Qeada, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been defeated." I

    Don't see how this is an accurate case of "defining the threat" and in reality this vow to defeat every terrorist group of global reach was overly ambitious and hasn't been anywhere near being achieved till this day. It's like a new police chief declaring that now that he is in charge all crime in the city will cease, one nay admire "defining the threat" but why stop with eliminating all crime why not add that he will cause the moon to be made out of cheese?

   I don't know what you did yesterday... Some I know were glued to the set yesterday following extended coverage of the 9/11 commemoration ceremony. I must admit to doing something different with my Sunday. Around 9:30 my friend was shocked to hear that I spent the whole day at Applebee's enjoying their $.25 cent wings and limitless refills of soda.

  "Really?! I didn't think they would have football today!" Hey I can't suspend my particular religious practices for anything and I can think of few things that would deter me from watching opening day of NFL football.

   As far as 9/11 is concerned I prefer to dwell on the pictures of the young 9/11 babies who inspire with hope for the next generation.

   INDIANAPOLIS -- As America remembers one of the darkest days in U.S. history, a generation of children born on 9/11 learned about the tragedy while celebrating their birthdays.

Madison Simpson celebrated her 10th birthday on Sunday, 6News' Rick Hightower reported.

"When it's my birthday, I don't really think about that. I just think I’m older," Simpson said. The Franklin Township fourth grader said she’s learned a lot about 9/11 since she was born.

"I’m kind of a bookworm. Sometimes I read about it, and I just pick up stuff," she said.

    It's little girls like Madison Simpson I will be keeping in mind as we go forward. Let us give her a society that will fill her with pride. Let her not say that we against Obama's hopes sold out who were were as a result of 9/11.