Where were you on the morning of September 11, 2001? Do you even remember? I remember where I was and what went through my mind when the first of those day's events began to play out in front of me. The horror of that day and the impact it had on this country could not and should not ever be understated because when we forget, we dishonor all those whose lives were lost that day.
When the first plane hit the trade center, it was as though life paused for all New Yorkers. But in the moments following the second plane crashing into the towers, the whole world held its breath and watched in horror as the day's events unfolded. People today talk very little about what happened that Morning. The television has reduced the memory to the History channel and little mention is made anywhere else about what happened. In the aftermath, American Muslims... people who stood side by side with us that day and mourned the same as we did fell to verbal attacks and threatening phone calls, and in some cases were even physically beaten or murdered simply because of their beliefs. Grief turned to anger in the days, weeks and months that followed and in place of reason, serious lack of good judgement ensued as people tried to make sense of a terrible tragedy that simpy made no sense to anyone other than the perpetrators of this brutality. Conspiracy theories sprung up left and right as people tried to explain the unexplainable and find someone to blame for this terrible tragedy.
Truth is often stranger than fiction. There were far more people using cell phones, cameras and their own eyes to record the events of that day then can even be fully accounted for, and way too many of those accounts refute the so-called conspiracies that have been repeatedly put out over youtube, facebook and multiple other forms of social media over the years. Even today, there are still videos that have not been brought forward and eyewitness accounts that have not been heard, simply because there were too many to even gather.
If you want to know the truth of that day, talk to a New York firefighter or police officer, an ambulance driver or to one of the few survivors of that tragic day. Talk to a New Yorker who stood on the streets that morning and witnessed the events as they unfolded. No one wants to think of America's shores as being that vulnerable, but we were and are. Terrorists found a way to exploit that vulnerability and they hit us hard. It brings to mind another tragedy in our history and another day when America proved to be just as vulnerable: December 7th, 1941... also known as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
We were caught just as off-guard that day.
We as a country need to stop being so arrogant as to think something like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor cannot happen to this country. It is our very arrogance that causes us to let our guard down, and with it to open ourselves up to that vulnerability that can lay us down once more in the face of our enemies. Like every other country in the world, we have our vulnerabilites and weaknesses and though we are in fact a strong nation, we can still be hurt. Just ask the families of those who died that day when the towers came down. Most people believe only two buildings came down, but they were only the first two of several. How is it possible if only two buildings were hit? Do the math and the science of the issue and you will realize exactly how it happened.
Two commercial aircraft filled with jet fuel crashed into the twin towers and exploded, one after the other. Jet fuel burns at a much greater heat than most other combustible materials... hot enough to warp the steel girders that were the supports of those buildings. A fire that hot is going to generate incredible amounts of heat out and around it for a good distance. What happens to normal items such as plastic or fabric in that much heat? They can ignite without a single spark hitting them. Metal nearby can be warped by that kind of heat. When the two initial buildings were hit, the explosions were so volatile they blew out most of the windows of any buildings nearby, including those other buildings that went down or were badly damaged in the aftermath of the initial impact on the twin towers. The heat from those explosions and following fires caused the buildings nearby to ignite and the fires that occured there, coupled with the heat flowing off the twin towers warped the girders of some of the other buildings, causing the full or partial collapse of some of those buildings. In all, the seven world trade center buildings were all destroyed: three were leveled, and the rest so badly damaged they were beyond repair. The Merriot hotel, nestled in between the two main towers was also severely damaged when the towers came down. The damage to New York city's island of Manhattan can never be understated. Small businesses, nearby apartments, cars and any other form of property within a few blocks of the trade center were largely damaged simply by the amount of debris that filled the island when the buildings collapsed. Then there was the tragedy of the Pentagon and finally of flight 93. All in all, this was a far greater tragedy than any American alive today has known on our native soil in our lifetimes.
As much as I have learned of 9/11, I cannot possibly claim to know all about what happened that day. It is too magnanimous an event for any one of us to learn every last little detail of. What I do know is that an uncounted number of good people lost their lives that day, and it should not be sullied by rumors or conspiracy theories in a futile attempt to lie to ourselves or to convince ourselves that this cannot happen to us. It can, it did, and there is always the possibility that it could happen again if we don't pay attention. Do not blame a religion or a specific race of people, because there is no one race of any type or religion of any kind that is the cause of such a tragedy. We are all one people under the sun with a multitude of rich cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. Instead, blame the evil that is in the core of some men. Hitler was not Muslim and yet he orchestrated the murder of uncounted numbers of Jews, Gypsies and other minorities. The Japanese are not Muslim and yet their country hit Pearl Harbor hard. Instead of blaming one religion, one culture or one race, we need to let those in homeland security and the military do the jobs they were trained to do, and let them find the true perpetrators of such evil deeds.
We as a people should be remembering our fallen heroes today and every day, and every year that passes by... the firefighters, police and emergency responders who gave their lives that day while selflessly trying to rescue those trapped inside the raging infernos that were the center of the world's attention. This tragedy like so many others, should not just be placed in the history books and forgotten except for a class in some school somewhere. It should be kept alive in our memories as an example of what evil human kind can actually wreak on each other in the hopes of preventing such a terrible event from ever happening again.
What happened on 9/11 was a horrible tragedy and was the result of acts of terrorism against our great nation. But the days that followed 9/11 carried an even greater tragedy and that is the fact we never learned from our mistakes following Pearl Harbor. In 1941, dozens of Japanese Americans were rounded up and stuck in camps here in America following the attack on Pearl Harbor. After 9/11 dozens of Muslims were harrassed, threatened, beaten, burned from their homes and even murdered. When will we learn?
For those who died, I will say that your country will never forget you. For those emergency responders, police officers and firefighters who gave their lives trying to save those trapped, you will live on in the hearts of those of us who remember you.
This article is dedicated to all those who survived that day. God bless you.