September 11th - A Day Of Remembrance
I have written a lot about September 11th on this blog over the years.
I started AVC a couple years post 9/11, while I was and NY was still very much in its wake.
Time has a way of making traumatic things fade away and that has happened to some degree.
But a smell, a scene, or a person can take me right back there to that awful day.
So today, like all September 11s, will be a day of remembrance for me.
Comments (Archived):
For me as well Fred.September 11th…stopping to remember http://arnoldwaldstein.com/…
Except, not really my story. I had stuff going on in my life at that point that wasn’t fun to go through but 9/11 changed that. (And in October, the sudden death of a very close friend)
Happy 9/11 everyone! The greatest day in American history, the day we were given the truth that set us free: 3,000+ Americans killed by a faction involving part of the US government. THis truth frees us from government by terrorism fear mongering, and more broadly from the nation state paradigm.With the emergence of ethereum and it’s warm reception from the financial world we are now so close to the virtual currency revolution. One of the last and most formidable obstacles will be nation state governments that seek to retain power through their domestic currencies. A battle between crypto enthusiasts and nation state advocates will not be won by violence. Only the truth can set us free.
which faction?
you could use a variety of names: neocons, military industrial complex, “the company”, “the enterprise” (the latter two refer to a group within the CIA that overthrows governments domestic and foreign, and works at the behest of an international banking cartel).but on a holy day like today it is better to be specific, in my opinion. i would say a criminal investigation of 9/11, which has never occurred, could easily begin by charging CIA employees richard blee, george tenet, and philip zelikow with obstruction of justice. zeliklow and blee blocked the investigation into the saudi angle (http://www.huffingtonpost.c… || http://www.newsweek.com/sau… blee thwarted the FBI from domestic investigation. (the blee story is much longer and harder to substantiate with a single link, but you can get some of it here: http://911truth.org/who-is-…
Much as I love conspiracy theories, it’s hard to share them without bringing this kind of image to mind:https://media.giphy.com/med…
i take your gif as an implication i was not clear. if you have questions you’d like to clarify, i’m happy to do so to the best of my ability.
No, conspiracy theorists always have the same MO:- this named person blocked this information about this named person- what was the information topic? babble babble, drop another name or too and talk about tangentially related things- repeatWho are the evil actors, specifically – no middlemen or henchmen?What are their motivations?How did they build such an elaborate and effective cover story?How can 1000’s of investigators miss these issues?
lol, first, if you wish to discuss the topic, which i am always happy to discuss since it is the most important day in american history, we should make sure we agree on some of the very basic facts of what occurred that day. let us limit our scope to the new york part of 9/11 since the other parts make the story far too big.i’ll go first.1. planes, or some objects resembling planes, hit WTC1 and WTC2. 2. WTC 1, WTC2, and WTC 7 all collapsed on 9/11.agree?
Sure, this should be interesting.
okay, so i take it you agree with the first two points laid out in the comment above?if so, can we say that it is your views that hte plane that crashed into WTC1 caused WTC1 to fall, and that hte plane that crashed into WTC2 caused WTC2 to fall? i don’t share that views, but for the sake of discussion and in the interest of operating in a shared reality for as long as possible, i will concede that viewpoint if you hold it.
I am aware you do not hold these views.I have done no specific research.So, I will say that I agree with the commonly held view that this is what happened.
is there a commonly held view? i would suggest there is not. could you summarize the view you agree with that you are defining as commonly held?
Small group of desperate men co-opted by deeply cynical religious / political leaders to execute a vile act on thousands of innocents, by hijacking and flying 2 large commercial airplanes into 2 of the WTC buildings.Buildings failed, collapsed, causing collapse of third building, killing nearly 3000 people with no direct connection to the organizers’ complaints.
how did the third building (WTC 7) collapse? here is footage of the collapse: https://www.youtube.com/wat…9/11 commission report makes no mention of this building’s collapse.over 2,900 architects and engineers, including many from prestigious universities (harvard, yale, etc) and with decades of experience, have signed a petition http://www.ae911truth.org/s… requesting a criminal investigation that specifically explores the possibility that explosives were used to bring down the buildings.the 9/11 commission report makes no mention of the collapse of WTC 7. it does suggest WTC 1 and 2 were brought down by the planes that crashed into them.so, what would you suggest caused WTC 7 to collapse?
No idea what caused WTC 7 to collapse. Impact of 1&2?It seems to me that it is an unprecedented instance.Ejections on WTC1 could be caused by collapse.
so if you are saying you have no idea what caused WTC 7 to collapse, how can you identify the perpetrators of the collapse? i would further suggest that those who do feel comfortable assessing the perpetrators of the collapse, because they have been unwilling or unable to do the research, will miss the chance to see 9/11 as an opportunity.
You are saying that someone rigged 3 major office towers with demolition explosives (pretty substantial undertaking, from my limited understanding), hid the explosives and all traces of access to the spaces where the explosives were place, then built an unprecedented terrorism scenario to camouflage the detonation of the charges, of which a low rise 3rd building was deemed to be important enough to include in the target list, but was not actually impacted for reasons you cannot explain (or, as the video you link suggests, that the planes themselves did not exist or were reinforced in order to create greater impacts – what would the point of that be if you had demolition charges in place), in order to get America to support a war with Iraq?Ok.
you’re getting too far ahead. first, let’s recap that we’ve established that the 9/11 commission report does not address building 7, and that 2900+ architects and engineers have signed a petition requesting a new investigation that explicitly explores the possibility of a controlled demolition of building 7. you’ve also acknowledged you have no thesis about why building 7 collapses.this should be enough to get people to question the official story, and they can dig deeper if they like — all the rebuttals to your presuppositions exist, and we can go through them one by one if you prefer, but it is futile if you enter the conversation unwilling to acknowledge that professional scientists believe a controlled demolition is the most viable hypothesis given the available evidence — and that this in and of itself leaves the supposed government thesis that a group of hijackers with box cutters got past the world’s most advanced air defense system to take down 3 buildings with 2 planes at near free fall speed in a state of lacking evidence.9/11 gives us the gift to question the authoritative narrative and reclaim our power as individuals. it stands for everything that internet decentralization advocates believe in, and thus from this perspective it can be seen as the greatest gift of our lives.
if there is a greater truth to what happened then i would want to know it, and i assume every committed democratic mind would too. perhaps the morning of this anniversary should be given over to remembrance as a mark of respect, but the memory of the lives lost (and not just those in NYC, but the hundreds of thousands and more who died elsewhere over the following years, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere) should then stimulate debate in the afternoon. if i had lost someone i would want to know what really happened. awfully difficult to get to that greater truth though. it would shatter the illusion of modern American life and culture forever. the ‘gagging order’ that is the retort ‘conspiracy theory’ needs itself to be silenced before rational discussion can begin. clearly people conspired to enact 9/11. it’s not even close to being a theoretical possibility. it happened.on days such as this people have an understandable tendency to mix and muddle raw emotion and rational thought, and the governmental networks work hard to encourage this for the 24 hours that the event is rekindled in our minds. they breathe a sigh of relief when 9/12 dawns and we can return to thinking of modern life as they would have us believe it to be.
You earn points here at AVC every time you post…..and then you shit the bed every 9/11, and any equity/respect you’ve garnered til then is completely lost. Sorry Kid, that’s the plain truth!
I am going to defend his free speech right. He should be able to express his views and what he thinks. Nobody should have to walk on eggshells. Further he is not directing what he is saying at any particular person or group.That said I have no issue with the fact that either you or @jlm replied to him the way you did either. That is also your right.
i’m not interested in earning points, especially on a holy day like today. if you wish to share your views on 9/11, i’m happy to discuss them.
.Kid, today is not the day for this. Pack it in.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
today is absolutely the day for this. today is in fact the best day for it. the attitude most people have today is like that of a funeral. really it should be like christmas is for christians, as the mythology is the same: heroes have died for our sin, so that we may be borne again.
.You know I love you, man, but one of life’s lessons is when you shit on yourself, you don’t have to eat it.Today is a day of tragedy. Respect it.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
you find it a day of tragedy, and you find it respectful to be sad about it all day and forget/ignore the truth.obviously, i don’t share that view, and in fact find that view to be the real problem.for those interested in learning more about 9/11 truth, there are too many high quality resources to mention that can be easily found through the internet, though one slightly more obscure one that i belive warrants highlighting is http://www.wtc7evaluation.org/ since it is a research project being conducted by the university of alaska.
There is a time and a place.Part of the issue is the lack of compassion / respect shown for the people who experienced real tragedy that day.The reason the Westboro Baptist Church is so widely loathed has less to do with their religious views and more to do with how they choose to express them – protesting at funerals, etc. showing little regard for the people grieving there.You have the right to celebrate 9/11 instead of grieving it. But like the Westboro Baptists, you are choosing to express your views in a way that minimizes your chances of convincing anyone.
sure, though let’s remember: one can honor 9/11 by remembering the truth, or one can honor 9/11 by forgetting it. people can choose what side they wish to be on, and can ask themselves what disposition is most beneficial when doing so.
You are celebrating the death of nearly 3000 people.You should mix in a little compassion for the innocent and their families.Everybody like a good provocateur; nobody likes an anti-social smartass.The difference is timing and measure.
i would venture to say i have more compassion for hte families of 9/11 than people who are commenting here. i was marching with those family members ten years ago today. how many people here have even talked to a family member?but it is an especially poor choice to be antagonistic on a holy day like today. you may find it a better use of time to remember 9/11 by studying the events of the day, rather than antagonizing. #neverforget, right? 🙂
Wrong holiday. That’s Good Friday. And in spite of the belief that what happened on Good Friday resulted in freedom for many, it is still treated with solemnity. Easter, well, that’s the celebration.9/11 did not have a resulting “Easter.”
it had an “easter” for those who have transformed their lives for the better as a result of 9/11 — for those for whom 9/11 was a catalyst for an awakening. for these people, the death of 3,000 civilians and many others injured is not in vain; it at least enabled personal transformation for the better in those who have awoken. for this, i am grateful, and express my gratitude through celebration on this holy day. i would also venture to say that those who have passed away would rather have their lives celebrated and appreciated for the awakenings they have contributed to, rather than simply being viewed as sadness with no meaning.those interested in remembering 9/11, honoring the fallen, and empowering themselves may wish to sign the bobby mcilvaine 9/11 act, to help ensure such a crime does not occur again, so that our entire world can be stronger and that those who have passed away on that fateful day did not do so without reason. now that would REALLY be worth celebrating! :)link: https://beta.ae911truth.org…
Why argue fictional conspiracies? A small group of rich punks backed by another small group of thugs committed suiside and killed innocent bystanders in the processs. The US has spent more than 7 trilllion in response to 9-11! The total stock market cap of us stocks is 25 trillion. Now Factor in the costs to our freedom that we have yielded. Now add the costs of the blood of our veterans. The real conspiracy is one of ignorance.
sure, in many respects i agree. what i question is the best way to make change. i like 9/11 because it is a focused event that has potential to get people to see just how bad things are. for broad facts like the ones you’ve cited, i feel like people simply shrug and say “oh well.” with 9/11, they are forced to shrug at their own tax dollars being used to kill 3,000 of their own civilians and then tens if not hundreds of thousands abroad. in all honesty, people still probably shrug in ignorance, so i’m not sure there is much of a difference. perhaps i’m simply hoping there is, or that eventually there will be.
Yep, think about it this way. You don’t need to argue the merits of man made global warming to persuade someone to action to do something about that brown smog that sits on top of Los Angeles.
I wonder if you’d be so chirpy if you’d lost your mom or dad or spouse on that day. I doubt very much that Falling Man was thinking about your revolution when he jumped. Did you actually cheer with delight on September 11, 2001? If so, that makes you a ghoul, not a revolutionary.I’d hate to see you come to Red Bank NJ and try saying this stuff in the town center.Revolution is easy to advocate when you’re not in the group that’s going to be killed by it.
.You know that amongst my collection of high school destinations, Red Bank Catholic is in the middle. I was a Casey. I know something about Jersey girls. Tough bunch.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
i’m going to address one specific point of your aggressive comment:I’d hate to see you come to Red Bank NJ and try saying this stuff in the town center.you may have picked the wrong person to say this to. i’ve stood at ground zero, numerous weekends and on 9/11, wearing a 9/11 truth shirt, handing out flyers and chanting. those who know the truth, a group that includes firefighters and family members of 9/11 — the latter were some of the people i was standing besides, and the former were people that specifically walked with us at the 9/11 memorial 10 years ago to the day.but you should consider not making comments that are so personal, especially when you know so little about who you’re talking to. instead, you may find it a better use of your time to honor those who have given their lives by understanding what exactly happened that day.
There are numerous 9/11 widows and widowers and orphans here, and if you said “Happy 9/11” in a crowded restaurant here, I wouldn’t like to be a witness to the outcome. Nothing personal about it. Just some truth.I happen to share a lot of your concerns about the truth behind 9/11 (so take your own advice about knowing very little about the person to whom you’re speaking) — the coverups speak volumes. What I don’t share is the, frankly, childish idea that saying “Happy 9/11” is a good approach to being thought-provoking.Who and what I honor is something you know nothing about. Since when is cruelty a form of honoring anyone or anything? Saying “Happy 9/11” is just being cruel for shock value. You’re not doing anything positive for 9/11 truth by saying it.I’ve been around and woke a lot longer than you. So don’t even try to tell me what a good use of my time is, kiddo.
lol i don’t wish to make these discussions antagonistic, so i will ignore your attacks as they are beneath me. i find saying “happy 9/11” about as offensive as saying “merry christmas.” if someone wants to be sad about it, that’s their prerogative. the day changed my life and made me a better person, and i see it has the potential to do so for others, if they simply are willing to channel their grief in another direction.
I love Kid, but this is a boss comment.
Yup. Will never forget some things that happened that day. The look on the faces of the guys on the Cantor Fitz desk, knowing everyone of their buddies on the other end of the line was gone.
Enjoyed your post today.The most personal one I can remember.
Awful, awful day. We lost banking colleagues.
Cantor was (and is) full of very brave people. Despite everyone lost, they actually traded on September 13th as a prime brokerage.
The city was amazing (people being normal) for about 3 or 4 months after. That feeling slipped away soon though.
I don’t agree.I think the spirit of NYC 9/11 – that feeling – lives on today, and very strongly.It showed itself in a big way during Sandy for example. There was a palpable sense of “we have been through stuff like this before and know how to come together and recover.”That – resiliency – exists I think in any human community of course (HoustonStrong, BostonStrong … it’s all just HumanStrong really)BUT I think NYC has gotten really good at it because of and since 9/11. Even minor things like all the subway delays and the collaborative way folks have been helping each other when stuff breaks down.I also think 9/11 is one of several (many) reasons for the continued downward trend in crime — we just really came together and built some genuine love for each other across traditional lines that divided us.
We may be talking about two different things NYC always has grit but not always warmth.
I think the warmth that was a product of 9/11 survives today.
During one of my early visits to NYC I asked about 5-7 strangers for help while taking the subway from Midtown to the Upper Westside to meet @ShanaC:disqus for coffee. What I recalled afterward was that each had a different accent (including Texan) and how the myth of NYC unfriendliness had been completely dispelled for me.
we just really came together and built some genuine love for each other across traditional lines that divided usI think a large amount of the downward trend in crime can be attributed to the money and moneyed (or educated/upscale) residents that have poured into the city. Where real estate values are high there is safety. So I don’t think the crime that people think of as far as crime drop has anything at all to do with genuine love of fellow man. My thoughts don’t cover all of NYC obviously. Just any place that I have ever been to seems to be inhabited overwhelmingly by people that don’t get you scare. To put it bluntly. It’s also a ratio number as well. A few bad people on a street isn’t particularly alarming if the rest of the people are not scary in any way.I dated a girl who lived in a coop on the UES several years ago. I was amazed to find out that her building was near a housing project. It seemed that that housing project was not the same as the housing projects (crime and so on) that are in some bad areas of Philadelphia that I have been to. I don’t know if this is some conscious plan by NYC housing driven by being adjacent to nicer areas but somehow I think it is. Seat of the pants that is. Seems to make sense.
Yes, of course gentrification has had a huge impact. But this is all a big gordian knot and there is interrelation between what followed after 9/11 in NYC and gentrification. They are interconnected.And yes, it’s now very common to see very high end housing literally next door to public housing. DUMBO/Vinegar Hill in Brooklyn is perhaps the most extreme example of this where in a quite small neighborhood you have very modern looking buildings marketed toward the very wealthy literally sharing a wall or street with public housing, though it’s happening across the city.
Nope. Had a public argument with Richard Florida about that.We can agree or disagree about incarceration. But look at when that inflection point happenedPut more criminals in prison for more time? Less crime.https://www.google.com/imgr…
Don’t know much at all about Florida but he is one of those people who makes money saying shit and writing books. Look at his web site he’s an industry and a well oiled machine. Impressive actually.http://www.creativeclass.co…http://www.creativeclass.co…This does not mean what he says is or is not correct. Just that he is an ‘operator’ and has an agenda that makes me question what he says and how he goes about promoting what he says. And his conclusions.To me (I am slamming away I admit it) he is like the difference between the doctor who is about medicine and the doctor who is about business. He is clearly about business. This doesn’t mean what he says can’t be correct in some way but I usually think a bit more when I see that.I can see how someone like that would irk you since he does seem to be a guy who is operating in an academic bubble.I mean when I see praise like this:”Led by world leading thinkers Roger Martin, Richard Florida”on this:http://martinprosperity.org…It’s always a red flag..Edit: And yes I know about his academic credentials doesn’t change my thoughts.
better question is should things that are crimes be crimes as opposed to misdemeanors with civil penalties and help along the way.
Wishing New Yorkers well on a difficult date. My hometown Nairobi has been hit by similar days. It’s hard to recover from, but we must keep on keeping on. Peace and love.
For me in these many years since, 9/11, I have come to see this day as a day to reflect on all of the personal freedoms and controls on our police and federal agencies that we gave up after 9/11 in the name of protection from terrorists and how little security that deal has gotten us. Today we have less freedom, less democracy, but more hate, more racism, and more devisiveness than we had on that day.“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.” -Shakespeare
.Not meaning to be a provocateur, but could you name a few that impact you personally?I agree wholeheartedly that the NSA was turned loose to run amok and that the FISA Court is insane, but I don’t personally feel any repression of my freedoms (other than the TSA hand massages).Thanks.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
The item that comes to mind is the additional airport security and inconvenience (global entry helps with that). But more importantly the ‘tax’ we all pay as a result of the additional measures in place. All of that costs money. Upside is it provides jobs.This was actually almost the very first thing that came to mind when I saw the buildings being hit back in 2001. I thought ‘shit this changes everything’ and immediately concluded that we were going to be in for an entire host of changes that would cost us dollars and over reactive preventive measure forever. [1] Many quite honestly overboard. Resources are never unlimited.[1] Not a callous statement but the reality of the way people react to events like this.
.TSA Pre-Check cures all of that plus early onset hair loss for men.Been to Israel and seen what real airport security looks like?I especially love watching nuns being frisked and little kids. They have a good handle on little kid terrorists.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I especially love watchingThis is an example of what I would call a really good interview question. You tell the prospective employee about that and see how they react. If they are trusting and naive they will say it’s not a good idea and not needed. Immediately. They won’t even think beyond the obvious and will react emotionally to the concept. Because on the surface seems unnecessary and stupid to them. Good for dates as well. Not to uncover a trusting/naive but to see if they are willing to listen to a reasonable argument on whether it’s an idea or even worth discussing. If not, you are in for a world of pain later on… (More important than shared interests which people think is some kind of ‘gold’ standard of getting along..)In Philly they had a short time where they allowed people to put stickers on their car which essentially said ‘stop me at any time for any reason’. They had to discontinue and repeal it because of the uproar. My dad, even with his background, was one of the people who put the sticker on and thought it was a great idea. But he also didn’t want us to put a menorah or anything religious in our windows or on ourselves (star etc.) even though that was his business (religious goods). No need to invite trouble and pick a fight was his attitude.My families business was buying from Israel as I have mentioned. When there were wars and conflicts business went up because people wanted to support the country in any way they could.
.That is an interesting observation about Israel and wars, conflicts. I have a great Israel, post-Yom Kippur War story, when I had to go there for a “special” mission. This is not the right place to tell the story.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
After Germany my Uncle went to Israel and was in the army there. He used to belittle us on hot days by telling us how brutal it was there when he served. Older folks had that type of abusive thing going on back in the day. Feelings did not matter at all. My Dad, because he could speak english did a stint with the OSS (have pictures of him in US uniform) then came to the US. He was probably the nicest I have to say of any of his peers of survivors. We felt lucky!!! The rest were literally ‘raised by wolves’. You have no idea how people who have been through hard times and lost their parents operate when raising children.Anyway when there were conflicts (the 70’s) he (and my Dad) would shush us (in a not nice way as in STFU kids) so he could hear the news story about what was going on. The goods they imported were made in ‘factories’ and if the factory got bombed there would be no merchandise for the next season. Very tense time.May not be well know that in many synagogues this time of year they raise money and buy Israel bonds to support the country. Plus they hold events where someone who buys a large amount of bonds is honored by the shul. So it’s not all Sheldon Adelson.
> You have no idea how people who have been through hard times and lost their parents operate when raising children.I have some idea: There was the US Great Depression, then WWII, then the Red Scare; much of that affected my parents.> Feelings did not matter at all.Yup, that was one of the common consequences. There have even been books on parenting that recommended, at least for boys,> Feelings did not matter at all.Whatever directly for the boy, that approach is, nearly always will be, dangerous for him because there is no way for him to expect many others to share that view. One result can be difficulty understanding enough about others and/or interacting with them.For parenting, a common remark that the people who are good parents and build good families learned how to do that by having good parents in a good family. One consequence, say, for a country, is the concept of social and psychological capital, i.e., the Great Depression destroyed a lot, much of it not well rebuilt yet.Much of this should go into Girls 101 for Dummies — Boys. E.g., a girl from a family with flaws may well need for her boyfriend to figure out what unfortunate influences she had and what she’s thinking, feeling, worried about, etc. and then provide some conversation, e.g., as in say,Thomas Gordon, Parent Effectiveness Training: The Tested New Way to Raise Responsible Children, New American Library, New York.essentially an amateur version of clinical psychological talk therapy and cases of, call it, leadership.I wish Mom and Dad had explained that to me. Actually somehow Mom knew a LOT.But, more generally, it’s easy enough to see that around the world, over the centuries, there have been a lot of really bad society, family, and parenting situations. How bad, just how bad? So bad that any worse they would just have died.So, we have to expect to see, right a long, a lot of the results of bad families and parenting and even whole societies that have adopted such dysfunction as strong norms.For bad families, Darwin is on the case and slowly cleaning up the worst situations. That is, there is also, call it, social Darwinism, or in families also, survival of the fittest.
Excellent insight. A keeper. Thanks.They can be smart, really, just brilliant, but have emotions totally get in the way. That is, your test is for their emotions and basic ability to think rationally actually to discuss rationally.A little closer to the bottom line is the four item secret scorecard of (1) knowledge (does she readily give you knowledge of herself, her background, what is thinking, feeling, wants, dreams about, aspires to, values; e.g., when I was 14, the girl, 12, I met quickly told me “My sister and I have different fathers”?),(2) caring (does she really care about you, your life, happiness, career, health, relationship, life together, etc.?), (3) respect (does she obviously, clearly, genuinely respect you, e.g., has no contempt, doesn’t want to attempt some destructive competition, e.g., via sabotage?), (4) responsiveness (does she respond to you, willingly, eagerly, genuinely, meaningfully?).Right, all from just a page or two of E. Fromm, The Art of Loving.
Will also give you some insight into their strategic thinking ability.
a lot of it is security theater. I rather skip the security theater and focus on security
Supposedly UBL remarked that the main strategy of AQ was not to defeat the US but to attack it so that its “overboard” responses would bankrupt the US. So, UBL spent a few thousand dollars and killed, what was it, 3000 people, with many fewer per attack since, while our response was to spend trillions and kill more US citizens, nearly all soldiers, than AQ did.Our response has not been “smart”.
I think the loss of the fourth amendment rights was the biggest.How does that affect me?I have to have data centers for every place other than in the U.S. outside of the U.S.As I make my nightly call to Asia and my morning call to Europe, everybody realizes that my phone is being monitored.My Sunday call to Dubai? Damn that thing must be parsed completely.
.Good news – bad news.Good news — nothing has really changed.Bad news — the NSA had been listening to your phone calls for decades. It was only Snowden’s revelation which informed you/us.The NSA and AT&T have been collaborating since forever. Forever.Think about it — you’re a highly regulated industry and the gov’t asks for a favor? You do it?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
On that day, I began envisioning that we would fly naked … sedated and stacked on cookie sheet, and revived upon arrival at our destination.
#NeverForget T.H.O.S.E.: To Heal On September Eleventh…
I think about the people who were too young to remember, or perhaps weren’t yet born, and whether sixteen years later 9/11 has any resonance for them. Is it just another day? I am fearful people will forget, and they should never forget. Of course, I think about all the lives lost too and the pain and suffering experienced by family and friends whose loved ones never came home. They obv can’t forget. I know two women with children who lost a husband. They’ve both moved on in their own ways and have since remarried. I know one family who lost a son and his parents, who were previously healthy, both died within 18 months of 9/11 from the stress of a broken heart. Those families can never forget. I get a sick feeling looking at the inescapable Freedom Tower, as beautiful a building as it is, cause I know it doesn’t belong. On 9/11 I annually wear a 9/11 Memorial t-shirt…and I can tell by the look in people’s eyes when they see it that it does serve as a stark, cold reminder of that day, and that’s a good thing. We can never forget, not just the lives lost, but that everything this country stood for (and still does) was challenged and put under duress. But for far too many, I wonder if 9/11 has become just another day…and that frightens me.
I think the same can be said for Pearl Harbor. Imagine what it would be like in 1957. We need to remember and hear the stories and learn from them.
.I lived on an Army post in 1957. I can assure you they had a remembrance of Pearl Harbor. I can still hear the notes of Taps in my ears.I knew friends of my father who had been there. When you listen to someone like that speak, it never goes away.I knew a Bataan Death March survivor. Whenever he went out to eat, he would steal all the leftover bread and stuff his pockets with it. He was perfectly “normal” except for the bread.[Normal is a term applied to people we don’t know very well. There are no normal people.]When I was a CEO, we had an annual remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day and VJ Day. I used to have a guy make a montage of the horrific attacks and the surrender ceremony on the USS Missouri with MacArthur.We need to know and celebrate our history.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
> [Normal is a term applied to people we don’t know very well. There are no normal people.]A+ and extra credit!!!!!
I did not go to the Freedom Tower until forced to do so as a chaperone for my son’s 8th grade class. It turns 9/11 into history. For my son who was an infant on 9/11, it was literally a lifetime ago. But for me it is too soon to be history. You learn different lessons from experience than you do from history.
If you go to the 9/11 Museum, and you should, it’s most def a sensory overload. Hearing the audio tapes of passengers calling their loved ones from one of the doomed United flights will literally send chills down your spine. I’m still haunted by that day and can play back it’s entirety minute by minute in my head, just like watching a movie. (My 27th floor office had an unobstructed view of the WTC.)
The museum was also part of that trip. I was there chaperoning the 8th grade class of a somewhat elite private school — which was an experience in itself.I definitely need to go back.It’s like people from another generation who know exactly what they were doing when Kennedy or MLK was shot — I vividly remember the moment I heard about the first Tower, and what I felt in the ensuing days, going through the list of everyone I knew who traveled frequently to New York for business, others who had family there, checking off the list, not wanting to come right out and say “I’m just checking to see if you and your loved ones are still alive.”I have never since treated business interactions the same. It became so much more real to me that the other person was exactly that… a person.I thought I was deeply affected and I was — but when I hear stories from those like you who were there… I won’t be so arrogant as to even begin to think I understand what you experienced.
I think it’s hard not to be impacted, regardless of where you lived. It just was a more intense experience living in NYC. The smoke, the acrid smell, seeing people covered head to toe in ash, sign postings of the missing, the funerals, the memorial tributes at every fire house, etc. I wasn’t physically close enough to see really, really bad stuff, other than watch the bldgs fall, but a close friend saw a lot of jumpers, and I am very thankful to be spared those horrific images. One of the reasons I’m happy to be out of NYC (not a big reason, but a reason nonetheless) is to escape safety concerns, where heretofore I never gave such stuff a second thought.
Whether you were near or far from where it happened, that day has changed and affected almost anyone throughout the world, directly or indirectly.That day has changed the course of history, in more bad ways than good, unfortunately.Not only must we remember, but we must also reflect and continue the battle to eradicate this form of radical expression. Terrorism, extremism, fanaticism,- the worse trends facing humanity.
Agree wholeheartedly.Percent of social feeds taken up with this today feels very small.Wonder how many CEOs are taking the leadership to talk about this. To many in the workforce this is not something they have in their memory.
It’s a sad day but also an important day of remembrance. I had a phone call with a Client scheduled for 9 am that very cool, beautiful-weather wise day, and he had called while I was on the line with another Client to let me know there was what he thought was a fire drill in the Twin Towers where he worked. Luckily, he made it out. But apparently he was in shock because he didn’t remember until 3-4 weeks later the flames he saw in back of him as he exited the building.I remember reading all those obits in the Times and looking at all the pictures of those people, especially the young ones, senselessly murdered. Devastating feelings of loss, grief and helplessness.
We like music here. I think the is the best song about the 343 fire fighters who voluntarily went into a situation they knew was horrible. I in no way am diminishing anybody else, but that takes a special person.https://www.youtube.com/wat…
If you like 9/11 songs you might like this song, The Courage of Flight 93. https://youtu.be/3-OzfvEeJtg.
While the causes of disasters are seemingly infinite, for humans the effects that matter, the tears, agony, pains, are many fewer, often really much the same.The best “communication, interpretation” of that “human experience, emotion” I know of is athttps://www.youtube.com/wat…withWagner, Götterdämmerung, Siegfried’s death and Funeral march, Klaus Tennstedt, London Philharmonic.Wagner and Tennstedt get it across, so well got to be well under 32 F = 0 C not to get it. No words needed.Yup, I’m reminded of, well remember, 9/11/2001. For then and a few more times, that music has been the “right stuff”.How Wagner thought of and wrote that music to be so effective I have no idea. Exercise: Try to figure that out.There are, of course, many performances of this famous, striking music. This Tennstedt performance is the best I know of, much better than several others.Wagner came near the end of the progression explained so well in the last lecture of L. Bernstein’s “The Unanswered Question,” Norton Lectures, Harvard, 1973 athttps://www.youtube.com/wat…with the first lecture athttps://www.youtube.com/wat…The first lecture needs a preview of the Fourier theory, the two point boundary value problem of a vibrating string, eigenvalues of linear systems, the role of ratios of small, positive whole numbers, and approximations by small, positive whole number powers of 2^(1/12) he touches on. What he does with the Mozart Haffner symphony is amazing; what Mozart did is much more amazing.The first classical music I heard, totally by chance, and started to understand, somewhere under 16, was his performance of the Beethoven 7th Symphony. Before I got interested in violin, I picked out a little of it on piano — the harmonies are darned interesting. Soon he brought the NY Philharmonic to Memphis, my parents got me a ticket, and I rode the bus to the concert and back. I’ve long believed that Bernstein had some of the best understanding of the point, art, and language of music. His performances are the best evidence. In his Norton lectures, he removes all doubt. I can’t go along with everything in those lectures, but the best parts are some of the best there is for explaining music. He also wrote a book, I read as a teenager, that is similarly good.Now that we again feel the pain of 9/11/2001, we can be inspired and motivated to DO something about it, and for that this morning I already wrote out an answer athttp://themusingsofthebigre…There is more music that can communicate … 9/11/2001. One striking example is theSamuel Barber, Adagio for Strings, opus 11, Conducted by Tadaaki Odaka, NHK Symphony Orchestraas athttps://www.youtube.com/wat…So, this performance is from an orchestra in Japan with a Japanese conductor. For this music they totally get it.But: The most recent common ancestor of (A) that orchestra and conductor and (B) and Samuel Barber and Klaus Tennstedt is, if believe some of the work on female mitochondrial DNA, about 40,000 years ago. So, in this music, the Japanese and Tennstedt are very close. But, easily enough, each of (A) and (B) is closer to the common ancestor 40,000 years ago than they are to each other. So, suddenly we know a LOT about the common ancestor 40,000 years ago — they would have understood this music right away. How ’bout that!How a little Fourier theory can cross over so well to art is amazing although Bernstein does explain.
the most moving/scary piece for me is John Adam’s “On the Transmigration of Souls”https://www.youtube.com/wat…having the names recited with a children’s choir in the background is super-soberinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wi…
A friend of mine lost her husband in one of the towers.
I was in WTC on 9-11. These are my take-awaysI was born in Killeen Texas where my father, a career Army non-commissioned officer, was stationed at Fort Hood. At a few weeks old, my mother drove my 19 month old sister and me from Killeen, TX to Anchorage, Alaska to meet my father who had already deployed. Shortly thereafter, we experienced the Great Alaska Earthquake (9.2) on March 27, 1964. Though I don’t have a memory of the earthquake, my East German mother often says she preferred the war. At least, she says, when bombs drop you are generally safe if you can run to the trees. In an earthquake, there is no escape.The United States has been lucky.I spent 2nd-4th grade in Germany and remember the German airports speckled with armed soldiers and trusty German shepherds. As US military, we were not entirely welcome in our quasi-occupation status. Our elementary school experience was punctuated by intermittent terrorist threats to the bowling alley on base and an occasional pipe-bomb that dismantled the playground sliding board as we slept.As an adult, I continued to enjoy moving, and have lived in Denver, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. I experienced the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Although Marina del Rey landfill feels precariously like jello during an earthquake, my actual damages were limited to a power outage and a broken candlestick — only because I dropped it.September 11, 2001After the first .com bubble burst in 2000, many of us were entrepreneurial refugees seeking work in larger companies. In 2001, I was introduced to Morgan Stanley and pursued an opportunity to work with newer vendor technologies to improve life through automation in the brokerage and capital markets groups.That set in motion the circumstances that caused me to be in the World Trade Center on September 11.When I landed at Laguardia on September 10, I turned on my ringing blue Nokia flip-phone to learn that my interview would begin at 9am instead of 10am the following morning.I was excited for the interview. Working with technology vendors to help modernize the lives of employees and customers in financial services sounded dreamy. But I easily traded the certainty of an on-time arrival to share a second cup of coffee with my sister and her boyfriend (for life). Today, I use this decision to excuse my punctuality failings.Walking to the ⅔ subway on 110th I was struck by the searing blue sky. As I barreled downtown on the subway, I was nervous. By my calculations, I would hit WTC security at about 8:50am.Getting off the subway at the WTCI stepped off the train with a mission to sprint ahead of the crowd to security. With a little luck, I’d slide in the door with minutes to spare.Turning left off of the train, I started my brisk walk to the exit. Gradually I noticed that up ahead, the people were not continuing forward; rather, they had turned and were running in my direction. The wave of people carried everyone toward the exit at the other end of the platform.At this point there was slight but palpable panic. People were gently shoveling themselves into the revolving turnstile two at a time. At least one other train released another batch of commuters onto the platform before I noticed that trains were no longer stopping at the WTC.I was among those who, having made it through the turnstile, was stopped and told to wait as I tried to ascend the stairs. The whisper gossip contained the words “bomb” and “gun fight”. In minutes, a voice called down telling us that we were permitted to exit, and that we should we run through the concourse and out of the building. No explanation was given.On the concourse level, we initially ran as instructed. As we realized that the concourse was mostly empty with only a few clumps of smoke hanging in the air, people slowed to a clipped walking pace. In hindsight, I did not have an awesome grasp of information at this point. I became aware that it was increasingly difficult to concentrate enough to read or remember the names of the stores as I passed them in the concourse.At a distance, I saw one man wearing a light colored suit limping toward the same exit doors that our mob was aiming for. His suit was torn — it is likely that he was standing by the elevator shaft when the first plane hit — and he was bleeding. Despite that visual, I didn’t internalize that he was severely injured. To this day, I’m bothered that I did not try to help him.I was in a crowd of people gathered at the large glass doors facing Church Street watching the wet paper shrapnel rain down, contemplating the next move. My recollection is that we simultaneously pushed the doors open and ran across the plaza. I don’t remember many spoken words or much sound of any kind.Outside, I saw someone help an injured man walk over to some steps to sit down. I think it was the same man from inside, but I’m not sure. I remember thinking that it would be difficult to get an ambulance down here, as seemingly thousands of people started to congregate outside watching WTC 1 burn.Now, the whispers turned to the likelihood that a small plane that hit the first tower. I looked up and noticed that the fire was rapidly burning DOWN. It struck me that I was watching a building with people inside who were, at that moment, dying. This made me choke.I tried to reach my contact at Morgan Stanley to see if there was any better information inside, or a different plan. Idly I thought “maybe I should figure out how to use this camera phone” but the thought was replaced by a piercing sound, like the missile sounds you hear in war movies.Turning left, I saw a flash as the second plane hit. Once again, the stampede of people carried all of us in the same direction as we ran to escape whatever was happening behind us. Now the crowd is experiencing panic together. I’m doing a clumsy parody of running in my three inch heels, and the talk track that’s been tentatively bouncing in my head is surging like an asteroid.I buckled, thinking that running was a laughable move, and that the tower must be close to hitting the back of my head anyway. I wondered whether I should turn to face it. Dark spots were blurring my vision, and I coached myself that a) I needed to find a doorway to faint so I wouldn’t get trampled, but b) if I fainted someone might steal my purse, though c) dead people don’t need purses.Thankfully, a petite woman alongside me asked if she could run with me. Of course! Let’s run to the east river in case the city is on fire and we need to hop a boat! That tiny exchange pulled me out of my spiral and I managed to continue running until I calculated that the building, falling as a tree might fall, would not hit us. My new friend and I parted when we realized that, at least for the time being, we’d each escaped the last dirt nap.At the river, I had to stop for several minutes to figure out which direction was north. I literally stood still on a corner staring at the WTC (both buildings still standing) and conducted what must have looked like an air traffic controller-esque north/south/east/west exercise with my arms. Upon solving that riddle, I — along with thousands of others — begin quietly walking north.My last clever thought was to avoid proximity to the UN and the Empire State Buildings, simultaneously thinking that I’d probably watched too many action movies. The walkers were very quiet. I don’t recall my path, but do remember hearing that the Pentagon had been hit from the blaring TVs in passing bodegas. When the towers fell, I didn’t turn to watch.I repeatedly tried to call my sister with no luck. Finally, it dawned on me to try calling people outside of the city because maybe those lines weren’t as busy. I managed to reach a friend who got word to my sister and we arranged to meet.I walked to midtown before I found an open shoe store to replace my heels. From there, I walked to Central Park to meet my sister and her boyfriend. We went to Carmine’s on Broadway & 91st for lunch. I had a full sugar Coke, and watched the World Trade Center collapse for the first time, on television.The AftermathNew York people were outside and wanted to be together, visiting the candle-lit memorials that cropped up in parks all over the city. Despite the outpouring desire to rescue people, there was a crushing understanding that there very few people were left to save. The shared grief connected people without words.I was able to get word to Morgan Stanley — who were concerned for my safety — that I was OK. Morgan Stanley was the home of Rick Rescorla, the security officer who made the decision to evacuate Morgan Stanley employees after the first tower was hit. Thanks to a man who forged his own decision instead of listening to management, all but 13 Morgan Stanley employees made it out alive. He was not one of them.My sister has multiple sclerosis, a disease that does not react well to extreme stress. One week after 9–11, she had one of the worst MS attacks she’d ever experienced. She’s never regained the physical attainment she enjoyed prior to that day and has never again been able to run.Fear and the futureWe are are, as a country, at the beginning of our experience with terrorism on our soil. We are also in a time of escalating fear and division. I believe that in this unique point in time, we will be defined as a country and as individuals — in our lifetime — less so by history.Fear, visiting both by choice and by circumstance, has long been one of my companions. As an entrepreneur, uncertainty outweighs stability by a moon shot every given day. I now appreciate that the experience of fear is an opportunity to learn how to process it, and that one can become good at fear.When I reflect, I notice that fear isn’t causing me to avoid flying on 9-11. I still live in large cities, and I continue to live in and visit earthquake zones. I have visited predominantly Muslim countries and have no desire to demonize Muslims or to prevent them from seeking refuge in our great country.Instead, I most remember that I did not have the presence to help one injured man as I fled the World Trade Center. I remember that Rick Rescorla from Morgan Stanley — listening to his inner voice — knowingly gave his life to save thousands. Whatever happens next in our country, I won’t make that mistake again.
.Great story. The thing about life is it is better than fiction.Glad you made it.Well told. Well played.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Fred, you should feature this comment
.In this time of tragedy in Florida and on the heels of Houston, it is important to remember how NYC rose to the occasion and showed us what “grace under pressure” really means.NYC made me prouder to be an American. NYC was as tough as a boot. No quit.Salute, NYC. I will hoist one for you tonight. I promise.It is in these moments of unspeakable horror, we reveal what a good and great people and country we are. The first responders who did open combat with terror inspired us.God bless NYC and America.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Never forget, it’s the first responders who were the heroes of this day.
.Agreeing more with you than you do with yourself.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
most* everyone else – is and was – simply a spectator. And just 16 years later, it has become politically acceptable to march in the streets against these same first responders.
.Depends on one’s politics. It is not “politically acceptable” amongst most Americans.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be in NYC or to be directly impacted by this. I saw it on TV and heard about it via an email list. I pulled out a TV that I had at the office (back from the OJ trial days) and watched as the 2nd tower was hit (iirc was all a blur that day).Found out later that an employee at my first business’s brother in law was the co-pilot of the plane that hit one of the towers. And that the town that I lived in at the time apparently had either the largest or a very large amount of 911 victims because they commuted to NYC.The pilot of one of the planes lived there. I remember seeing his wife at the Starbucks that I frequented. None of this matters at all obviously. Small town in PA.One thought I did have was how much terrorists have learned and how they now go about things. Back then they didn’t even take the time to setup cameras and videos (despite other massive prep for the event) to record it so there would be compelling visuals. Later of course video became very integral to what they do. Those videos of the heads being chopped was used very effectively to achieve their goals. Thxere is no doubt they learned and recognized their ‘mistake’ (sorry to call it that and talk about it in this way).
Maybe because I remember it so distinctly, maybe because I was a teen in school with people whose parents worked in the Twin Towers, maybe because time has passed and memory has faded for much of the US, but I’m really angry about how terrorism is perceived here post-9/11.
How is terrorism perceived?
Ever since my daughter took a WWII course in high school and was assigned to thank any veteran she encountered, inspired by her example, I have often done the same. (My daughter still does this years later.)Recently, I conducted a reference interview for a job candidate who had been in a fairly high level civilian role with the DOD and the person I spoke with as his reference was a counterpart on the Armed Forces side, a now retired U.S. Army Major. At the end of the call, I thanked him for the reference as well as for his service. As is typical when thanking these soldier’s, his response was understated yet gracious, and a bit surprised.Because this man was not on LinkedIn (as is typical for other DOD contacts I’ve made), I googled him and realized that I had been on the phone with a hero. He was at the Pentagon on 9/11 and acted with bravery and sharp instincts:http://archive.boston.com/n…So many humble heroes in our midst.
I lived on Broome Street in Soho then and spent the days when I could get back into town in Union Square talking in large circles with people from everywhere.Funny–packing for a trip and I usually tie the American flag bandana that I got in Union Square then onto the handle of my suitcase when I fly.Just did a moment ago.
Can’t imagine it.
.When I was 19, I rode Rincon in January on a 14′ Hobie. I used to surf a bit.Rincon made jumping out of airplanes some tame shit.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
For me it was the sudden quiet of airplanes, and then the sudden sound of very powerful jet planes mid-late that evening.I grew up right near JFK. My school and house is on lots of flight paths – and there were a pair of f-15s forcing airplanes to ground that day. By 6-7 pm, I think they made a final approach towards JFK tower before going back to Otis Airforce base, and one passed over my house. Military jets sound really different than Boeing 767s, especially when you haven’t heard a Boeing 767 in what seemed like a really long time.
And yet my daughter insists on surfing it.