Thursday, September 11, 2008

Good Mourning! Happy September 11th!

What else are you supposed to say today? Its a day we are supposed to remember, granted. Its one I know I could never forget. On my calendar there is some tiny black text that says "Patriot Day."

Patriot Day.

We don't get the day off and there isn't a moment of silence. Just that text right there.

Who are these patriots? The people that died? The people that fought back on the American Airlines flight? Or all our soldiers that have died since?

Or could these calendars be manufactured by Al-Qaida as some big joke. Where by "Patriots" they mean the terrorists themselves.

I think today is a day to mourn.
  • Mourn the loss of security the U.S. felt before then.
  • Mourn the loss of what little faith Americans had left in their government.
  • Mourn the loss of safety U.S. citizens felt when traveling to other countries.
  • Mourn the loss of rights pride real Muslims felt because of the terrorist's actions.
  • Mourn the loss of self-respect after so many movies and books set out to make money off the event.
But most of all...
  • Mourn the loss of the better world our children would have had.

6 comments:

Iris said...

You were up late thinking about this one. Hope you had good night's rest. This would have depressed me before bed.

HektikLyfe said...

Secret: I actually wrote it yesterday. I have a pretty healthy compilation of blogs that are already written and saved as drafts. Right before I went to bed, I published it since it was already the eleventh.

Anonymous said...

My opinion:
Although there is no argument that 9-11 was a travesty the silver lining in that BLACK cloud was that it brought Americans together. A renewed sense of pride in being a part of this country emerged... flags were flown, the colors were shown, the songs like God Bless America were sung.. all descriptions of patriotism

HektikLyfe said...

Is patriotism a good thing? Does it accomplish anything or does it only cause animosity towards other countries? This same spurt of patriotism could be blamed as the primary reason for the current public distaste for all immigrants.

I don't really see the way the two are related. I was having a discussion with my wife over this exact topic over breakfast this morning.

When I hear of travesty, I don't think, "U.S.A." I hear of death and destruction and I think, "Families."

When they attacked, my thoughts were: "Well, I know we have a terrible foreign policy and I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner." My feelings towards countries and governments is pretty cold.

But for the people, the individuals that died and the families they left behind, I felt terrible.

Pity and patriotism don't go hand in hand. So when the president quotes statements reportedly made by the brave people that fought back on Flight 93, I feel it is a political raping of their good nature.

www.stepherz.com said...

OMG, you hit the nail on the head! SOOO well said! My thoughts exactly. I think the media has tried to shape the way we see things. It's so unfortunate. I talked to my Grandmother on 9/11. She is a staunch republican. She went on and on about "terrorist this, terrorist that." It made me uncomfortable. I think that is because I know the US has some responsibility for the reactions/oppression/anger of others. What gets my goat most of all is that our children... their children... are going to pay for the decisions we make today...

And maybe I should just stick to fashion writing-- it's easy and mindless.

Great blog you got here!

HektikLyfe said...

Thank you for your compliment. I really appreciate it! :) Sometimes it takes only a little acknowledgment to make your day.

As you can tell by my spastic blog here I don't believe in sticking to one genre. Many things interest me and this is reflected by my blog here. I believe we are all complex, multifaceted creatures and we should show it in our willingness to discuss it all, even the mundane.