It's almost been a year .......so what's changed ?

[Dan O]

The world changed after September 11th 2001 .

 

So what's changed in your life since September 12th until now ?

 

 

 

 

curios ............

[Slowly]

There hasn`t been any significant changes in my life, except when I see people off at the airport, I can`t go to the terminal with them. It`s funny that we are a country at war and thankfully, I can`t see any evidence of it. Kcbass

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

Not much has changed, I'm still the evil infidel I always was

 

It made me look closer at some of the problems in the world, ones that seem to have no easy solutions. I would have loved to just gone through life with my head in the sand and not a care in the world. The world is a complicated somewhat out of control place, and I've had to come to grips with that.

 

I'm very pleased that we haven't had any more terrorism. We did have that plane go down in Queens last November....I don't care what anyone says, that was a terrorist bomb that made that plane go dowm. Engines don't just fall off planes Maybe the al-Quaida shot their whole load last fall and that's all they had. Let's hope so.

[coyote]

Lessee....

 

there's an enormous hole in the ground two blocks from my office where a year ago some very tall buildings full of people stood. A bunch of people I know have had trauma directly related to the event.

 

I can no longer move around without producing some ID tag or other. My government has used the event as a pretext for all sorts of intrusive regulation, and is about to use it as a springboard for an unprovoked attack upon a sovereign nation.

 

Aside from those minor details, not much has changed.

[sbrock1san.rr.com]

Originally posted by coyote:

[QB]I can no longer move around without producing some ID tag or other. QB]

Boo-hoo

[jackpine]

What coyote said

 

jim

[realtrance]

Lost my job (recently), lost almost all hope, -- got an A6, though. That's a good thing. It'll be the _last_ thing I sell, after the family.

 

rt

[Dan O]

I would say that over the last year , I have been more involved with music . I have been working on a CD and started performing a solo act .

 

Hey , I even put a song on the Keyboard COVER CD !

Met a few musicplayer junkies .

 

*************************

 

My daughter went to 5th grade and my son is now in 3rd . Amazing to see kids grow . It truely is amazing to see a picture of a child at 1 ,3 ,5 and 8yrs old . God's gift .

 

I do remember pulling my kids out of school on Sept 11th .

 

that's it for now ........dano

[Blues Disciple]

My faith in God has grown immeasurably.

 

Prayer is now a daily part of my life.

 

I have made conscious efforts to rid my life of a few long-term sinful behaviors.

 

I have even preached at several services on Sunday mornings

 

My understanding, tolerance and acceptance of people from other religions and backgrounds has increased.

 

I play music on a solo basis and in my church's Praise Band

 

I began writing songs again.

 

I hug my wife and children more.

 

I am more aware of my surroundings.

 

I have a goal to live out my dreams that I have put on the sideline for too long.

 

I have an increased desire to help others and make a greater difference in this world.

 

It has been a big year for me all in all.

 

BD

[lightnin digits]

...Unfortunately-I've seen and heard of willingness to trade "security" for freedom.

I'd rather fight. I'd rather give my life-like those on Flight 93 than give up one iota of freedom to those cowardly bastards who attacked us.

Profiling-fine! Border restrictions-fine! Go to war-fine! Be a sitting duck-NO MORE!

How has my life changed? No more than I let it.

[Raymar]

At first I was in shock and didn't know why we were attacked but since then I've read up on some of the horrible attrocities we've commited in the past decades and now I have a better understanding of why we're hated and why we really went into Afghanistan as well as why Bush wants to get Saddam.

 

Steve

[Dave Pierce]

Hmmm. On September 11, 2001, I had not played music in a group in front of people in over 10 years. Perhaps 11. I'm now playing again, have been since January.

 

Now, before posted this reply I had not co-related these two events. But I did start, like so many, rethinking what was important to me on September 11, and I'm now wondering if that thought process didn't contribute to getting back into music. Hmmmmmm.......

 

Incidentally, September 11 is my wife's birthday. Sort of ruined that celebration.

 

I am somewhat disgusted with the jackbooted element in our government's efforts to turn this into a good excuse for making people wear yellow stars or some such. And the behavior of the bumbling burueacrats at our airports is just pathetic. As if anyone could ever again successfully subdue 100+ able-bodied passengers with the threat of hand-to-hand violence. Preposterous! And yet we are expected to blithely hand over our 3/4 inch keychain pocket knives, and feel ashamed for daring to carry them.

 

Ah, pfui. I'll stop now, before I get worked up over it.

 

--Dave

[Postman]

Nothing, really.

 

I still think the Palestinians are being abused by the Israelis.

 

I still think Israel has a right to exist.

 

I still think the Muslims are reasonable, peace-loving people.

 

I still think that a very, very small minority of Muslims are homicidal maniacs.

 

I still think that those people are extremely dangerous and should be killed as soon as possible.

 

I still think that America wields a power to destroy and kill (on all scales) that is unequalled in history and we're at our worst when we use it.

 

I still think that of all the world superpowers in history, America has treated its neighbors the best and we're at our best when we do so.

 

I still think Americans have an unparalleled power to forgive and forget, and that it's one of our strongest traits.

 

I still think we have a knucklehead for a president.

 

And I still love football!

[Botch.]

Originally posted by SteveRB:

We did have that plane go down in Queens last November....I don't care what anyone says, that was a terrorist bomb that made that plane go dowm. Engines don't just fall off planes

Actually, engines fall off planes quite often, its one of the more common aircraft structural failures.

Back when I was an Air Force lieutenant I got to inspect some Boeing 707's that the Air Force had just purchased from the airlines; I was amazed to learn that each engine is held on with just three bolts!! They were made of titanium and just over 1" in diameter, that was pretty scary (I don't know if more modern airliners are made this way).

[realtrance]

Okay.... I'm never moving to Georgia (cf. thread on really big spiders in Anderton's section)... and I'm never getting on a plane again.

 

I kinda suspected things were held together with duct tape and baling wire... now I know!

 

Actually, it's a real miracle anything as complex, large, heavy and gas-guzzling as a commercial jet can even get off the ground and land again safely, much less have that happen over and over again, every day, day in and day out, across cities all across the world. There. I feel better now.

 

I keep hoping we'll have a month where _ALL_ machines that consume gasoline come to a complete halt. Ahhh.... the beautiful silence of it! Imagine a world without the constant noise of cars, trucks, airplanes, trains. Yes... I should probably move to Idaho.

 

But then there'd be fan noise.

 

Oh well.

 

rt

[BP3]

I'll be in Kitty Hawk on the 11th writing music at a beach house. No TV 9-11 marathons for me!

 

If there is proof that Iraq was involved in 9/11/2001, then we are justified in removing the present regime. If jr. is going into Iraq to prove he's a better prez than daddy, then we have the makings of more terrorism on our shores as retaliation.

[Dan O]

Originally posted by TinderArts:

I'll be in Kitty Hawk on the 11th writing music at a beach house. No TV 9-11 marathons for me!

 

If there is proof that Iraq was involved in 9/11/2001, then we are justified in removing the present regime. If jr. is going into Iraq to prove he's a better prez than daddy, then we have the makings of more terrorism on our shores as retaliation.

Bill, you have a way with words ! Jr. cracks me up !

 

I think Jr. is sucking at the moment . dano

[RABid]

I will be there in two weeks for a conference one block away from ground zero. I have no desire to go sight seeing at a disaster site, though I am sure I will end up there because the rest of my group will want to go. Anyway, as for what has changed.

 

When ever I meet someone from the Middle East my first thought is Do you hate me just because I am American without even knowing me?

 

It saddens me to see how much the Arab coalition is manipulating the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. As long as they can keep funding suicide bombers and sabotaging the peace talks they can divert the worlds eyes from their own atrocities. They are the only winner in this conflict so for them it is money and time well spent.

 

It saddens me to see some leaders in New York using the tragedy to beg major events to relocate to that city.

 

We have a psychiatrist working for us who is an Arab that converted to Christianity. His father considers him dead. He cannot take his family back to his homeland because Arab Christians there have a tendency to turn up dead and those in charge dont see that as a problem.

 

We now have to closely monitor how our psychiatric staff is treated. Many are from the Middle East and Far East. It is not easy to find psychiatrists to work in a rural area. Those we have are easy targets and too many idiots dont know the difference between someone from Egypt and someone from India.

 

Maybe the worst is some of the rumors that were rampant after the tragedy. A foreign doctor gets a threatening call and informs the police. The police come out in the middle of the night to secure the doctors home. Neighbors see the police at the doctors house in the middle of the night and start telling people that doctor was arrested. For about a month people were swearing that certain doctors were arrested for funding terrorism. Whenever they tell me something now I just want to say Remember those stupid rumors you were spreading last year? Why should I believe anything you say?

 

Robert

[realtrance]

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

 

I think that is the final, comprehensive upshot of 9/11. It was simmering in the background in the rest of the world before then, came to a boil during last year's Kyoto summit, and was cooked when the tragedy happened (a little tragedy, really, in the larger scheme of things; much more devastating tragedies have happened before and since, all across the world).

 

Now, the world over, the refrain, especially towards those who would claim to be in power, is:

 

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

 

rt

[Mark Zeger]

I find that strangers at the airport ask me to unbuckle my belt and take off my shoes more often than a year ago.

[Felix_dup1]

Originally posted by mzeger:

I find that strangers at the airport ask me to unbuckle my belt and take off my shoes more often than a year ago.

A year ago, that would have sounded like a much more desirable thing.

[Synthguy]

I'm doing music too, and it's not half bad. Along with that, I've been praying a little more for the world, that people get some sense and use their noodles more, think independently, get rowdy when they find they're being used by their spiritual leaders and demand the truth. There's so much bad information and lack of thought in the world, and the people really do suffer horribly when their leaders make bad decisions. We get so bent out of shape over some of the things that happen in our lives and government here, and truly America needs a good overhaul in every area, but with power blocks dominating and a media virtually controlled by one party and philosophy I'm not holding my breath for any intelligent changes. However our "disasters" are so much smaller than those in the rest of the world. Israel suffers devastating attacks almost every day, and it's really too bad it takes a cataclysm at home like 9-11 to wake us up to the threats people are facing there, in Africa, the Philipines, Indonesia, India and just about everywhere. I do wonder if we'll ever wake up tho. No one seems to want to pay attention to the problems that Rabid and others discover about those other people, and that really puzzles me. Just listening to people here justify the stupidity and utter evil in the Islamic jihad is appaling. Something as simple as realizing that all Islam has to do is condemn it, declare those who wage war against America, Israel, the Philipines, Indonesia, Sudanese or wherever is now heretical, and they're bound for hell. That would be so simple, it would be consistent with the Qur'an (not the later writings of course) and it would force everyone back to talking about their problems. And letting people of other faiths live their own lives. The rest of the world dropped that stupidity for the most part. Even India, with the odd concepts in their writings in which war was just another aspect of life to be celebrated and necessary to further the work of karma, they've grown out of most of that and are trying to enter the new millenium with the rest of us. It's about time the Islamic world dropped their Dark Ages mindset and grew up too. Letting Jews go to their own Temple Mount shouldn't be too much to ask. Unless those Palestinians in control are nothing but thugs and bigots.

 

So anyway, mostly I pray for brain power for the human race, and proper leaders. Praying for peace is pretty useless if you don't start with the head, because it's the head that works the trigger finger.

[member 30687]

At risk of offending anyone (& I really do not wish to do so), I will share these thoughts.

 

The cliche is that the more things change the more they stay the same &, sadly, this seems to be true.

All the problems, large & small, are still with us. In fact because of rhetoric & desire for revenge they may be worse.

 

Except to the degree that we each change ourselves or act in some way to improve the world near us (& I think this can only really be done by kindness---we should not tolerate wrongness but we must be sure that, in responding to that which we feel is wrong, we do not become like what we despise...), I wonder if we can "change the world".

 

And there is some much distraction, both in media & just in living, that it is difficult to suddenly be & remain true to our "new" selves...unless of course, we were touched directly, in which it is really no different than any previous tragedy...and this world has always been subject to those.

 

Originally posted by Rabid:

It saddens me to see some leaders in New York using the tragedy to “beg” major events to relocate to that city.

There will, unfortunately be a certain level of "commerciality" attached to the anniversary of this date (Sept 11).

Just this morning our former mayor (RG) was on television outlining the idea that, while some think the area of the Towers is "too valuable" to become just a memorial, that a memorial itself would be a commercial use of the area...

 

Myself, I do not think it is good to remain in thrall to that which we mourn, though we cannot escape that personally.

It is both sad & a relief that "all things must pass away".

 

I must also comment that...

 

Originally posted by synthguy:

...all Islam has to do is condemn it [violence]...

...Islam is no more a unified, monolithic organization under anyone's or group's control than Christianity or any other religion.

[coyote]

OK, we need to get clear on some things.

 

It's not the Jew's *own* Temple Mount. Not unless it is controlled in this moment by a Jewish faction of some sort.

 

Historically, that few hundred square meters of land is important to Jews, Christians, AND Muslims. Denying it to anyone is idiotic IMO. Yet the Jews would deny it to all others. The Muslims would deny it to all others. The Christians attempted that 500 years ago too. Karl Marx was wrong about many things, but not on this: "Religion is the opiate of the masses". To me, anything that increases one's enjoyment of life and one's ability to cope is beneficial - until it gets in the way of others doing the same. So are you Jewish? Christian? Muslim? Does your belief system work in your life? All the more power to you. But the organizations around those belief systems have throughout history committed the most heinous crimes - all in the name of God! Perhaps we'd all be better off if the Temple Mount and its companion Dome of the Rock were just finally obliterated..... nah, then all the idiots would just rebuild the damned things to fight over again.

 

Originally posted by synthguy:

I'm doing music too, and it's not half bad. Along with that, I've been praying a little more for the world, that people get some sense and use their noodles more, think independently, get rowdy when they find they're being used by their spiritual leaders and demand the truth. There's so much bad information and lack of thought in the world, and the people really do suffer horribly when their leaders make bad decisions. We get so bent out of shape over some of the things that happen in our lives and government here, and truly America needs a good overhaul in every area, but with power blocks dominating and a media virtually controlled by one party and philosophy I'm not holding my breath for any intelligent changes. However our "disasters" are so much smaller than those in the rest of the world. Israel suffers devastating attacks almost every day, and it's really too bad it takes a cataclysm at home like 9-11 to wake us up to the threats people are facing there, in Africa, the Philipines, Indonesia, India and just about everywhere. I do wonder if we'll ever wake up tho. No one seems to want to pay attention to the problems that Rabid and others discover about those other people, and that really puzzles me. Just listening to people here justify the stupidity and utter evil in the Islamic jihad is appaling. Something as simple as realizing that all Islam has to do is condemn it, declare those who wage war against America, Israel, the Philipines, Indonesia, Sudanese or wherever is now heretical, and they're bound for hell. That would be so simple, it would be consistent with the Qur'an (not the later writings of course) and it would force everyone back to talking about their problems. And letting people of other faiths live their own lives. The rest of the world dropped that stupidity for the most part. Even India, with the odd concepts in their writings in which war was just another aspect of life to be celebrated and necessary to further the work of karma, they've grown out of most of that and are trying to enter the new millenium with the rest of us. It's about time the Islamic world dropped their Dark Ages mindset and grew up too. Letting Jews go to their own Temple Mount shouldn't be too much to ask. Unless those Palestinians in control are nothing but thugs and bigots.

 

So anyway, mostly I pray for brain power for the human race, and proper leaders. Praying for peace is pretty useless if you don't start with the head, because it's the head that works the trigger finger.

[Dan South]

Originally posted by dano:

So what's changed in your life since September 12th until now ?

I find myself pursuing goals with more intensity and determination than ever before.

 

I've started running races again after a ten year hiatus; the break was originally precipitated by health problems.

 

I've always enjoyed the time that I've spent with family, but it seems more valuable now than it ever has in the past.

 

I fly frequently and have no lingering concerns - driving a car is far more dangerous, IMO.

 

I bought a really nice camera and use it as often as I can.

 

I've decided to travel more often, even if it's only weekend trips.

 

I give thanks for every day that I get to spend among the living.

 

One more thing I'd like to add - I'm very proud of my fellow Americans. I was concerned that a mob mentality might take over the country, but by and large, people have been surprisingly tolerant. With the exception of a handful of pundits who spew vitriol in the name of self-aggrandizement, the American public has come to grips with the fact that this tragedy was caused by a small contingent of madmen, not the citizen of any nation, the practitioners of a religion or the members of an enthnic subdivision. That genuinely reinforces my pride in being an American. I just hope that my government will not do anything that makes me LESS proud. The liberation of Afghanistan was a good thing, and I'm very proud of our armed forces be being able to pull it off. Let's just not do anything foolish.

[Mark Zeger]

Originally posted by coyote:

OK, we need to get clear on some things.

 

It's not the Jew's *own* Temple Mount. Not unless it is controlled in this moment by a Jewish faction of some sort.

 

Historically, that few hundred square meters of land is important to Jews, Christians, AND Muslims. Denying it to anyone is idiotic IMO. Yet the Jews would deny it to all others. The Muslims would deny it to all others. The Christians attempted that 500 years ago too. Karl Marx was wrong about many things, but not on this: "Religion is the opiate of the masses". To me, anything that increases one's enjoyment of life and one's ability to cope is beneficial - until it gets in the way of others doing the same. So are you Jewish? Christian? Muslim? Does your belief system work in your life? All the more power to you. But the organizations around those belief systems have throughout history committed the most heinous crimes - all in the name of God! Perhaps we'd all be better off if the Temple Mount and its companion Dome of the Rock were just finally obliterated..... nah, then all the idiots would just rebuild the damned things to fight over again.

OK, we need to get clear on some things:

 

Jerusalem was founded 3,000 years ago by King David, as the capital of Israel.

 

Mohammed was never in Jerusalem in his lifetime.

 

Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Torah, and not once in the Koran. Jews pray facing Jerusalem, wherever they are in the world. Moslems at the mosque in Jerusalem pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

 

For over 3,000 years, Jerusalem has always been the Jewish capital, but never once the capital of an Arab or Muslim entity.

 

In the 20 years that Jordan occupied Jerusalem (1948-1967), they never sought to make it their capital, nor did Palestinians demand it as theirs.

[realtrance]

You see, that's the problem right there: here we are, squabbling even in this forum over a few hundred yards of land the only value of which is, at best, symbolic (and for symbolic artifacts, give me a good poem over any piece of land.. any day!!); meanwhile, we're having The Great Last Mammalian Planet Earth Cook-Off, with the cockroaches waiting in the wings, enjoying the extra heat, praying to their little cockroach gods that we will soon disappear from THEIR planet.

 

Their prayers may be answered.

 

rt

[coyote]

WOW.

 

This is exactly the sort of selfish nonsense that makes all these religions so dangerous.

 

The point of my post was that Jerusalem is very important to the three major Western religions. Your obvious unwillingness to acknowledge that fact, and the clear refusal to share which stems from that selfishness, says it all.

 

BTW, for 20,000 years the city of Rochester was part of the home of Native Americans. What will you do when they come to reclaim their homeland, their territory? What's that I hear you thinking?... "If they come to take MY home based on some historical claim, I will fight"???

 

Originally posted by mzeger:

OK, we need to get clear on some things:

 

Jerusalem was founded 3,000 years ago by King David, as the capital of Israel.

 

Mohammed was never in Jerusalem in his lifetime.

 

Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Torah, and not once in the Koran. Jews pray facing Jerusalem, wherever they are in the world. Moslems at the mosque in Jerusalem pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

 

For over 3,000 years, Jerusalem has always been the Jewish capital, but never once the capital of an Arab or Muslim entity.

 

In the 20 years that Jordan occupied Jerusalem (1948-1967), they never sought to make it their capital, nor did Palestinians demand it as theirs.

[BP3]

Originally posted by felix:

Originally posted by mzeger:

I find that strangers at the airport ask me to unbuckle my belt and take off my shoes more often than a year ago.

A year ago, that would have sounded like a much more desirable thing.

I tend to wear sandals when I fly. I've never been stopped by security about my shoes. Maybe winter will change this.

[Dan South]

Perhaps we can try to keep this thread focused on the original topic. Perhaps we should do that in honor of the people who lost their lives on the day in question, people from seventy different countries, people who represented all of the world's major religions.