September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows

[dutchdemocrat]

Statement on the Second Anniversary of 9/11
Two years ago today our loved ones were tragically murdered in an act of terror that shook the United States and the world. In the time since their deaths, as we continue our personal paths of grieving, we are comforted by the thoughtful and compassionate response of people all over the world who have offered sympathy and support to the victims of these terrible attacks. But much about the US government’s approach to responding to our loved ones’ deaths stands in stark contrast to the common sense words and comforting actions of ordinary people. On this two-year anniversary, we stop to reflect on the dangerous course of current policies and to call for a new approach to 9/11 that is focused on bringing about true security and justice.

Our loved ones' deaths prompted the US government to attack Afghanistan and overthrow the repressive Taliban government with the objective of catching Osama Bin Laden and other members of Al Queda thought to be responsible for the attack. While military efforts to overthrow the Taliban were initially successful, Bin Laden is still unaccounted for, and recent reports indicate that the Taliban and Al Queda are resurging in Afghanistan even as the central government pleads for more funds for stabilization and rebuilding. Our military campaign in Afghanistan did one thing for certain: it created more bereaved families just like ours. Ordinary Afghans were killed by US bombs, injured by cluster bombs, and displaced by fighting, adding to the suffering of 23 previous years of wars. On our travels to Afghanistan we have met some of these families and hold them in our hearts today as another set of victims created by the tragedy of 9/11.

Shortly after 9/11/01, the US congress passed the USA Patriot act, ostensibly to improve security in the United States, with little time for examination of its consequences. In this climate of fear and panic, the Patriot Act and other measures have eroded basic American civil liberties and threatened our immigrant populations in particular. Today, unnamed people languish in unidentified locations on unknown charges under the guise of American justice. Yet there is no evidence that these measures have made us any safer. At the same time, the administration stalls on efforts to provide an open and honest investigation of the events of 9/11.

SNIP

http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/voices/voices.php?id=P211

[dutchdemocrat]

1. Personal Statement, 9-11-03

Personal Statement, 9-11-03
On September 11, 2001 I sat in front of my television witnessing the annihilation of the youngest of my five children. Joshua was to have been married on September 15th. As I watched the smoke pouring out of the Trade Center’s North Tower I screamed hysterically, “Run Joshua!” but I knew he was gone. Not a day goes by when I do not think of him and the horrific act that took him from me.

As the second anniversary approaches I cannot help but to think of the past 24 months. The first year went by in a state of numbness. This the second year has actually been more difficult. I suppose the reality and enormity of it all has set in. Now that the dust has literally settled I need to look closely at where we are at this point in time.

Two weeks after 9/11 I delivered the eulogy at Joshua’s memorial service. I made it clear that war is not the answer as killing and hatred only breeds more killing and hatred. In order for this world to survive we must begin to eradicate this antipathy through education. Two years later, under the guise of wiping out terrorism, America (against world opinion) went to “war,” with first Afghanistan. and then Iraq. Perhaps there is something very wrong with my thought process. but I do not understand. nor do I see what we accomplished that could be considered positive. Bombs or rockets or whatever it is that was used during these actions fell from the sky onto the homes and heads of thousands of people, most of whom were clearly not terrorists. What makes this any different than an airplane flying into the World Trade Center? Because these people were citizens of Afghanistan or Iraq, were they less innocent than my son, or any other American, who perished on September11th? Is their pain and need diminished simply because they are different from us? “Do they not bleed when they are pricked?”

SNIP

http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/voices/voices.php?id=P212

[dutchdemocrat]

2. September 11, a Day of National Self-Examination

September 11, a Day of National Self-Examination

We were asked on the days leading up to the 2nd year since THE 9/11, how we were feeling two years later.

We would have to say that many things changed after 9/11 and still continue after two years. Not a day goes by that we don't miss our son - he was a large part of our lives - and he still is.

So the obvious and sad changes are still there, but 9/11 also forced us to ask WHY this happened. And as a consequence of that, we have become very observant of what our country is doing in the world and I, for one, am almost consumed with the deep questions/problems in the Middle East and by thoughts of how to make life better for those that are oppressed by the thoughtless brutality that goes on in their everyday lives. The idea of a "war for the hearts and minds of those that might seek to do us harm" seemed to be just about right in 2001. Unfortunately, our actions did not follow our words.

Thus we feel terribly frustrated by the direction in which our foreign policy is going. Our arrogance and simplistic, shallow approach to terrorism plays right into the hands of those that depend on hatred to push for their objectives.

With respect to the day, itself, we wish that September the 11th could be turned into a constructive, serious day of national self-examination.

Those of us that lost loved ones don't need to be reminded of the horrors of that day.

SNIP

http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/voices/voices.php?id=P208

[dutchdemocrat]

5. Working for Bridges of Understanding

Working for Bridges of Understanding

My son-in-law, Ted Hennessy, Jr. of Belmont, Massachusetts, was killed when American Airlines flight 11 hit the World Trade Towers. He was thirty-five years old and the father of two small children, ages four and seven. That anyone could have perpetrated such a foul and cowardly deed was, at the time, beyond my comprehension. As I learned more about the matter, I realized that our own government, and commercial interests that supported our government, had precipitated this attack as much as the vicious mentalities of the attackers.

I have since devoted every waking hour to building bridges of understanding between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities in the United States through Peaceful Tomorrows and The Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, which I helped form a year ago.

Our country was built on a foundation of religious tolerance, and many have come to America to escape religious persecution. Unfortunately, after arriving here, many have forgotten their forebears' reason for coming and have preached the same kind of religious bigotry that drove their ancestors to our shores.

We must remember that the enemy does not live half-way around the globe, but in our own hearts, and that only with love of our fellow man will the hatreds of the world be ended once and for all.

Wright Salisbury
Father-in-law of Ted Hennessey
Lexington, Massachusetts


Sep 09, 2003

[dutchdemocrat]

6. The Everyday, Small, Good Things in Life

The Everyday, Small, Good Things in Life

I have been thinking a great deal about what it is I should or could be doing to help change this world into a more peaceful and peace loving place. For weeks now, I have been unable/unwilling to even listen to the news...a defense mechanism for which I am not proud. (Bob would be paying acute attention, I know!) Every single time I have turned on the news, within minutes and often seconds, September 11th is mentioned, and whatever is being discussed turns on the events and repercussions of that moment in history. Sometimes I just can't listen. Reports of the UN bombing left me numb...again. I have never understood such hatred. There already is so much pain in the world that it seems inconceivable to me that people would choose to inflict more.

Bob and I used to have many discussions around all this. When I expressed dismay at man's inhumanity to man, he would ask me why I was surprised. He had the ability to look it straight in the eye and see it for what it was. He said to me, as we stood watching a protest demonstration in Chiapas in January, 1997, " As long as the gap between the haves and the have-not keeps getting bigger, there will be conflict, and the more people feel they are not heard, the more likely they will turn to violence. It is not surprising." I wondered then, and I wonder now, is it just that simple?

When I was young I heard a quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. While hoeing in his garden, he was asked what he would do if he knew he only had this one day to live. He replied, "I'd finish this row." I have thought about this on and off for many years. I feel conflicted by the need to DO something for peace and also the need to BE peace...to do what I know how to do...to finish this row. I know that unless I am able to recognize the everyday, small, good things of life I have no chance of making anything better. Impoverished, I will have nothing to give.

SNIP

http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/voices/voices.php?id=P213

[dutchdemocrat]

7. On Rising Above Fear to Make a Better World

On Rising Above Fear to Make a Better World

This speech was delivered to Japanese Delegates of the 'Peace Boat', which included Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors, in Battery Park on Friday, August 8 before walking to the WTC site on August 8th, 2003

On September 11th, 2001, my husband Sean called me from the 105th floor of the World Trade Center. The fates, in their mercy, granted us enough time to say what we needed to say to each other before the building collapsed and he was carried to his death.

On September 11th, 2001, my husband Sean became something very alien to the America experience. He became a ‘civilian casualty’. And because of that, I found that I had become something different, too - a member of a world-wide community numbering in the millions, whose lives have been torn apart by the effects of man’s inhumanity to man.

SNIP

http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/voices/voices.php?id=P207

The pain I felt that day transcended anger. It transcended the boundaries of my safe and orderly world and propelled me into the maelstrom of what I now know is a far truer reality-one shared by countless others who have suffered when political, religious or cultural entities find ways to justify annihilation as a tactic to achieve their goals.

[dutchdemocrat]

10. Peaceful Tommorows on Video

See and hear the people who really have a voice.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4680.htm

[E_Zapata]

4. That sounds like the lady who gave Bush her son, Josh's badge!

Saw her on 60 Minutes last night.

I turned it off as she was giving it to bush - because I knew she was looking into the eyes of her son's executioner.

[Paschall]

8. Is this another badge?

The first badge (not counting Poppy's, of course) belonged to George Howard, a NY Port Authority cop.

[leftchick]

3. I sure would love to hear this read on tv today...

instead of sseing all the phoney baloney ceremonies with the crimminals in the WH. Thank you for sharing this.

[Paschall]

9. Thanks, DD

Yes, peaceful tomorrows. Let's hope.

[dutchdemocrat]

11. Europe time

Kick