i don't think i'm emotionaly ready for tomorrow

[bearfartinthewoods]

i think i may close the shop and go for a hike. i just don't think i want to go through all the angst again. am i the only one?

[JanMichael]

1. If there's only you and me here, yes.

I guess that I don't internalize the WTC events like a lot of other people might.

Good luck and I hope you do OK.

Perseverance...That's one of my favorite words.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. All tomorrow represents for me is the basic human condition

We're fucked...

I deal with it everyday

[djsperduti]

3. Tomorrow

Yup, "patriot" day to me just angers me. I know who was behind the whole episode.....BushCo... and it just reminds me more solidly of what their agenda is, for we Amerkans and the rest of the world.
Yuk!

[uptohere]

4. For me its like last year and the year before

I pray for the souls lost and their survivors. There is no angst, there is sadness for the loss and thanks for the opportunity to learn from it all. Sort of like losing my Dad, I grieved his loss but I was thankful for his life and my part in it.

You have to look forward but retaining you memory is important too.

[Melsky]

5. It's just another day to me

I'm not freaked out over aniversaries. Every day, the war that is happening now upsets me. But I understand if you feel bad, I totally wish you the best.

I will go out of my way not to have to see or read any republican garbage trying to make political hay about it.

[Terwilliger]

6. what angst??

seriously, what angst?

[bearfartinthewoods]

17. that's all there will be on TV for the next 30 hrs

just over and over on all the channels. designed to bring back the memories and prey on peoples saddness and sense of loss. interupted only by commercials of course...

i wonder if they're charging extra.

[MoonAndSun]

7. I plan on doing what I did last year on 9-11,

I did not watch any TV and did not listen to much radio, I spent time with my family and read some good books and went outside and enjoyed nature. And I will do the same tomorrow. I pay tribute to those lost in my own way and in my own mind.



:dem:

[Hanuman]

8. I went scuba diving on 9/11/01...

And for the 40 minutes that I was sub-aqua, not a single neuron in my brain flashed a 911 thought.

When I got out of the water I was astonished that I had forgotten it for a short time. Then of course the reality crept back in.

My advice- do something really fun and unusual to take your mind off it.

[bearfartinthewoods]

19. underwater sounds good.

but the local water is in the 68 degree range.

15 minutes of that is about all i could take.

[RummyTheDummy]

9. All tommorow represents for me is the day freedom died.

Our country has steadily unraveled since.

[diamondsoul]

16. You stated my exact feeling

with those two sentences. I suspect I will think of it at some point and likely I'll sit down and cry then.

I miss the country that was when my Gramps was telling me about war and the reasons for it. He told me war is a horrible thing, no matter if it's just. People die, and death before your time is not good regardless.

I remember him telling me too, about how in WWII, some of the soldiers referred to Germany and Germans as "the enemy", almost constantly. He said he could never do that because he'd looked at their faces, and they were just people, like him. He said when he fired his weapon in combat he didn't feel any pride or pleasure because killing isn't ever something to be pleased or proud about. He felt sorrow, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt hope, clung to it like a life-line that the German people would see what their leader really was and turn on him.

He said he cried a lot during the war. He'd do his duty and fight when he had to, shoot and kill "the enemy" like he was supposed to do, and then go to his sleeping area and weep for all those poor confused dead soldiers. That was how he thought of them. Confused, misled and lied to and he hated having to shoot them for that.

Sept. 11th is confusion brought home. It's the reality that people too often don't do what my Gramps did and look at the faces of "the enemy". We're the faceless "enemy" for some, and until we change that, we'll always be in danger. God/dess have mercy on us.

[NoKingGeorge]

10. A day to shout against the evil one.

I will have my headlights on as a symbol for a search for truth. . Shine the light of truth in all the corners of evil. Do it for those who are silent, and for those whose grief knows no bounds..

[Don_G]

11. If It Allows You To Deal With People?

One summer day isn't going to make or break your business.

One summer day smelling the roses, petting the cat and thinking about things in general is something everyone needs from time to time.

[hunter]

12. My televison and radio will be silent...

I will call my dog and go for a very long walk.

I still got scars, and I'm still angry.

[AntiCoup2K4]

13. I officially proclaim tomorrow "Fuck Bush" day....

Not to be taken literally, of course, unless your name is Pickles.

[Skittles]

14. I can handle the 9/11 anniversary

what I can't handle is how republicans insist on using 9/11 for political gain. It's beyond sickening.

[mb7588a]

15. my ordeal with grief revisted

In 2001, I was a student in Milwaukee, on the evening of September 11th, for the first time in my life, I wept for my country, alone, on a bench near a flag that was flapping calmly at half mast. I had always taken that calm flag for granted. I realized that night, that it and those who protect it, had failed many of my fellow Americans.

Last year I had a unique opportunity. Being a student at American University in D.C., I went downtown, not to partake in any of the annoying misguided protests or triumphant warhawking patriotic rallies, but to grieve.

A lot of people told me I was nuts to even consider stepping foot near the National Mall given the Orange alert, national guard troops with automatic weapons, snipers on every roof etc. I toured the U.S. Capital, a tour which has become a waste of time. The people's house is now the government's hiding place. You get a short introduction to the rotunda, the old Senate meeting room with statues from each state, and just about nothing else.

I also went to the Corcoran Art Gallery, a block from the White House to visit an exhibit of photographs related to September 11th, 2001. The photos were mostly of people suffering. Others visiting were weeping, unable to stand, looking for something in the photographs that they would not find - comfort. The images from that day discover within each of us a fear we can't really deal with.

I found that patriotism is becoming synonomous with fear. 'Freedom from fear' was not only attacked, it was basically destroyed. The government explanations for this are hopeless. What's worse, there's no basis on paper for the actions of any Islamic radicals other than the Charter of Hamas. They make statements with the loudest possible voice, through violence. We have nothing with which we can study and understand the tragedy other than painful images and government lies.

What may become "Patriots' Day" could very easily be called "Fear Day." Sept. 11th is a reminder that we are fragile. Thomas Hobbes claimed every one entity is vulnerable, because it must sleep. Our administration and those who we trust to protect us were sleeping, we all paid and still pay the price for this. Though I can't boldy make that argument without condemming myself for thinking I too was invulnerable, for which I wept that evening. Any reminder of our mortality is difficult to deal with. This is how September 11th should be viewed by history.


http://www.mbare.org

[NewYorkerfromMass]

18. No way. I'm doing the same thing I did Sep. 12, 2001

and that is going to work.

Never mind the fact that I couldn't get much work done that day for lack of concentration, but I felt terrible just sitting around. And even though Guiliani told everyone to stay home, I felt that going to work that day was an act of defiance (and even a bit of bravery). So with heavy heart I went to my office on 57th street, walking through streets more populated by policeman and national guardsman than civilians. And my instinct for doing so was confirmed as the right thing to do by a letter published in the Times shortly afterwards- it said: "the greatest memorial to all those lost is to live our lives everyday to the fullest possible because now they cannot, and would want us to do so."