Sunday, September 11, 2011

343, We Will Never Forget

Today, as it is everyday, it is important to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in order to save others. To the FDNY 343 that gave their lives on 9/11/01 we give our thanks. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families always. WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

1 comment:

alexrued said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904537404576554453423788020.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

I had never questioned the importance of remembering 9/11. However, ten years after the terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal asked seven experts, including Anne-Marie Slaughter, to assess the American response. Slaughter had this to say:

“One way in which Americans have overreacted, however, is emotionally—by assuming, as we so often do, that our experience of terrorism was qualitatively different from the experience of Europeans, Indonesians, Indians, Africans and others... as a society we were unable to resume business as usual in the way...we gave the terrorists the satisfaction of knowing that they had changed our lives dramatically.”

As soon as the towers hit the ground Al-Qaeda members had “the satisfaction of knowing that they had changed our lives dramatically.” Even a presidential address with Bush nonchalantly saying, “NBD, this happened in India, too” wouldn’t have convinced terrorists that their mission was ineffective. “Resum[ing] business as usual” was impossible at the time of the attacks (quite literally for the 60 WTC companies that lost employees). The fact that 9/11 took place was proof that existing policies needed serious modification—9/11 demanded change, not a return to business as usual. I find it upsetting that 3,051 children lost a parent in the attacks and Slaughter’s grand theory on the response to 9/11 is that Americans “emotionally overreacted.” I don’t care that Slaughter attended Princeton, Harvard, and Oxford—I’m going to continue with my emotional overreaction.