The sickest part of it all, to me, are the clips of the people jumping to their deaths rather than burn alive. How the media bosses sleep after showing those I cannot understand. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never forget or forgive. I got some revenge in Afghanistan for friends I lost at the Pentagon (now a retired Ranger). But I really don’t want to see my countrymen and women leaping to their deaths like fruit falling from a shaken tree anymore. To me, that was the most horrible sight of the attack.
As someone in another country who watched those events on TV, I say there comes a time to put things behind us and get on with improving lives. I’m not suggesting that we should forget but to put those memories in an appropriate place and not go over them time and time again..Each time we “recollect” something it becomes changed and not always for the better. Remember, yes – but don’t let the memories be turned into hate for a people who mostly had nothing to do with the disaster..The constant replaying of those videos by certain TV channels is done as a form of propaganda. No, I’m not Muslim but I have lived in Islamic countries and I know that the average person has the same hopes , sadness and joys that we have.
Thanks, Pab, for pointing out what is forgotten in the rush to memorialize. And I’m sure it’s hard for those who weren’t present to deal with the enormity of the events, so there is this groping for a way to do that.
Well said, Pab. My wife and I were married in a castle near Edinburgh on 9/11/16. We had picked the day months in advance and anxiously awaited that day when we would become man and wife. After our wedding, staff came to us solemnly and informed us of what had just happened in New York, Washington DC, and a field in Pennsylvania. Both of us had chosen law enforcement as our careers and watched as many of our brethren in blue, both police officers and firefighters, along side of so many innocent civilians, had their lives crushed out. Today is our fifteenth wedding anniversary and as we have done every September 11th, we do not celebrate our anniversary in any way . . . i am sure we never will. Instead, we remember those that were lost, something neither of us can forget.
What I have found even more sickening is the conspiracy nuts who claim they are “experts” and say that the towers should never have collapsed just because of two airplane strikes. That the Government actually blew them up! They point to the Empire State Building as an example. What they don’t point out is that they are two totally different construction methods with different support structures. Yet they harp their lies every year at this time.
What I have found even more sickening is the conspiracy nuts who claim they are “experts” and say that the towers should never have collapsed just because of two airplane strikes. That the Government actually blew them up! They point to the Empire State Building as an example. What they don’t point out is that they are two totally different construction methods with different support structures. Yet they harp their lies every year at this time.
I no longer post tributes in the remembrance of 9/11.
A couple of years ago, I posted a tribute on every strip I commented on. All I was doing was trying to be nice when some jerk commenter stuck his oar in and ripped me to shreds for posting it.
He’s now banned.
Just goes to show no matter if you’re the kindest person in the world. You’ll still be hated by other people
Well said. Thank you. I’ve felt this way since the first anniversary of this travesty when all the pictures, videos and soundtracks are played and replayed. Thank you for expressing it so well.
I agree. What I look for are the shows about the rebuilding of “Ground Zero”. A few years ago, there was a fantastic – almost 6 hour – T.V series about all the plans for the new One World Trade Center, the subway stop going to it and everything else that was planned. I found it to be a refreshing look FORWARD, and not a depressing, sad look back. Make no mistake, we will always remember. But I prefer to remember in moderation. Otherwise, it is a bit overbearing.
A statement by the American-based cartoonist, rather than by Her Majesty, and should have been signed by Pab.— There are two views of it. Pab expressed one of them, but I couldn’t help thinking of WWII veterans (particularly German or Soviet ones) who wouldn’t talk about what they went through, until decades later, or maybe never. Are we better off because they wouldn’t talk?
I pray your grief comes to its designed end one day soon, Mr. Sugenis. It has been written that grief rends the heart cleanly so it can heal, while worry shreds it. This is one of those events that happen on a multiplicity of levels, especially if you knew people who were in the towers or at the Pentagon or in the hijacked aircraft. Knowing that her father frequented the Pentagon from his posting at another installation, my niece tried desperately to call him at his office to see if he was still with us — and as it happened, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into that part of the Pentagon where the offices he most frequented were situated. Desperate, my niece called my sister and explained that Dad wasn’t answering his phone. My sister called my brother-in-law and got through to him at his regular location, whereupon she told him their daughter was panicking; and please call her so she knew her dad was OK. My sister’s call was the last one to get through onto the installation from the outside before all the lines were shut down. And my brother-in-law did reach my niece and let her know he was OK.Coincidentally, my niece was attending an institution of higher learning that was pretty much under the flight path of United Airlines Flight 93. Her university was not far from Shanksville, PA. It was a traumatic realization to say the least.Having said all that, I would suggest that you go onto YouTube in about six months and dig up Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten” — and realize that he released the song in March 2003, not even two years after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. While it will not bring back your friends (or family, should you have been so unfortunate), it does bring up a telling point: This country shrugs off incidents very quickly, sometimes to its detriment. While I wouldn’t show the clips every day, as Worley suggests in the song, I would suggest that we need to be reminded that we are vulnerable, that, paranoia aside, there are people who are out to get us, to destroy our way of life if not our lives. How would you suggest we remember that, Mr. Sugenis?That said, I repeat my prayer that one day your grief reaches its designed end and that your heart heals.
Well stated! I am sorry for your loss, and for so many others who lost people on this terrible day.
I also am pained by the chest beating “patriots” among us who see only their war like “patriotism” as the only valid response. Just remember, we started two wars as a result of these events, wars that now are proven to have done nothing much to make us any safer, but which bankrupted the US, and cost us many American troops.
Also, think of the very many who died in the Mideast as a result: 9/11 is the dawn of events that ultimately killed many countless thousands of their friends and family!
BE THIS GUY over 8 years ago
Thanks, Pab.
Sherlock Watson over 8 years ago
Thank you, Sir.
meowlin over 8 years ago
Hear, hear.
hawgowar over 8 years ago
The sickest part of it all, to me, are the clips of the people jumping to their deaths rather than burn alive. How the media bosses sleep after showing those I cannot understand. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never forget or forgive. I got some revenge in Afghanistan for friends I lost at the Pentagon (now a retired Ranger). But I really don’t want to see my countrymen and women leaping to their deaths like fruit falling from a shaken tree anymore. To me, that was the most horrible sight of the attack.
gmartin997 over 8 years ago
Would you have us forget? It’s been 75 years since Pearl Harbor, and still we remember. We can’t afford to forget.
pcolli over 8 years ago
As someone in another country who watched those events on TV, I say there comes a time to put things behind us and get on with improving lives. I’m not suggesting that we should forget but to put those memories in an appropriate place and not go over them time and time again..Each time we “recollect” something it becomes changed and not always for the better. Remember, yes – but don’t let the memories be turned into hate for a people who mostly had nothing to do with the disaster..The constant replaying of those videos by certain TV channels is done as a form of propaganda. No, I’m not Muslim but I have lived in Islamic countries and I know that the average person has the same hopes , sadness and joys that we have.
Plods with ...™ over 8 years ago
Well said.
meillered over 8 years ago
VERY well said.
Eclectic-1 over 8 years ago
You may not forget the event, but be sure to grieve it or it will control you and will keep you stuck in time. Grieve well and live.
mwest over 8 years ago
You’ve expressed exactly what I feel but couldn’t say nearly as eloquently. Thank you!
moonlgt Premium Member over 8 years ago
Great essay. Thanks, Pab.
this-is-mine-and-this-is-mine over 8 years ago
Where has “remembering” brought us? We saw the smoke, lost neighbors, had our lives changed forever.
And as a nation, what have we wrought in return?
Thank you for this. Your honestly is appreciated.
Kathy Freeman over 8 years ago
Thank you!
Baslim the Beggar Premium Member over 8 years ago
Well said, Pab!
jimboklein over 8 years ago
Nicely put, Pab. I grieve with you.
mjkaswan Premium Member over 8 years ago
Bravo. Well said. Thank you.
Mister Mean over 8 years ago
I understand.
Don Hulbert Premium Member over 8 years ago
Thanks, Pab, for pointing out what is forgotten in the rush to memorialize. And I’m sure it’s hard for those who weren’t present to deal with the enormity of the events, so there is this groping for a way to do that.
My condolences on your loss.
Thehag over 8 years ago
Thank you. ‘Grief Porn’ it is.
eljebel549 Premium Member over 8 years ago
Well said, Pab. My wife and I were married in a castle near Edinburgh on 9/11/16. We had picked the day months in advance and anxiously awaited that day when we would become man and wife. After our wedding, staff came to us solemnly and informed us of what had just happened in New York, Washington DC, and a field in Pennsylvania. Both of us had chosen law enforcement as our careers and watched as many of our brethren in blue, both police officers and firefighters, along side of so many innocent civilians, had their lives crushed out. Today is our fifteenth wedding anniversary and as we have done every September 11th, we do not celebrate our anniversary in any way . . . i am sure we never will. Instead, we remember those that were lost, something neither of us can forget.
oldwolf1951 over 8 years ago
What I have found even more sickening is the conspiracy nuts who claim they are “experts” and say that the towers should never have collapsed just because of two airplane strikes. That the Government actually blew them up! They point to the Empire State Building as an example. What they don’t point out is that they are two totally different construction methods with different support structures. Yet they harp their lies every year at this time.
oldwolf1951 over 8 years ago
What I have found even more sickening is the conspiracy nuts who claim they are “experts” and say that the towers should never have collapsed just because of two airplane strikes. That the Government actually blew them up! They point to the Empire State Building as an example. What they don’t point out is that they are two totally different construction methods with different support structures. Yet they harp their lies every year at this time.
celeconecca over 8 years ago
I understand.
Number Three over 8 years ago
I no longer post tributes in the remembrance of 9/11.
A couple of years ago, I posted a tribute on every strip I commented on. All I was doing was trying to be nice when some jerk commenter stuck his oar in and ripped me to shreds for posting it.
He’s now banned.
Just goes to show no matter if you’re the kindest person in the world. You’ll still be hated by other people
So I’m not bothering any more.
NWdryad over 8 years ago
Thank you, Pab.
ashfae over 8 years ago
Thank you, Pab.
Zepp Jamieson over 8 years ago
Hear, hear. Well said.
Sallyquilts over 8 years ago
Well said. Thank you. I’ve felt this way since the first anniversary of this travesty when all the pictures, videos and soundtracks are played and replayed. Thank you for expressing it so well.
David Gerritzen Premium Member over 8 years ago
I agree. What I look for are the shows about the rebuilding of “Ground Zero”. A few years ago, there was a fantastic – almost 6 hour – T.V series about all the plans for the new One World Trade Center, the subway stop going to it and everything else that was planned. I found it to be a refreshing look FORWARD, and not a depressing, sad look back. Make no mistake, we will always remember. But I prefer to remember in moderation. Otherwise, it is a bit overbearing.
pdubinsky01 Premium Member over 8 years ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have never seen my feelings so clearly expressed.
b2plusa2 over 8 years ago
A statement by the American-based cartoonist, rather than by Her Majesty, and should have been signed by Pab.— There are two views of it. Pab expressed one of them, but I couldn’t help thinking of WWII veterans (particularly German or Soviet ones) who wouldn’t talk about what they went through, until decades later, or maybe never. Are we better off because they wouldn’t talk?
librarian4hire over 8 years ago
Well pub, Pab.
aerotica69 over 8 years ago
Bravo!
oldmachead Premium Member over 8 years ago
Very well said, Sir. I hope your message travels far and wide. It is necessary.
Spooky D Cat over 8 years ago
I 1000 percent agree with you. I never want to see those images again.
Carolyn Oliver Premium Member over 8 years ago
Thank you very much for this
finnygirl Premium Member over 8 years ago
Thank you, Pab, for a touching and honest explanation of the effect these anniversaries can have on people. Well said!
r.dauphinee over 8 years ago
Bless you and may you find peace.
K M over 8 years ago
I pray your grief comes to its designed end one day soon, Mr. Sugenis. It has been written that grief rends the heart cleanly so it can heal, while worry shreds it. This is one of those events that happen on a multiplicity of levels, especially if you knew people who were in the towers or at the Pentagon or in the hijacked aircraft. Knowing that her father frequented the Pentagon from his posting at another installation, my niece tried desperately to call him at his office to see if he was still with us — and as it happened, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into that part of the Pentagon where the offices he most frequented were situated. Desperate, my niece called my sister and explained that Dad wasn’t answering his phone. My sister called my brother-in-law and got through to him at his regular location, whereupon she told him their daughter was panicking; and please call her so she knew her dad was OK. My sister’s call was the last one to get through onto the installation from the outside before all the lines were shut down. And my brother-in-law did reach my niece and let her know he was OK.Coincidentally, my niece was attending an institution of higher learning that was pretty much under the flight path of United Airlines Flight 93. Her university was not far from Shanksville, PA. It was a traumatic realization to say the least.Having said all that, I would suggest that you go onto YouTube in about six months and dig up Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten” — and realize that he released the song in March 2003, not even two years after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. While it will not bring back your friends (or family, should you have been so unfortunate), it does bring up a telling point: This country shrugs off incidents very quickly, sometimes to its detriment. While I wouldn’t show the clips every day, as Worley suggests in the song, I would suggest that we need to be reminded that we are vulnerable, that, paranoia aside, there are people who are out to get us, to destroy our way of life if not our lives. How would you suggest we remember that, Mr. Sugenis?That said, I repeat my prayer that one day your grief reaches its designed end and that your heart heals.
trevorpmp over 8 years ago
Well stated! I am sorry for your loss, and for so many others who lost people on this terrible day.
I also am pained by the chest beating “patriots” among us who see only their war like “patriotism” as the only valid response. Just remember, we started two wars as a result of these events, wars that now are proven to have done nothing much to make us any safer, but which bankrupted the US, and cost us many American troops.
Also, think of the very many who died in the Mideast as a result: 9/11 is the dawn of events that ultimately killed many countless thousands of their friends and family!
Who benefitted? The arms makers…
Laiane over 8 years ago
Thank you.
Phil (full phname Philip Philop) almost 7 years ago
.