Today’s Business: 2010-09-11
Today’s Activities
- Shower. DONE.
- Cat duty. DONE.
- Pay 10 pending bills. DONE.
Log
08:25 AM: I’m up.
08:30 AM: I was living in Philly on this day nine years ago, and recall that as soon as folks fully understood that we were under attack, people downtown, both democrats and republicans alike, started chanting USA USA USA USA. That tragedy seemed to unite them more than any other in my life time. Sad, that that’s what it took. But for the rest of that day and in the months that followed, we truly WERE one nation, despite our deep divisions today. How soon people forget.
10:50 AM: Wrote out ten bills and completed my weekly web site system backups for today.
11:45 AM: Leaving to visit Mom and have lunch. Back later. Details of that visit here.
01:30 PM: Heading to Hoss’s steak house with sisters Christine and Diane, and my very special friend [Emmy] to grab some lunch.
03:00 PM: We’re home. Beautiful day to be out and about.
08:00 PM: Spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening watching movies and documentaries about 9/11 on the History channel. We were deeply moved by the surreality of it all. Indeed, it still feels like it never fully happened; too horrible of an event to be real yet too impacting to be ignored. People’s heroics (firefighters, first responders, et al) that entered the buildings in the WTC immediately after they planes crashed into them, were spellbinding. I’d like to think that I’d do the same if confronted with a similar situation, and I think I probably would; especially if I saw someone begging me for help. But I hope I’m never put upon to make such a difficult choice if it means putting my own life at risk. Those first responders were among the first fighters in the war on terror, yet every bit as heroic as the warriors are who continue fighting to this day.
President Bush really shined on 2001-09-11 with his calm and considered handling of the attack, and the measured responses that came in the weeks following. When he first appeared on national television a few hours after the last plane went down, I felt reassured that things would be alright; though I remember having difficulty sleeping that night in my Red Lion Road apartment in Philadelphia. Today, I felt that same sting of helplessness and horror as I again watched the footage. It all seems to have happened only yesterday, and I fear that the hurts I acquired that day still have not completely healed. That’s probably a good thing though because I derive real appreciation for how good I have it from those pains that resurface every year at this time.
But I’ll probably view each new film or TV special they create in the years to come, as I did today, to remind, to remember, to honor, and to give thanks for all my blessings and the people whose deaths have made my basically care-free life possible. Thank you all.
But after five hours, I had to stop watching, as I began experiencing 9/11 burnout and feel a trifle guilty for that. But I did set the DVR to record the rest of the shows tonight and will watch them in the coming week.
The shows we took in this afternoon were: Countdown to Ground Zero, and 9/11 State of Emergency.
It’s so easy to hate the people who did this to us. But I won’t hate them, because doing so will only wreck me further, and I wouldn’t want to risk my hatred spilling over on to similarly faithed yet innocent people. I will not hate someone for the deeds of another. Specifically: I’ll not blame all of Islam for the actions of a crazy few.
09:20 PM: Added more content from my journals to the 911 Attacks piece.
10:50 PM: Headed to bed. More tomorrow. Good night.
Received Mail and Shipments
- Dental bill for Mom from Pittsburgh.
- Insurance offer from Unison advantage. Not at this time, thanks.
- Invitation to attend the Hillside community church. Not at this time, thanks.