lazypadawan | OT: 10 Years Later

The Freedom Tower Standing Proud...At Legoland California

If you haven't seen it, you can read my full 9/11 story here :

http://lazypadawan.livejournal.com/42282.html#cutid1

In 10 years time, we've gone on with our lives and today, the economy is at the top of the headlines while Al Qaeda boss Osama Bin Laden literally sleeps with the fishes. But our lives have permanently changed since then and while Al Qaeda's organization isn't what it once was in 2000, there are still a lot of motivated people who are at war with us even if they don't get their marching orders from a guy hiding in some remote Pakistani village. And there will be for years to come. This is an ancient problem manifesting itself in our time.

Watching the footage from that day and hearing the stories bring it all back, whether you were sitting at home watching it all unfold halfway across the country or if you were in lower Manhattan. There's a reason why 9/11/01 still resonates with ordinary Americans. Everyone targeted and killed that day were regular people: inner city kids heading off on a National Geographic-sponsored trip, cleaning ladies, restaurant staff, young brokers just making their start in the financial industry, flight attendants, secretaries, IT guys, cops, managers, firemen, clerks, paramedics, etc.. They were what one columnist called Office Park America. Even at the Pentagon, most of the victims were working stiffs, civilian and military. It was people like you and me who stopped Flight 93 from reaching its theorized route to the U.S. Capitol. So it becomes a little too easy for those who are culturally removed from "us" to say, "Forget about it and move on." Or tell "us" how we're supposed to feel.

No, I'm not going to replace what I experienced that day with puppies and butterflies and pretend it didn't happen. I'm not going to forget how it felt to be under attack as DC Air National Guard flew over my head and I saw billowing clouds of black smoke over the Iwo Jima Memorial. I'm not going to forget the people tumbling out of the North Tower or the seeing on t.v. the apocalyptic eeriness of lower Manhattan after both towers fell. Or the flyers of missing people posted on the streets of New York; most of them never came home again. I'll never forget the bravery of police, fire, EMTs, and civilians, including a Catholic priest who lost his life giving last rites at the World Trade Center. One guy who worked for the same company as I did out of the Pentagon jumped out a window to escape the oncoming flames, then assisted with survivors. I'll never forget the many strangers who offered to drive me several miles out of their way back to the Vienna (VA) Metro station to get my car while I was stuck in Rosslyn.

While I'm in the process of not forgetting, one thing sticks in my craw. The damaged portion of the Pentagon was rebuilt in less than a year. Meanwhile, ten years have gone by and the most prominent of all of the targets is still a construction site! As soon as it was decided to rebuild on the site and excavations were finished, they should have built the Freedom Tower post-haste. Instead the project has been stalled by bureaucracy, controversy, and other red tape. Ten years and counting? A replica of the Freedom Tower was built years ago at Legoland California (I assume there will be a second one at Legoland Florida). LEGO master builders had easier materials to work with but none of the hassle. That I put on the heads of the politicians.