Liberty and Security

On September 11th of this year, I wrote about a terrible day my country had experienced eleven years before, and shared some of my experiences from that day.  As everyone knows, that tragedy (the attacks, not my blog post, lol) has changed this country and the world in more ways than anyone probably realizes.

For one thing, we Americans showed the world once again that we won't be kept down, we won't be oppressed, and we will not be victims anymore. The heroes of Flight 93 demonstrated that spirit on that same day, sacrificing their own lives rather than allowing themselves to become weapons against their own people in the hands of terrorists.  Since then, there has not been a single successful airline hijacking or attack that was not thwarted by other brave men and women acting in that same spirit, and I think it's a pretty safe bet there won't be for a very long time.  That ship, as they say, has sailed.

On the other hand, I remain suspicious about our government's response to the attacks, especially here at home. While I fully agreed with and supported the invasions of Afganistan and even Iraq, I have always been suspicious about the domestic responses like the so-called "Patriot Act," the creation of the DHS and TSA, etc.. I also really hate having to travel anywhere by air. So far, I have managed to avoid having my private parts groped (that's a "pat-down" for you sheeple out there) in the name of national security, but I have been forcibly irradiated on one occasion ("body-scanned").

What I am seeing in America today is the mindset that preventing another 9/11 is worth sacrificing just about anything, including our constitution and bill of rights - the very freedoms the terrorists hate us for, as we were once told. Sure, we ought to protect innocent lives. But I am one of the apparent few who believe we, the people, can do, will do, and have already done a far better job of that than our government can or should. And, we can do it without abusive random body searches, warrant-less surveillance, expensive (and completely ineffective) body scanners, and allowing ourselves to become subjects rather than citizens.  Flight 93 proved that, and those people did it without the Patriot Act or the TSA.

At this point, I only hope the trend reverses itself soon enough so that we can get back some of the liberties we've lost without having to endure the same kinds of struggles in which we won them to start with. Otherwise, by the time we're done "defending freedom," there might not be any of it left and we will have done bin Laden's (may he rust in pieces) job for him.

September 11 - 11 years later

Oddly enough, I'm starting this post at 9:11 am on September 11, 2012.

As everyone undoubtedly knows, eleven years ago this very moment, the world was changing before our eyes.  Thousands of lives were lost or in the process of being lost, and we were all staring silently at television screens or the sky above in horrified disbelief.  That day was my generation's Pearl Harbor - our very own 21st century Day of Infamy.

Lit Candle, Up Close

I'm sure there will be thousands upon thousands of blog posts similar to mine today. Some will be peppered with images of the attacks themselves .. mine, however, will not. Frankly, I don't want to see it all again - it was bad enough the first time. The first image I'm going to post today is one I've used before .. a single lit candle, up close.  Today, I'm sitting in my cubicle, sipping a cup of now-lukewarm coffee and tapping away at my keyboard. Just another day at the office. Probably the same thing everyone was doing at the WTC and Pentagon 11 years and a few minutes ago.

Now, I was planning on launching into more of a political-oriented speech at this point, but I just now decided that sort of thing will be more appropriate tomorrow.  September 12 was the day the political fallout from the attack began. Today was the day America came together as a nation to stop a 4th attack, to save as many as could be saved on the ground, and to just help each other get through the rest of the day with our sanity intact. I will leave you now with the one image from that day that I feel summarizes how We, The People responded that day...

The Girl with the Flag