A look at how we - as liberals and as Americans - deal with 9-11, after the jump ....
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Like many of you, I was horrified by the events of September 11, 2001 .... yet one of the silver linings was the way Americans rallied together: donating blood, helping our (unionized, too) police and fire crews, and seeing even New York City - which many Americans loathe - hailed, with the citizens of
Charleston, South Carolina buying a fire truck to replace one given to them by the NYFD ... one hundred thirty-four years earlier.
The sportswriter Bob Ryan once posited that he was unsure how his generation would handle a major crisis (as well as the so-called Greatest Generation, he wondered)? He felt that the response to 9-11 was proof they could do so. And we in New England felt that kinship a dozen years later: when the 2013 Boston Marathon brought nationwide messages of solidarity. I think the entire nation cheered that Friday night when the final suspect was apprehended ... without a shot being fired.
Yet .... and you sensed there was a 'yet', didn't you .... it took a long time for me to recover. Not from the bombing by foreign nationals, nor the loss of human life .... but from the beating we took from our fellow citizens who reside on Planet Starboard. Our courage, patriotism, loyalty (and for some of us, our masculinity) was found wanting ... by elected officials and unelected authoritarian followers who saw an opportunity and exploited it. The pride in "not conforming" they exhibit today ...... was missing in the aftermath of 9-11, and the Islamophobia that resulted - especially after Barack Obama took office - is quite depressing. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of all this.
When George W. Bush began to sink in the polls, it helped ... as did the election of a new president and the passage of time. Yet even having President Obama oversee the national observances of the 10th anniversary of this tragedy wasn't enough to overcome the tension I felt ... I kept wishing the day would end. Horrible feeling to have, huh?
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One way I try not to let our opponents take ownership of this day is to reprise the story of a second cousin: the man you see here, Terry Farrell .....
.... whose story can be read in full at this link as I have written about him before. But in brief:
His Rescue Company 4 was one of the first on the scene that awful day, was lost in the South Tower (WTC-2) and his family considered themselves lucky his body was found six weeks later.
But it turned out that...........no, the story didn't end here. For he did something else that - from this vantage point - was even more heroic. Terry might well have said about his final act on earth, "Hey, I volunteered for that unit, I always knew what could happen and that's what they paid me for." So what was his other act?
He volunteered to become a bone marrow donor - which he had no obligation to do - and a woman is now 25 years old this year as a result. What's more, even his own family did not know that he had undergone the procedure (after being identified as a match) until they saw his name on TV - in the 1990's - as one whose act had saved a life.
In fact, back in 1994 when she was 6 years old, Chantyl Peterson and her family travelled to New York from Nevada to meet her donor. And......hold on to your hats........they had lunch.....on the 87th floor of......the World Trade Center.
They met again in 1999 and then, during the time when Terry was still listed as "missing", Chantyl told her mother that if he was found alive that "I'll tell him not to ever get hurt again."
When it turned out to be otherwise, her father told her the news ... and so she made a third trip in October of 2001 to read a prayer at his funeral as a 13 year-old.
And, to me, that's the even-more-important message from his life: volunteer to become a bone-marrow blood donor. It's easy; you just need to contact these folks for instructions.
With that: I want to turn-over this diary to you, dear readers. Specifically:
a) Did that day directly affect you or your family?
b) Was there a moment when the right-wing wave was too much for you to bear?
c) And most importantly: how do you deal with this day, thirteen years-on?
Some contemplative music while you respond: from the saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, with his version of Light at the Edge of the World by Piero Piccioni.
Now, on to Top Comments:
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From Crashing Vor:
Crashing Vor is amazed that a diary as inconsequential (as my Kentucky State Fair Pie Scandal report) could have produced a Top Comment - paulitics, well done.
From
virgomusic:
JesseCW replied to a slightly overwrought comment on the front-page diary by kos .... and it's a gem - with or without context.
From
TerryDarc:
In this morning's Abbreviated Pundit Round-up - both of these comments (from PsychoSavannah and from Rich in PA as well) deserve more attention on a day that will live on in American memory for good or ill. Those who would use 9/11 to whip up American blood-lust should be ignored and those with something sensible, even sentimental to say deserve to be heard.
And from
Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by 3rdOption about the Colorado GOP candidate who has been brought low by admitting in public to being a Sandy Hook truther - Grizzard notes that Colorado is the last place one ought to try that strategy.
And in the diary by The X about the Palin family brawl ...... true, the jokes-write-themselves .... but let's give mention to quiet in nc for this wish and one from SnyperKitty about who will ajudicate this mess and .... oh hell, just enjoy the rest.
TOP PHOTOS
September 10, 2014
Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo.
(NOTE: Any missing images in the Quilt were removed because (a) they were from an unapproved source that somehow snuck through in the comments, or (b) it was an image from the DailyKos Image Library which didn't have permissions set to allow others to use it.)
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And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) Because war is extremely profitable. n/t by rexymeteorite — 159
2) B/c there's a bipartisan consensus in favor of it by RFK Lives — 128
3) it takes me 10 years to make that kind of money by xxdr zombiexx — 114
4) Just good old dad by procrastn8 — 113
5) this guy ----------> by jan4insight — 112
6) The really, really sad answer is by FishOutofWater — 104
7) Iceland is like a James Bond movie by heraldstorm — 100
8) In the interests of balance by twigg — 98
9) Not an exclusive... by Trix — 97
10) You can still add it, I don't mind - or by jan4insight — 96
11) Bigotry. You forgot bigotry as reason by SoCalSal — 92
12) It is OUR war. Its real purpose by Richard Lyon — 90
13) Because someone got beheaded by CitizenOfEarth — 85
14) Since WWII N Africa, we've been fighting for oil. by FishOutofWater — 84
15) Because terrorists are scary! by gjohnsit — 83
16) Beheadings were deliberate provocations hoping for by Lefty Coaster — 81
17) He’s got some African in him? by aaraujo — 80
18) I'd Think They Have Enough Registered Already by Gooserock — 79
19) Pardon Me for Pointing This Out to You by Limelite — 76
20) that, and to sell weapons by limpidglass — 76
21) The Military-Industrial-Congressional by agnostic — 76
22) Damn that's like the scene near the end of by DoctorWho — 75
23) This reminded me of a story from a few years ago by Mark Lippman — 75
24) From what I remember of poverty by moviemeister76 — 75
25) Our Daily Rei by Joffan — 76
26) Beautifully put! by CindyV — 73
27) There are NO Stats that support the idea by Frank Vyan Walton — 72
28) ~$600 per week on groceries by looty — 72
29) This. by Halfton81 — 70
30) What kind of car does that person drive by anastasia p — 69