One of the things that always strikes me is the bravery that so many showed that day: firefighters who selflessly ran into the burning towers to save people, civilians in the towers who risked their own lives to make sure fellow office workers made it out, police officers who risked everything to help people onnthe sites, the crew and passengers of flight 93 who refused to allow the hijackers on their plane complete their mission, the military personal at thr Pentagon who ran into the flames and confusion of what had happened those the could from there.

I’ve never been to any of the locations where people were killed that day, perhaps one day I will. I would be interested in especially visiting Ground Zero one day, I don’t think I would enjoy the experience and I’m not sure what draws me there; some peculiar sense of the macabre, or some weird voyeurism perhaps. It just seems like an important place to visit. I didn’t personally know anyone who was lost or who lost a loved one that day, but it the most visible site of an act, an event, a day that has shaped the decade since.

I know that some people don’t understand why we should make a bigger deal about this, the 10th anniversary, than any other anniversary or why we should remember this one day above all the other days when people have died in terrorist attacks. I think it’s because no (that I can think of) other terrorist attack has shaped the World so much. The last decade would have been very, very different if 9/11 had not happened. Would there have been so much war? Would we live in such a security conscious society? It is important to commemorate such events, to remind ourselves of what people have gone through and of what people are capable of – acts of evil and acts of incredible goodness. How many of the people who died that day died in thr act of trying to save others? The firefighters, the police officers, civilians. It is right that we remember them especially, to remember the lengths that people can and will go too to try and save people they have never met. So many people who witnessed the events of that day, whether in person or on TV have commented that they knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

A question we often hear on TV programs commemorating the event is “can you remember where you were when you heard about the attacks on 9/11?”. Most people I’ve spoken to can. I can still remember it as if it was yesterday. I was standing in my parents living room with 2/3 friends; we were about to go out for the day. Just as we were about to leave one of our other friends, Andy Simpson, phoned and told us that a plane had crashed into the twin towers and that we should turn on the news. We immediatley assumed that he was talking about a light aircraft, I remember theorising out loud that it must have been a Cessna. We then watched in disbelief for the next few hours and the tragedy of that day played out before our eyes and was then repeated over and over of the news. I remember watching the live film of the second plane hitting the towers, feeling scared and sad for those caught up in all of the terror. I remember one of my friends, Colin, turning to me and wondering out loud if we would be called up by the army to fight in the war we knew was about to start. I’ve seen those images replayed in TV time and time again, everytime it takes me back to that day watching in disbelief in my parents living room.

Watching that kind of event happen and watching all the programs that come after exploring some of the individual stories from the day makes you wonder about how you would react under the circumstances. I’ve often wondered if I would have had the courage that so many showed that day, or if I would have lost hope or frozen and let the events of the day happen to me. I pray I’ll never know! One thing I do know is that we should never forget that day, the people who suffered because of it, the atrocities committed, the acts of bravery and heroism shown by so many. It has influenced so much in the world, so many lives have been touched by what happened that day. It was a hugely emotional event that displayed, live on TV, the worst that people will do to each other and the best that people will do for each other.

Peace Out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC73PHdQX04

Leonard Nimoy singing about the ‘Greatest little Hobbit’ of them all, Biblo Baggins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE

A really daft classic! ‘Star Trekking….’

Just a few daft wee videos to keep you going!

Peace out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luVjkTEIoJc

Knights of the round table, Trek style!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efac_szXU8w