9-11 Memories

I was working as a psychotherapist in 2001 at a small clinic in Brooklyn, New York, about 3 miles from Ground Zero. Below is my memory of that day, and how I think about the Islamic terror attack on 9-11. 

8:40 AM--I arrived early, went into the office, and was about to start the session with Roxanne, the angriest person I've ever known. The office we were using was on the main floor because she couldn't climb stairs due to an accident she had years before--this was the root of her anger. The clinic receptionist desk was just outside my office door and the radio was on softly--I wouldn't be able to hear it once I closed the door to start session, but I could hear it now. The word was, a plane had struck one of the Twin Towers. The size of the plane was not yet known, and I suspected that it was a small private plane--I'm not sure why, but most of the psychotherapists thought the same thing.

9:00 AM--The door closed, Roxanne had her session where she complained about everything from her physical condition to "the System" that paid for her multiple medications (possibly 20 different kinds of psychotropics costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars each month just for meds). I heard these complaints hundreds of times, literally, listening attentively while I was concerned more about her anger rather than its target. While this was going on, the Twin Tower accident had a piece of my attention and it bothered me that I couldn't hear more of the events of the morning of September 11th, 2001.

9:45 AM--session is over and I learn from another therapist that a second plane struck the second tower. Now I was certain that it was terrorism. I knew we were at war, but I had to walk several blocks from the clinic to see my next client as she was unable to ambulate due to her physical limitations. When I got to her home, she had the TV on and was watching the events unfolding. I saw the towers pouring smoke and I told my client that it would be fine if we didn't really have a session and instead watch the scene on TV--she shut it off and said that she would watch it later--I was upset but couldn't say so.


10:55 AM--I arrive back at the clinic and Nama, a therapist friend, is standing in front of the entrance crying. I ask her why and she simply said, "The towers are down." I didn't believe what I heard and she told me that both towers came down from the planes. I knew we were at war.  Everything changed for the country that day; everything changed for me.


Today I've been watching Fox News and they have been interviewing people who were involved with the attack. There was the pilot of President Bush's aircraft, there were survivors, police, firemen, who lived through the mortal danger of that day.


Chris Christie of New Jersey spoke about the over 700 New Jersians who died in the World Trade Center. He spoke at Liberty State Park and said he hoped it would be a place where the families of those who were "lost" on 9-11. There is a wall with the names of the victims of that day. Christie said that if we could give a moment of silence for each person who died that day, we would be silent until Monday, at 2 PM (today is Saturday around Noon). That is a tremendous loss, he reminded us.

Duh-Dumm

But, on MSNBC they spoke about how the 9-11 plot could have been prevented if the FBI and other agencies had better communication. Chris Matthews, spoke with a former governer of Illinois, Thompson, in Shanksville, PA, about this blame, and Matthews feels that we are getting better at reading the "chatter" now--he would probably credit Obama for that, but that's just my take on it. Matthews also credits NYC Mayor Bloomberg as being a fabulous politician, never mentioning the controversy about how the mayor refuses to allow first responders and clergy to attend the 9-11 memorial services.


It's eye-opening to flip from Fox to MSNBC. Fox is focused on what happened on September 11, 2001, how it affected those who lived through it, how it affected families who lost a loved one, while MSNBC is focused on what could have been done better by those in charge that day. They step on  their own feet talking politics over every issue in the media.

What I saw was Conservative reporting about that cowardly attack on our soil versus the Liberals playing the blame game. Fox actually showed both sides of a political issue--they even have liberal Bob Beckel on their weekday daily show called The Five, and super liberal, Alan Combs, who is frequently going up against Hannity, for example, but the liberal mainstream media never does this. 

The GOP debate was a good example of the leftist media cannot report as true journalists. Everything they asked was an editorial on their personal beliefs, and that is not reporting, that is opining, and has no business being called journalism. As I've said before, the left appears to be more like the Democratic campaign committee than an actual media outlet--and this is why they're afraid of Fox. 

I am proud of the way this country handled 9-11. I am not proud of how the left has made this horrible act something that resulted from our foreign policies. I am not proud of how the Mayor of New York City has refused to have our first responders and clergy at the memorial service. At the Shanksville, PA memorial, Rev. Coughlan presided and gave the people comfort. Bloomberg refuses this on his misguided interpretation of the Constitution regarding "separation of church and state," not understanding that it is about the notion of disallowing the country to have a state religion, but not disallowing religion to be practiced. But what can you expect of this mayor--he believes we should allow a mosque to overlook the memorial fountains of Ground Zero. This man is totally insensitive to the needs of others.

I am not proud of how of how Homeland Security has bowed to Political Correctness, and thus, bowed to our enemies, in their sham efforts to keep us safe. Hopefully, this will change when we have a new president next year.

I am proud of the United States of America. It is, and always will be the best country on earth. But it seems that memorials are designed to be the direct opposite of what the term implies--something designed so that we can forget the horrors of that day, done to us by our enemy, and we must remember who they are, define them, and overcome their evil. We cannot pretend to not know who they are. 



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