Let’s get a few facts out first. I grew up in and still live in (unfortunately) New Jersey. My hometown was about 15 miles from NYC – you could see the Twin Towers and the rest of the Manhattan skyline from a big hill the next town over.
Didn’t really realize until 9/11/01 that a few folks me and my buds grew up with, played ball with, had fun with, worked in those towers. They died that day.
Before I go on, DO NOT feel sorry for me – not asking for it, not why I’m doing this, and there’s no reason to. Most times someone knows a friend or old friend better than you do, and that’s the case here – meaning a lot more folks were far more affected than me. Some still are affected, even including me, which I guess is why I’m writing this. Not exactly sure….
That outta the way, let’s get one thing straight: The 10th “anniversary” of 9/11 sucks.
No other way to say it. No one here is looking forward to it – no one I know of, anyway. How could you? I guess if some of the families directly affected by 9/11 get something good out of this Sunday, that’s wonderful, but I think most people are kind of dreading it.
I have friends who still can’t talk about, or even barely think about, 9/11 and the friend or friends they lost that day. It’s kind of all rolled up into how they died, more than just that they passed on, if you know what I mean. The whole thing was a close-to-home horror.
Don’t know about them – since we never talk about 9/11 – but I’ve still yet to watch the footage shot that day. Always turn it off or change the channel. Makes me sick, and I’m sure the same goes for others…including folks with one or zero degrees of separation from other “public tragedies” – like OKC, for one.
(On a wall in their house my folks have a photograph of something in NYC on 9/11 – “something” because I’m not real sure what it is, because I never look at it. It’s something somewhere in the vicinity of the Towers. I’m sure it’s a powerful photograph, but….)
My buds feel angry, sad, confused, pain – because they still think about it. Not every day anymore, but they do. Or it’s more like they live with it. It’s there, just under the surface.
So they don’t want no stinkin’ “anniversary.” Don’t need it. Or maybe they do, if it means tears in beers and it yanks the door of pain another millimeter toward closure. But I really don’t think any one thing will do that. Just time.
I recently watched, unplanned, a documentary on the death of Pat Tillman, the NFL player turned Army Ranger killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan (the politicians and generals in that movie will make you want to puke). In the movie, Tillman’s family talked about how hard it was to have to grieve publicly, almost like they were trotted out for show.
I’m pretty sure that’s how some folks in what’s called the tri-state area (NY/NJ/CT) feel about this 10-years-after “occasion.” Do these folks really want all the phone calls and letters, invites and TV/radio interviews, to relive something unbelievably painful that happened 10 years ago? That they’ve been trying hard to pull through and move forward from ever since?
I suppose it’s good to celebrate the selfless heroes of 9/11, truly New York’s finest. But that’s different than the situation for the rest of the folks who died that day – hopefully that makes sense.
Then there’s the fact that we’re in the midst of what seems like a never-ending election cycle, so the political half-humans are gonna try to make hay from it, of course…. Even Rudy Giuliani tried to do that at one point. Like I said, half humans.
Gonna stop here a minute and read a piece I wrote 5 years ago on BassFan, see what if anything has changed.
Okay, back. In 2006 I wrote: “For people from the New Jersey, New York, Connecticut area, 9/11 is never really over.”
Still true.
It’s not over, won’t be over, can’t be over I guess until those of us who’ve been directly affected by it pass away. Like it was for Pearl Harbor or the JFK assassination or whatever.
In that 2006 piece I also thanked folks in the military for serving, and I want and need to thank them all again – but I wish there was a much stronger word than “thank.” I’m talking about the folks actually in the fight and their families, the ones who lay it all out on the line.
Imo, that’s not just courage and patriotism, it’s love, whether they know it or not. To quote the greatest guy to have ever walked this planet:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
That’s John 15:13, btw.
Guess that’s all I got. Do me a favor if you can: I understand 9/11 was a national tragedy, but please…don’t watch. Don’t watch the people, the planes, the towers, the smoke, the crying.
(The mass media is selling commercials against that, for cryin’ out loud. How sick is that?)
Instead, if you’re so motivated, say a prayer for the folks who died that day or because of that day. And for their families, our soldiers and their families, and for the people victimized every day by the nutcases in dry countries who started this whole thing.
Then go out and fish, and – here’s the important part – take the time to appreciate it. I know at least one guy who died that day would want us to be out having a good time. And he’d for sure make fun of us for bassin’.
13 Comments
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Chris
September 9, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Someone finally got it right! Well said.
Tumblebug
September 9, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Yep.
Matt
September 9, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Amen, brother. And, yes, the Pat Tillman piece spoke volumes, too, on many other fronts.
Randy S. Breth
September 11, 2011 at 8:08 pm
You’re right on Jay – good post.
Let’s remember, and move on. B
Rich Arnold
September 12, 2011 at 8:30 am
I saw this post on Friday, but didn’t want to read it initially, but Jay…I did what you asked: Went fishing on Saturday (bass had trouble connecting with the frog, but tried hard), and did not watch a single minute of the 9/11 stuff. Not because you said, but because I can’t stand it either. 9/11 changed my life like it did for many Americans. Mostly because at that point I had already served 15 years in the military with two “so-called” combat tours. In truth, Desert Storm and Just Cause paled in comparison to Iraq and Afghanistan. From that day through the next nine years, I spent my time consumed with taking the fight to the terrorists. Yes, there was some innoscence lost and several personal sacrifices, but that is all in a day’s work for Soldiers. You called it love and maybe it is…a love for our posterity. It’s hard to think of that as love, but it is done for the betterment of our sons and daughters. However, most of America appreciates our Soldiers. We feel it and we don’t doubt it. Not because of programs on the news or ceremonies. It’s because you can’t go anywhere and not be thanked or get a pat on the back. All my family and friends are so proud. It is kind of humbling and a little embarrassing. So, we feel it….and thank you for recognizing and appreciating it. I just wish that the Vietnam era guys could cash in on a little of that love and appreciation. I think my generation is the benifactor of their suffering and sacrifice. If you see a Vietnam veteran thank him too…he needs it as much if not more. Nice piece buddy!!!
admin (mostly Jay)
September 12, 2011 at 9:50 am
Rich, thanks much for serving, man, and for reading — I hear ya about not wanting to read it. And you’re dang right about Vietnam vets. They got it the worst. I always make it a point to say thanks to ’em.
Rich Arnold
September 12, 2011 at 11:49 am
Thanks so much for doing that Jay! It means a ton. Appreciate your comments.
Alex Voog
September 12, 2011 at 9:43 am
As a kid of maybe 10, first time in NYC, I remember standing a the foot of the Twin Towers, on a bright summer day, tilting my head back and being AMAZED at the scope of the titans. I recorded 24 hours straight of the CNN coverage on my VCR, I have never watched them, but I still have them, and will keep them long after my last VCR stops working. I see Hollywood movies that show the towers as they stood, snapshots in time, and I grind my teeth. The psyche of this GREAT country was bruised, and they say time heals all things (I call B.S.), but the scars remain, as they damn well should. We should never, EVER, forget, and I personally will never EVER, forgive. The late great Richard Rescorla, Welshman turned 100% American and survivor of LZ X-Ray (he’s also the infantryman in the photo on the original cover of the book “We Were Soldiers Once And Young”) prophesied that the tower WOULD be attacked again- just as it was in 1993. He was in the building that day as well. He was the head of Morgan Stanley Security and saved HUNDREDS of peoples lives on 9/11, he and his right hand man died that day looking for others to save, foregoing numerous chances to save themselves. He TOLD us, and we (more so, the powers that be) abjectly failed. I remember and honor those lives that were horrifyingly lost on 9/11/2001 all the time, but I don’t let it “eat me up”, I just don’t need a special day to remind me. Scumbags will always try to turn a profit from tragedy, always have, always will. Our job is to remember Flight 93, The Pentagon, and The Twin Trade Centers Towers, all those lost that day and since, and exponentially, and unflinchingly, increase our resolve and efforts to prevent this from ever happening again. Double Tapping Osama bin Laden in the brain stem was a nice moment of closure, now get off your laurels and watch our damn backs! Yes, I fished yesterday, 9/11 in honor of those that would like to have done that as well. I never set the hook, and I’m OK with that….. sorry for the FRAT.
admin (mostly Jay)
September 12, 2011 at 9:54 am
I hear ya man. Our hostages in Iran (79-81), when they came back, told the feds that the biggest threat to the US wasn’t the Russians, it was militant Islamists or whatever the PC name for them is. Don’t think the geniuses in DC listened to well.
Alex Voog
September 14, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Jay, and BASSPARADERS, if you want a “summation” about Richard Rescorla read this: http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/000307.html If you want to read the book about his life, an amazing story, read “Heart of a Soldier” by James B. Stewart. I stand to correct myself, he is credited with saving 2700 people that day….
Matt
September 13, 2011 at 11:58 am
Awesome piece, Jay. I think having an “anniversary” for an event like this is just…well…retarded. It tarnishes what it was and what it has meant to this country.
Almost like 10 years is different than 9 or 11 years. Every DAY means something…weeks, years, decades…they don’t mean anything more than every day that goes by.
Rich, very well said. You nailed a lot of things that go through my mind. Even in uniform i make a point of approaching the guys with the Vietnam vet hats on, shaking their hand, and welcoming them home.
I didn’t watch any 9/11 “coverage”. Because i’m deployed and living the results.
Part of me thinks that it should be shown every day, though. Right along with the National Anthem and a Pledge of Allegiance first thing in the morning. We can’t afford to forget what happened that day. We can’t afford to forget how we felt. America has already forgotten that we’re at war…a war that may prove to be as important as any war we’ve had to fight.
A buddy of mine said it best: “America isn’t at war. America’s military is at war. America is at the mall.”
Rich Arnold
September 13, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Matt stay safe and God’s Speed. The fish will be bitting when you get back! Thank you for not going to the mall.
Bill McElroy
September 14, 2011 at 6:15 am
Excellent column Jay,..as usual!! I couldn’t agree more,…seems our mainstream media just loves to open old wounds all the time in the name of “healing”. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but whenever I had a wound…I wasn’t instructed by doctor’s to keep “opening it” in order for it to heal! I went fishing with a buddy on 9/11….we only mentioned the signifigance of the day once, and that was enough. It still resonates and hurts deeply within both of us, and we too are forever grateful for the men & women who stepped up to face the horrors of that day and the fight that would lay ahead….but we spent the day doing what we LOVE to do,…not sitting around picking at old wounds hoping it will help them heal! God Bless the USA!