#41342
09/13/2001 5:39 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Inselpeter - thank you for the painful descriptions and the good, beautiful thoughts.
Let us not visit more tragedy on our own. For that is who 'they' are. Us. Let the new theater of war finally begin with empathy.
I'd hope to have the strength of character to have such clarity in such a chaotic time, and I hope that the wonderful people of New York, and of the U.S., share your view.
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#41343
09/13/2001 5:48 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
Thank Heavens, I just got an e-mail from two friends who live a block from the WTC. They just bought a loft there in June, and I'd been unable to reach them. They made it out as the second tower collapsed. Thank you, Inselpeter, for offering to try to reach them for me.
I'm reeling again. It's incredible how many times the enormity of this tragedy can come home to one - and I know we still don't know just how bad it really is.
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#41344
09/13/2001 6:46 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
there is a local number that can give out names of everyone accounted for-- hyla, i am so glad you don't need it. i am sure it will be busy.. 1 212-447-2998. it won't be able to give you any more information except to say, yes, this person is a known survivor. many of the survivors are in shelters, with limited access to phones, (and no ability to get incoming calls)telephone phone traffic into an out of manhattan, or in out NYC is still spotty- you get busy circut signals. i can get on-line because i have a local (queens) access #. the building that is now crumbling, is across the street to the west of WTC.. the grey bar on tsumw map is a pedestrian bridge to the building.. these building took the brunt of the explosion.. they are new, curtain wall buildings, but many of the building on the east, south, or north side of WTC are older, masonary building-- and a masonary skyscraper, has a huge, physical mass, walls can be as thick as meter at the base. and WTC is lower.. (elevation, maybe 15 feet about sea level, but broadway is about 30, 40 feet above sea level, a steep enough difference that at place, just two blocks south of WTC have sets of stairs, not sidewalks.. (one building provides an escalator..) my building, (30 stories, my office 26th) was "in line " of site (that is, i didn't have to look up ..) to see first crash site (100 floor) partly that is just perspective, but i guess, our 26th floor was even with 50 floor of WTC. but Liberty plaza was built on land fill, and was even lower.. but the good news is, sonar is picking up 3 different 'tap" patterns.. so at least 3 survivers exist.. manybe more.. in looking at tsumw map, i work (well, make that used to work!) is just off the map, just north of city hall. tomorrow i will work at alternate work site, in NJ. some of the images on the time (mag) site, show lobbies/atriums of building in WTC-- even at ground zero, there is still an atrium with a dozen trees standing.. this is an image about 1 block --2tenths of a mile from WTC notice the cars, and benchs, and trees in the park are mostly undamaged, but covered with 2 to 3 inches of ash/dust. http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/rescue2/3.html
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#41345
09/13/2001 9:56 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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Helen,
I am so glad you survived and are back here. Everything is so much a daze. I will try to contact you soon.
Thank you, Hyla, for your generous remarks and kind spirit.
Thank all of you for all your expressions of caring. Believe me, every word is as heaven sent. It has meant a great deal to me that *all **all of you have been there. We are together.
With love,
IP
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#41346
09/13/2001 11:23 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Word today that The Republic of Ireland has set aside tomorrow Sept. 14 as a national day of prayer and condolence for USA. Only essential services operating.
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#41347
09/13/2001 11:51 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
I wish all innocent victims of the WTC attack the very best under the circumstances, and all the innocent victims of the imminent "YOU FUCK WITH US AT YOUR OWN PERIL" attacks by the U.S. my best wishes. Attacks by the Americans will serve only to further polarise the world's political and religious groups and will, like those in New York, sprend only terror and fear.
Those on both sides of the fence will have thus proven their collective disregard for the lessons taught by their purported religions - ONCE AGAIN!
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#41348
09/14/2001 2:15 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
belligerentyouth
Those on both sides of the fence will have thus proven their collective disregard for the lessons taught by their purported religions - ONCE AGAIN!
And on and on and on--
Hopelessness is what I feel.
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#41349
09/14/2001 4:18 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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I decided the post that used to be here belonged more to the remedy/response thread so I've moved it. Sorry if I've confused anyone.
Bingley
Bingley
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#41350
09/14/2001 9:35 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
their purported religions
Indeed® If you stacked up all the evil and inhumane deeds down the centuries, how many would be free of the taint of religious zeal? God must be really confused, being asked to fight himself in so many wars.
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#41351
09/14/2001 9:55 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
If you wake up with any optimism in your hearts, you might like to look at pictures from my hometown. http://www.rebuilding-manchester.co.uk/photos/It was "only" a building that was bombed and thankfully no-one lost their life, although livelihoods were affected for many. I'm not sure if the hope for the future of the city is misplaced but I know that people are doing their best as I see those in New York trying to pick through the ashes.
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#41352
09/14/2001 10:37 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I just got this from Capital Kiwi (thanks, friend):
...at the changing of the guard at Buck House yesterday the band played the AMERICAN national anthem as a mark of respect and tribute. It's the first time EVER that the band didn't play God Save The Queen.
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#41353
09/14/2001 10:40 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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#41354
09/14/2001 11:25 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613 |
Oh, Max--my tears are streaming...thank you for posting that.
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#41355
09/14/2001 11:32 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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This from where I was born: A BBC correspondent in the city says she saw two people killed with machetes by people shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).Just a couple of the 500 deaths this week from god-fearing Christians and Muslims. In February 2000, more than 2,000 people were killed in religious unrest in Kaduna, and some 450 more Nigerians died in reprisals in the south-east of the country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1541000/1541901.stm
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#41356
09/14/2001 2:20 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
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and the UK had 3 minutes silence today (as presumably did most of Europe), which was widely honoured. Even our local buses stopped where they were.
We all know people who have friends, colleages, and even relatives caught up in the horror. My daughter is in financial recruitment and has arranged jobs in WTC for several clients. Some she has heard from, some not. IBM had an employee on one of the planes, and the daughter of an employee on another. The hideous anonymous numbers are becoming more personal as the stories come through.
The list of countries with victims is large.
Even Sweden has made a firm statement about committing its resources, unusual considering its solid previous neutrality.
Our hearts you have, and now some promises. For what, we don't know yet.
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#41357
09/14/2001 2:28 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
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at the changing of the guard at Buck House yesterday the band played the AMERICAN national anthem as a mark of respect and tribute. It's the first time EVER that the band didn't play God Save The Queen.
This was done (according to what I heard on TV) at the personal request and direction of the Queen.
There are no words to express ...
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#41358
09/14/2001 2:52 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
The outpouring of support and kindness from Nations around the world is deeply appreciated. Thank you all from this American.
Here is an Email I received three different versions of - some long, some short - which I have sent to every US name on my mailing list so some may have it already.
Americans! Show Unity Tonight at 7 p.m.
Tonight, Friday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. step out your door, stop your car, or step out of your establishment and light a candle, turn on a flashlight, flick on a lighter, if you are house-bound turn on outside lights, place a light in the window. We will show the world that Americans are strong and united together against terrorism.
Please pass this to everyone on your e-mail list.
Business people : spread the word to your neighbor businesses who may not have Email.
We need to reach everyone across the United States quickly
As this is written, the services at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. are underway with President, all former Presidents and Vice Presidents attending, Army Orchestra and Navy Sea Chanty Chorus, Cathedral Choir. Watch TV if you can. It is heartening.
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#41359
09/14/2001 3:10 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
addict
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609 |
450 more Nigerians died
I witnessed the results of previous turmoil in Nigeria which led to the Biafran war, with refugee trains of people injured and corpses mutilated with machetes. I am all too painfully aware of man's inhumanity to other men, and the casualness with which it can be inflicted. But I have never managed to understand how people can make that terrible step.
I have also witnessed a terrorist (Basque or sympathiser) bomb in Germany; it was only by luck that no-one (including myself and family)was killed or seriously injured. Again, even if the attack was against the Spanish consulate, I fail to see how maiming innocent bystanders can further the cause driving these fanatics. But then I have never lived in an "occupied" country or considered myself at war. And I know war dehumanises us all.
If we knew more about the how and why, we might be able to find ways to resolve or lessen at least some of the conflicts. Some lessons might be learned from Northern Ireland. While no-one pretends that the Northern Ireland problem is solved, the worst excesses (on all sides) have diminished considerably, which has allowed some semblance of normal life to resume. But the enmity runs deep and the ambitions of the various sides are fundamentally incompatible, so we are not safe yet.
The Northern Ireland problem was not improved by ridding the province of all the terrorists, (that is almost impossible by military means and even the ones locked up are now back on the streets) but by showing that terrorism was unlikely to achieve their aims and by providing a political framework that might do so. There are other issues such as removing the active support base in the community, and making arms and money more difficult to obtain. This is a slow process which has to be coordinated on many fronts, political, social, economic, international, intelligence, and military. And sacred cows (including vengeance and justice) have to be compromised on the way.
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#41360
09/14/2001 3:10 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<no words can express...>>
but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks
***
Because it must be said--and not because it need be directed at any member of this community--and said over and over again, as the images of the falling towers have been broadcast and rebroadcast, violence against Muslims such as has been reported, must be universally abhorred. I distinguish that maxim, in this case, from violent justice brought on criminals. But it is absolute. The compounding of tragedy, the multiplication of crimes against humanity, cannot be. We are better than that. We must be.
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#41361
09/14/2001 3:29 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
The compounding of tragedy, the multiplication of crimes against humanity, cannot be. We are better than that. We must be.
Amen.
"we must be" ... or we surrender our humanity.
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#41362
09/14/2001 5:29 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 4,757 |
Yes, exactly. Over this there can surely be no disagreement - we have to rise again, to the heights of what we can be, not the depths of what we have seen this week.
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#41363
09/14/2001 6:18 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<not the depths of what we have seen this week.>>
No, indeed. But to the heights of what we have seen this week--when the grandeur of the human spirit has shown itself in very small, very intimate acts of kindness, caring and immense self-sacrifice. The front of what is good in us is in the minutia of interpersonal act and expression. If I can occassionally be convinced that anything exists in this world, it is love. New Yorkers begin to donn their poker faces again, but we have seen each others' hearts. Along with every anguish, that is the vision to sear into heart and mind as memorial of what this time has wrought.
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#41364
09/15/2001 11:23 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 2,605 |
A good friend asked me, "How valuable were the WTC buildings? In dollars, what were they worth, and who will bear that loss?" (My business is in the field of commercial real estate.) Appreciating that dollars can never be an appropriate measure of this terrible tragedy, the following may nonetheless be of interest:
July 25, 2001: Leasing of Trade Center May Help Transit Projects, Pataki Says. By RONALD SMOTHERS Source: The New York Times Abstract: Gov George E Pataki, speaking at closing of Port Authority's $3.2 billion deal to lease World Trade Center, NYC, to partnership of Silverstein Properties and Westfield America, says funds from deal could help finance long-stalled Second Avenue subway and plans to provide tunnel access for Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal; hails Port Authority's return to its core mission: transportation; Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani, whose administation has been at odds with Port Authority, does not attend ceremony Lead Paragraph: Gov. George E. Pataki, speaking yesterday at the closing of the $3.2 billion deal to lease the World Trade Center, said the money from the deal could help finance the long-stalled Second Avenue subway and plans to provide tunnel access for Long Islan...
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#41365
09/15/2001 2:54 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
For a little relief from all the horror, check tsuwms other thread on "ghosts" in Wordplay and Fun.
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#41366
09/15/2001 9:06 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
As an aside to all, please plese please check your home, auto, and perhaps ife insurance policies to see if there is a terrorism/act of war exclusion.
I am beginning to fear that the administration's continued references to the attacks in NY and DC as acts of war is going to trigger these clauses.
My auto insurance policy excludes both from coverage.
I have to assume that the owners of the WTC either did not have the exclusion or sought extra protection after the 1993 bomb attack
Ted
TEd
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#41367
09/15/2001 9:20 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Radio today quoted a spokesman from the Insurance Information Institute (if I got the name right). In the course of a much longer discussion, he projected that future insurance policies "will have" such an exclusion. From which I deduce that a typical policy today would not have an exclusion which, properly read, would apply.
The institute's website appears to be www.iii.org, but that is not responding at this time.
BTW - I have little doubt that after WTC management experienced the 1993 bombing there, they made sure to have applicable insurance coverage (if indeed they had not had it before).
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#41368
09/16/2001 4:04 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<I just got this from Capital Kiwi (thanks, friend):
...at the changing of the guard at Buck House yesterday the band played the AMERICAN national anthem as a mark of respect and tribute. It's the first time EVER that the band didn't play God Save The Queen.>>
It occurred to me today, to enjoy the irony of the Royal Guard playing an anthem which recalls the war of our liberation from the British Empire.
(There are a couple of theses lurking in that, but I was just enjoying the smile it the thought brought--and, anyway, bless them for it)
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#41369
09/16/2001 6:25 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 3,409 |
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#41370
09/16/2001 6:55 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Among the monuments left to photograph, the Empire State Building stands tall. But if you do stop to take a picture of it, you may notice something different near the top. The ring of twinkling lights is gone from the observation deck: there are no tourists there photographing you. The building has been left unilluminated at night since, I don’t even remember when it was, Monday? It would almost be comforting to suppose it were a sign of mourning, but one has to think it is a question of defense.
In the park are those who point it out on this second of loveliest days—but not many, it is relatively quiet in Midtown—this last and longest standing of rivalrous siblings. And where are they, all those hordes of visitors? Not on the streets. But there has been no egress from a newly sober Gotham. Ninth wonder of the world this, the withdrawal of the polyglot throng.
Most do not look long at the building, though. They prefer their books, a hand around their coffee, an arm around their love. Different sorts of comfort in the spectrum of that emotional intensity through which we pass in the course of a normal day. These comforts carry new meaning, now, in the very fact of their belonging to that spectrum. More than simple reminiscences of the ordinary, they are the—only seemingly—tentative taproots of imperative life.
And people do watch the building; I am sure, it is as a signal of that life.
Tomorrow, the Stock Exchange will reopen. The first one or two are bound to be madhouse days. Then things will settle into a semblance of the ordinary. For weeks, the invisible hand will play the shell game of prosperity or want beside a now workman-like search for bodies, evidence, the excavation of rubble. For years, if we are fortunate enough to have them left to number, the business community will work beside the terrible void in the skyline.
It will take more than good fortune, but diligence with which the ordinary will never again be quite so ordinary. And that is where I take heart in the 65% figure. It is not, for example, the resounding and nearly entire bigotry that met Al Smith when he campaigned against Hoover beyond the North East.
As a city, New York is far from innocent. We have been slavers. We have preached, from cloistered vantages, against almost every religion and ethnicity. But we have also welcomed them—ourselves. And if that welcome has often been exploitative, so, too, has it often been heartfelt. Queens, where Helen lives, is the most ethnically diverse landscape in the world.
In the course of my lifetime I have witnessed how, from some of the crimes we, as a nation, have perpetrated, we have begun to acquire a new sense of justice. Had Maverick not subjected the statistic to a sleight of hand—that is, were it even an authentic figure concerning an out and out call to violence, I would still find reason to take some sort of comfort in it. It is not 95%. And if we have learned so much as to quiet the call for blood that much, perhaps not all hope is lost.
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#41371
09/17/2001 12:05 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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an article I read long ago written by Isaac Asimov in which he bemoaned the fact that the anthem in its entirety, including the more openly anti-British stanzas, is not sung more often.
A scene recalled from several years ago: George Bush Sr., then the President, stood at attention while a singer, accompanied by band, sang "America the Beautiful". Bush was quietly singing along, to all four verses, and a little lip-reading made it obvious he knew all the words. That song's lyrics, unlike our anthem's, are not bloodthirsty. One thought expessed, of note today:
America, America,
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul
In self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
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#41372
09/17/2001 12:30 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508
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building has been left unilluminated at night since
NBC's coverage just ended with a shot of the Empire State Building - now proudly illuminated red white and blue at the top. The queen of the New York skyline sadly reigns again, reclaiming her status as the most recognizable skyscraper.
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#41373
09/17/2001 1:49 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
I've been meaning to keep the number of these things to a limit, but I have to tell you about this extraordinary experience I had this evening. At about 6:00, my brother phoned to say there was a rally being held on the Promenade at Brooklyn Heights for Muslims and non-Muslims to show solidarity. By the time I arrived, people were already leaving, but the crowd was still substantial. The promenade offers a spectacular view (sorry, it's such a tempting redundancy) of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as Governor's Island and the inner harbor and all the other islands in the inner harbor and the Verazzano bridge…you get the picture. A column of dust rises behind the buildings which once were footlights to the World Trade Center. Okay, you've had enough of these descriptions by now-I'm sure.
As I approached the Promenade proper, someone was singing "We Shall Overcome" over the p.a. system. I joined in heartily, but hardly anyone else did, there at the entrance. Then another singer sang something else I didn't know and then something I did know but couldn't sing in that key. And nothing happened after that.
After a while, I began to sing something, I think it's by Rav Nachman-at any rate, it's by a Jewish mystic, I believe, of the 18th or 19th Century (I believe-so, what else is new). The song is called "Kol HaOlam Ku-lo" I guess. It has a very simple lyric: "All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to fear, not to fear at all." I began just singing to myself. Standing on a park bench, in a crowd and sunglasses. But then the song carried me away and I sang it out. My eyes were shut and my legs were shaking.
When I finished, a small Jewish group nearby started singing "Heeneh ma tov" a very popular song from a Psalm of David: "Behold, how good it is [when] brothers sit together." After a while, that petered out and I began to sing "This Land is Your land." That finally got people going. We sang the two verses everyone knows and then looped back and did them again and finally threw in a couple of rounds of the chorus for good measure.
Then nobody could think of anything. My 'sister-in-law' suggested "Give Peace a Chance," but, come on, who knows the words or something? Well, we've been listening to the Star Spangled Banner a lot on the radio lately and I've been thinking about the lyrics.
Sorry, this needs a new paragraph. How the flag is *still there. And, after all, sullied as it may have been by the Vietnam War, the national anthem really isn't a war mongering song, it is about the battle of our independence. And if that makes you raise an eyebrow, I'd say I'm pretty much on the left, but I'm not orthodox. I'd been thinking about singing the Star Spangled Banner in front of the firehouse, anyway. In homage. So I sang it.
The objections came instantaneously. 'It is a war song.' Well, I'd started, and I wasn't about to stop. And here is the extraordinary part. I sang the national anthem and no one but my brother, in a display of solidarity with me, sang. Not only that, they said hostile things. And not only that, I watched them walk away from me. I wish I'd had my video camera. It was absolutely extraordinary. All of them walked away, and if they didn't walk away, they turned their backs.
I have no conclusions to draw from it, at the moment. But I think it was more sad than bizarre.
And it was very bizarre.
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#41374
09/17/2001 8:14 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
dear inselpeter,
perhaps people didn't sing along to your rendition of ASSB because they, as many others, particularly in such a melting-pot as NYC, don't feel the need to support an upsurge in patriotism in a country already swelling at the breast with pride. Perhaps they feel the need to think about global solidarity rather than hum that old tune. Some might go so far as to say that we live in a post-nationalist world - which the worldwide reactions to the murders, seen by many as an issue of cosmopolitan import, seem to confirm.
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#41375
09/17/2001 9:21 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Dear Blligerentyouth,
I think my posts until now suggest my agreement with the substance of your reply. For obvious reasons, The Star Spangled Banner became an emblem, to many, of shame during the Vietnam War. I grew up during that era and, believe me, the song still makes me uncomfortable. But listening to it--actually, singing it to myself--yesterday, I heard not something new in it but something old. The anthem does not glorify war but pays homage to indomitable spirit, to knowing what you would die for and living for it. Not even "the rockets' red glare" glorifies war. It speaks of the mortal danger of being under attack and standing firm, surviving with the integrity of one's humanity. As I write this I also realize that Key was not writing about *our rockets, but the rockets of the British. He is writing of the irony, if you will, of that same indomitable spirit made apparent in adversity.
That spirit is not something I have really understood before, and it is fundamental. Regarding the question of will, I would suggest we may not, in certain ways, will to live: we have no choice in the matter. As Heidegger says, sort of, we are thrown into being. But we can will how we live--we can know what we live for. This is related to what I meant when I replied to bel that people are not inherently good. To be 'good' is to choose to be good, to know what you would die for, and live for it.
The tenacity of life is palpable on many levels here, these days. On both the 'rudimentary' level of "throwness" and fear of death, and on the levels I have suggested are the sacred illusion of humanity. It is an illusion, partly, because we are not born with it. We choose it.
Speaking for myself, and emotionally, I would have no problem seeing the criminals who killed these members of our, yes, cosmopolitan community put before the firing squad. That may well be a 'justified' emotion and an unjustifiable response. I can't really work it out right now. But there must be no more carnage.
The birth memorialized in The Star Spangled Banner is of a nation which, in spite of our bitter history, has been dedicated to the principle that all [men] are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights...
I know the above paragraph is rife with irony and susceptible to skeptical retort. In spite of all the carnage and injustice in our history, our country is not without nobility. In spite of our parochialism, our country is hugely cosmopolitan.
I remain uncomfortable singing the national anthem and, if I may, to do so publicly is an act of courage, not so much before others as before myself. I sing it to remember the good, long buried in the export--and domestic implementation--of violence and economic repression. And I sang it yesterday because, I hoped, we could sing it together: Muslim and non-Muslim to say "all of us belong here, and the guarantee of freedom belongs to us all."
Seeing all the flags sprouting, it is hard not to be concerned about nationalism. But in the wake of these events, we-here--seek symbols which unite us. It is hard to express just how important this is. Patriotism is fraught with difficulty and yet, we recognize will to stand by each other. This rift in time will pass, and symbols will be reburdened with there usual difficult meanings. The display of the flag--my displaying it--or singing the national anthem is without rancor. It is to memorialize, in what might be described as an existential sense, the very best this country has stood for. It is to live for freedom and the sanctity of life. At the very least, it is to try to step away from cynicism and endorse as something far deeper than rhetoric, the spirit we may preserve in our constitution.
As a final note, I am surprised I could write this. I am not even sure I agree with everything I've said. I do, however, think the orthodox rejection of this symbolism and adoption of that is, in its particular development, often as narrow-minded and divisive as the qualities it derides.
The crisis here produces some unusual thoughts.
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#41376
09/17/2001 9:38 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<there is at least one other possibility..>>
This evening is Rosh Hashana, [one of] the Jewish new year[s]. We are in the month of Elul, "the days of awe," the period of national (in the ancient sense) penance.
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#41377
09/17/2001 11:56 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Dearest insel., You sweet thing, thank you for sharing so much with us--and please, keep it up, for as long as you want to, smoke descriptions and all. We can turn our televisions off and obtain some relief--you cannot, and if telling us here helps you any at all, Dear Heart, you just keep right on typing, until your fingers can't type any more. That was bizarre, that you were so scorned for singing the national anthem. I don't understand that, at all. Perhaps it was just me, perhaps it was my region, but---I don't recall there being a movement of criticism about the anthem, let alone that it's a "war song"--that is utterly ridiculous. I found a lovely site that describes how it came to be written. I'd love to put it all here, but it's just too long. The story of how the flag that Francis Scott Key saw came into being is neat. I, for one, get choked up just about every time I hear our national anthem, no matter the setting. http://www.usflag.org/francis.scott.key.html
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#41378
09/17/2001 8:01 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Oooh, I dunno. The song was written in the face of possible national annihilation by the British and begun under attack by them at that (thanks Jackie). I rather liked the irony of it being so popular in the UK right now ...  I must confess to amazement at the level of fellow-feeling there is towards the US by the British. I think that Tony Blair, overblown rhetoric and all, is really reflecting the British point of view, given what I've been hearing here in provincial, very, very provincial, Wellingborough.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#41379
09/17/2001 11:21 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
This link has pictures from around the world at American Embassies and other places. LOTS of pictures. May not be up long so ... http://www.fatwallet.com/thankyou.htm
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#41380
09/18/2001 1:21 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
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