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September 11, 2006
They were always there
It seemed like they were always there, in the background. I never really liked them; too sterile, too modern, lacking any of the lush style and flair of the older buildings that made Manhattan such an architectural delight.
Rockefeller Center; the Empire State Building; the Chrysler Building. Man, they're beautiful.
But the behemoths that claimed lower Manhattan for themselves were so cold, devoid of human warmth or scale. The plaza between them was always a windy, barren patch of concrete, too cold and desolate for even the bums and pigeons. One hurried through the space as the wind howled, anxious to get inside, blind to the hidden charms of the twins.
But now, paging through a stack of old vacation photos, I spy a shot taken from Brooklyn, and there, in the background, they stand, beneath an oddly dark cloud.
And now they're gone, with their thousands of occupants and the brave firefighters and policemen who perished with them, too.
Only now do I realize that I miss them, never mind their ugliness or their ever-so-sophisticated design. They were a part of Manhattan, and if they were going to be stay or go, well, that was our decision.
And every time I look at the skyline, I'll think that it just looks wrong, and then I'll get mad. Because the appropriate response isn't sadness or sorrow or mournful contemplation.
Rage. White-hot fury. The need -- NEED, damn it! -- for vengeance. These are what the perfidious act of war inflicted upon our citizens require, and what our war dead demand. Our enemies sneer, laugh and mock any talk of healing, forgiveness and moving on. The jihad doesn't require our consent; only our necks stretched bare for the blade.
And what of those ugly Twin Towers, laid low by our enemies? I miss the skyline I knew and took for granted, and all the New Yorkers I had yet to know -- and never will after 9/11.
Posted by Mike Lief at September 11, 2006 12:01 AM
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Comments
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are a part of numerous movies that include the skyline of New York. Since 2001, it is a painful reminder in an otherwise upbeat movie to see those towers and know that hateful terrorists caused their destruction and the loss of thousands of lives on September 11th. But we need to be reminded.
There were other reminders before September 11th that were not acknowledged as they should have been: the terrorist attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the terrorist attack on our embassies in Africa, and the terrorist attacks on the USS Cole. Each of those attacks was in reality an act of war upon the United States, but they were treated as criminal incidents. Until the Islamofacists are part of history as yet another defeated evil regime that sought to control the destiny of the United States, we need to remember that we are at war and we must stay focused on the strategies that lead to victory in a war - not a court case.
Michelle Malkin had a compelling note on her blog of September 11, 2006. She suggested that the 9/11 pledge should be as stated in Arabic: "lan astaslem." It means "I will not surrender/I will not submit." The Arab TV network Aljazeera frequently carries the messages of the terrorists to us. We need to persistently and insistently carry our own message to the other side. Only I suggest that Michelle Malkin’s pledge needs to be modified to “We will not surrender – We will not submit.” We must be united against this enemy as we were against our enemies in World War II.
Posted by: Macman at September 12, 2006 11:01 PM