Serious Topic for Discussion

[TimS]

We have beat the college sports/trucks/guns/whiskey debates into the ground, so I am going to bring up a subject that touched a nerve tonight and I want you guys to give me your thoughts and feelings...

There was a post on the lounge earlier this evening that a guy started about those who were forced to jump from the WTC on 9/11. I'm sure most of you have seen those pictures and some may have seen the thread. Immediately the usual gang jumped the guy in the lounge, calling him every name in the book and demanding the thread be pulled. I posted my thoughts, stating that I thought those images should be shown every day and I had no problem with it.

As I stood outside my garage grilling a steak and drinking brew after brew while I stared at my boat, truck, house, and all the other things I have been blessed with, it kept eating at me that this guy on the lounge was getting pounded for trying to make people remember that feeling they had on 9/11. We have people (many from the KS forum) that have given everything they had to fight for us before, during, and after 9/11 and there are guys on the lounge trying to "censor" the images and feelings from that day that brought our country together for the first time in a long time. I think far too many people have forgotten that feeling they had that day. Sure those guys that were ripping the guy on the lounge say they will always remember, but to me it seems like they were trying to avoid that feeling of anger/guilt/sadness/determination that we all felt that day.

My question is, why should we feel any different today? 9/11 was real and as a country if we all start to forget the way we felt that morning, we are in big trouble.

I will step down off my soapbox and go mix a nightcap, but before I crash I will look at those pictures one more time and thank God for all that I am blessed with and pray for those who have died protecting our life, liberty, and happiness.

Sorry for getting long winded, it's not something I normally do on here but that deal on the lounge touched a nerve. If any of the moderators have a problem with this, well, so be it.

[Bassman25]

I am totally with you on this one...people forget about what happened, you know, there wasnt even that much on the news today about the 9/11 trajedy. its like americans have forgotten because our fearless leaders are letting those towel heads do what they want...i am totally for a fella posting some picture and pointing out what we have forgotten...so Tim, you are correct in your post

[caseysmith14]

I wish I would have seen his original post. But I am in aggreeance, those pictures/videos; if posted in the right way surely are not wrong and can do nothing but help us remember what those people went though as a result of terrorists.

[dukhntr]

I think that is the best post I have ever read on here.

[R.D.]

Tim,

there seems to be more and more people Every day that forget sad but true........but I also think that some people have a hard time with the realization that it actualy happened.........the Same thing could have been Said about Pearl Harbor. I remember my Grandfather telling me that Everything STOPPED when it came across the airwaves.........very similar to what we all did on 9/11.......For some they didnt even know Hawaii was a State.....and others couldnt Fathom an attatck on American soil.......let alone that it was over 1000 miles away and no one could truly "see" the devistation unless you went to the movies or had a TV to see the Pearl Harbor Clips just to see what had happened.

Personally.....I think 9/11 has been one of the most Devistating in American History.........not Only did they attatck on American Soil........but everything we see happen before our Eye's was LIVE.........even after the 1st plane had hit the tower and the Cameras were pointed in the Direction adn watching........I was watching it for sure.....then out of no Where.....the Second Plane Hit I couldt believe what I was seeing........it almost felt as if my Heart Stopped.........and while I was at work......I saw those same images you did........over and over again........then seeing the towers drop......I was in uddre shock the rest of the Day......I didnt get anything done at all.


SO to answer your Question..........We shouldnt FEEL any differnt....I DONT. but many peopl just want to forget it.....and thats wrong. There are too many bestowing a Live and Let live policy anymore.....this is not right sometimes......You are also right on the Sense that they want "Avoidence"......they want to avoid all the things you mentioned because they seem to think that WE can be a "better Society" by avoiding these feelings.

WELL............all I got to say about that is;

Anger.......Keeps out Troops ALIVE
Guilt.........Keeps Americans thinking of 9/11
Sadness....Keeps the Memories alive
Determination..........Keeps Americans Safe, Troops set in ONE common Goal, and allows some of us to remain Focused on What needs to be done.....and to keep at it till the Job is DONE

[Jiggernaut]

Evidently the thread got pulled pretty quick. I heard last night about some schools in Utah, that banned, I think, an observance of 9/11 cause the graphic nature of the event was too much for some of its students and some of them weren't even born yet. I think that is dead wrong and a typical liberal way to sweep something under the rug.

I can remember for as long as I've been around, being reminded with various images, the events that occured with the attack on Pearl Harbor, not to mention all the stirring images I saw as a child on TV with the Vietnam War going on. I've never forgotten them and those types of things are part of what molded me into the person I am today. It's like the death of a loved one. Eventually, you must move on, but you must never forget.....

[Hydrilla Gorilla]

IMHO what we are suffering from as a whole, now (all too soon after 9/11) is the sleeping giant syndrome. Simply put the majority has forgotten. They see maybe 30-90 seconds of what some liberal media station wants them to see over their evening meal and are too far removed from the front lines to worry about it. Your average Joe isn’t the patriot that guys like us are. I think they’re comfortable with their individual successes in life and business and leave the fate of the country up to politicians and the war fighting to less than 1% of the American population that serves in the Armed Forces. I wouldn’t ask that every American pick up a weapon and stand a post, but if they fail to show support and respect for those that do as well as for our government they may have to on their own soil. I couldn’t agree more that the images of 9/11, while tragic and unpleasant should remain uppermost in the minds of every American and serve as a reminder that this war is real. Anyone who thinks that Democratic promises of dropping everything and bringing soldiers home is the right answer lacks the foresight to realize that the fight will once again be brought to our shores. There is no peaceful resolution to this war because the terrorist’s mind doesn’t work that way. No politician is going to sit down and negotiate a fairytale ending to this. I pray that I will never have to stand guard over my home and my family as a foreign army of terrorists invades my native soil, but it’s a clear and distinct possibility in my lifetime if we (as the American society) fail to keep the war overseas. The images of 9/11 bound us together in patriotism then and shouldn’t IMHO be hidden away, or kept from school children. To do so would be an insult to the memory of those who sacrificed on that fateful day.

[Jeff S]

Very well said Tim. My hats off to ya...

[Beetle]

I'm with you Tim. 9/11 is a part of our history and present. People just want to ignore or forget what happened that day, and I think it's horrible. How would we know or learn from the horrors of the Holocaust without the pictures of Auschwitz? I remember seeing pics of concentration camps in my history books as a kid. If it weren't for those pictures I don't think I would truly understand the horrors of WWII. I would say that there are better ways to memorialize all that lost their lives on 9/11 that showing people jumping out of windows, but never to show those images would sugar coat what really happened that day. My opinion is the graphic pics belong in History books, etc., but aren't exactly the images that some want to see. Just my .02

[R.D.]