9-11 Remembered! - a photo on Flickriver

9-11 Remembered!

            I created this collage one year ago to the day in memory of all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. I will continue to post it on this date, for years to come.. We will always remember!

 I do not consider myself naïve and I did not just ride into town and fall off a turnip truck. 
I have spent almost seven-score years on this earth and have traveled extensively. I have lived in Europe and spent time in the Middle East, valuing and appreciating their different cultures and the diversity.

That said, here are my thoughts on this day of remembrance:

Sure, there are lots of things wrong with the United States of America. There are a lot of things that we need to fix.  Right now our elected politicians can't even come together for the good of the country much less the good of the world. 

It makes us sad but at the same time there remains hope, because there are a lot of things “RIGHT” about this country.  On this day we all need to reflect on and be thankful for them.  We have personal freedoms and a standard of living that are only dreamed of in other parts of the world.

Unfortunately our country, like the rest of the world today lives in a defensive crouch, waiting for the next heinous act of terrorism to happen. There are children in parts of the world today that are being taught intolerance and hate by their elders, parents and religious leaders. They are being taught to mistrust their neighbor and those that are different. 

Is this the kind of world we want to leave to our children, and our children’s children?

Instead of hate, teach the next generation, and future generations the value of working together toward World Peace and we might just be able to break the chain of violence and terror that plagues us today!

Hate begets hate and violence begets violence. I suspect that the first thing humans did, when they came out of caves, was to start throwing rocks at their neighbors. Fear and aggression make terrible bedfellows but we continue to learn little from the lessons of the past.
 
There was no rational or acceptable excuse for what happened on 9/11/2001 – NONE!
The lives of innocent men women and children were taken that day by a few radical extremists who thought their cause could really justify what they did and make a difference to the world. 

Well they were right in one sense, it did! It united us in a common purpose, but at the same time it has brought undue hardship and suffering to the very people terrorists and extremists claim to represent. It is always the innocent that suffer most!

We all live in the same world! Terrorist acts are like bombing or setting fire to your own home because we did not like someone in the next room, what they believed in, or what they say.  It is lunacy to think that killing and maiming innocent people, and orphaning their children, makes any cause just! 

People of the world must condemn terrorism in all its hideous forms, whether it be in the United States, Britain, Ireland, Pakistan, Somalia or anywhere else.

The only way this type of violence will ever end is for the many, all over the world, to stand up to the few and say; “ENOUGH! You are a scourge on humankind and we will not support you, give you shelter or tolerate you any longer!”

***
lyrics to the song "The Kingdom Of Heaven"
- by Melissa Etheridge. 

A suffering soul on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven
Held up a sign that says "God hates America"
A child has been lost
A mother is shocked and is grieving
And turning away, turning away

He said there is a love that is so hideous and destructive
We must drive it from Earth to save all of our children
He must know it well
In the night it's the hell that he speaks of
It keeps him awake, keeps him awake

My God is love
My God is peace
My God loves you
My God loves me

A suffering soul on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven
Prayed in the dark, "Death to the infidel"
He strapped all his desperate pain and his faith to his body
And blew them away, blew them away

A suffering soul on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven
Shouts on the news, "They are the godless ones"
The anger inside and the fear that it hides
never leave her
When the cameras are gone, when the cameras move on

Oh, people, c'mon? tell me where is your Kingdom of Heaven?
Where is your faith?
Where do you put your fear?
Do you have a price for truth and a price for believing?
And heaven is here, heaven is here

My God is love
My God is peace
My God is you
And my God is me.

- Rick
   

Taken on: November 8, 2008

Tags:

9-11

New York City

terroristic acts

terrorism

extremism

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