Sounds of 9/11

Recently I watched (via Ace) a video of the Twin Towers coming down set to the music of America's Funniest Home Videos. I couldn't watch the complete clip and turned off pretty early on. I was disgusted that people can take such a huge tragedy for so many and turn it into a sick joke. It was as though they were under the impression that 9/11 was a hoax used by the Republican party to scare people for votes. Which leads me to believe there are some people that just don't get it. The crashing towers, the lives lost, and the historical consequences of this event are completely meaningless and unconnected to their lives.

Last night at the NYC Blogger bash I met a lot of ex-liberals like myself "mugged by reality." That reality, for most, was what happened on 9/11. For me it came in little spurts. But 9/11 was definitely the start of looking at the world in completely different way. Hopeful, a more truthful and direct way. (By the way I'm not saying that all liberals are bad and they don't understand the fight against Islamfascists.)

Gone were the ideals of "every person is wonderful in their own unique way". Gone was the ideals of diversity for the sake of making everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside. People, it turns out, are more mean and selfish than nice and caring. I now lived in a dangerous world and my the life I led could not be taken for granted or returned to what it was.

The weekend following September 11 was my move in date for my first year of college. To say I was confused during this time would be understatement. First I blamed America for the horrible foreign policy (a policy I only knew a fuzzy outline off - but was convinced the US was in the wrong. This phase lasted a short time, thankfully.) Then the feeling of danger followed me everywhere. After that, there was incredible anger at what happened and how people were reacting to it. Often I would find myself in a funk, thinking about what happened. But all around me, all I could see were smiling, shaggy haired, torn t-shirt teenagers gossiping, giggling, and groaning about classroom load. These people were living in a completely different world than me. It's not like I didn't do those things as well, but everything I would bring up the topic of 9/11 and war people would quickly switch topics or blame the US and move on.
It's not that I want(ed) people to wear red, white, and blue and sing the Star Spangled Banner it just that I wanted it to sink in that the world had changed. It wasn't innocent like I hoped it would be in my pre-9/11 days. However, that attitude of "it's happening to someone else not me" seem to permeate the campus and a lot of people I knew.

So now when I see mocking videos of the towers coming down I realize about how many people would rather live in a lie, stick their heads in the sand than face the reality of war. The incredibly hard, unpretty, uncivil act of ridding the earth of people intent on destroying you and everything that is precious to you.

Driving from NYC tonight, I was listening to the re-broadcast of The Sonic Memorial Project

SonicMemorial.org is an open archive and an online audio installation of the history of The World Trade Center. We are continuing to collect stories, ambient sounds, voicemails, and archival recordings to tell the rich history of the twin towers, the neighborhood and the events of 9/11.

To be honest I had to turn down the radio a few times because I was overcome with so much emotion. Do yourself a favor and listen to the true sounds of 9/11 and not the pretty lies that some would like to believe and perpetuate.

Never Forget.