Where Were You on 9/11?

I hate to day but the whole 'always remember, never forget' parade that occurs every time this day rolls around each year have always been irritating. There are now legal adults who weren't even born or were just born when the tragedy happened.

Believe me, no one has forgotten who was old enough to witness it, but the nose in the air clouding the sentiment is stale.

But where was I? My mom woke me up with a phone call just before 9 AM, crying her eyes out and telling me to turn it on Channel 19. This was back before digital channels and the local stations were 5, 9, 12, 19 and 64. Seconds after I did, I saw, on live TV, people on fire leaping to their death from the Twin Tower windows. Fuck's sake, it was nothing like the movies and I felt the piercing shock and disgust that someone was standing there filming this real-life horror, these last desperate moments of civilians.

It was visceral, it was terrifying. No, we'll never forget, but at the same time, I kind of wish people would stop the posturing and dick-measuring as to how much more it affected this person or that and how remembering stops these things from happening.

It doesn't. At least have the decency to admit you're just parading this shit show of humanity.

Because some people watched it and felt what I felt. I didn't feel it more or less. Some people watched it and were probably cheering or masturbating, etc. Yeah, that's absolutely terrible, but that's the price we pay to be human. What religion touts as free will, what psychology calls a spectrum, what scientists understand as our inherent nature. It's not always pretty and we're not so enlightened that large groups of us don't still get together and do terrible things. Some people live through terrible things and want to do terrible things to others. Some people live through terrible things and decide they want to protect others from ever going through that or at least be there to help them recover.

I don't know where you were, or if you were alive yet, for that horrible day. But I hope you look at history and decide to be on better side of it. I hope that you can even be ignorant of history and still know that harming others is always on the wrong side of humanity. If you remember anything, then don't forget to treat your fellow humans like they are capable of feeling and desiring just as deeply as you. Strive for virtue on your own quests for happiness.