2024 9-11 Memorial

Every year, I make a small tribute to 9/11, and this year is no exception.

I also play Alan Jackson's "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" a few times, and lately, I've been playing some Peter, Paul, and Mary songs since they were very big anti-war advocates. My dad liked them a lot, too.

Can't believe it's been 23 years since it happened. Can't believe something like this even happened to begin with. It will never cease to amaze me how far people will go to cause other people harm.

On the other hand, we mustn't forget the good that usually comes out of the bad. History should be preserved no matter how uncomfortable it makes us, if we have any hope in the world of never repeating it. The victims deserve to be remembered, and it remains truly inspiring and humbling how many of us pulled together, both then and now. 

I think the 2002 Spider-Man movie sums up the fighting, tribal spirit of New York up nicely: 

The American Revolution

Based on what my dad told me (he was a HUGE history buff), today is technically Independence Day because it was July 3 when the big paper was signed, but it wasn't publicized until the next day. And many of the men behind those signatures lost their lives before long. 

 

Quite an amazing story. On one hand, the King of England thought he could have literally anything he wanted, including people on the other side of the globe. Whatever the King wanted, the King got, no matter what it took. He even thought he had the right to run the Church as he saw fit, which was a pretty big no-no. It was becoming less God's Church and more the King's Church. 

 

On the other hand, the Americans wanted to be their own people with their own government. They were understandably frustrated at being under the perpetual thumb of a tyrant. They were like grown-up children with parents who just couldn't allow them to grow up and make their own choices. 

 

Push came to shove on both ends, and neither side was going down without a serious fight. And thus the American Revolution broke out, and the rest was (quite literally) history.

 

9-11 2023 Memorial

This isn't a tradition I'm necessarily happy about. But this time every year, I try to make some kind of visual tribute to that awful day, and of course, I play Alan Jackson's song, sometimes several times.

I may not remember all the details anymore, but I can tell you where I've been. I was 13, just barely entering eighth grade. First heard the story on the radio when Dad was chauffeuring me that morning. Dad often liked to listen to the news, even though I preferred music myself. The reporter's voice was very shaky; it wouldn't surprise me now if he had been crying for real. Being a young teen, I didn't really give it that much thought, though I was genuinely stunned to hear about four planes crashing on the same day. My thoughts ran along the lines of, "Wow, what a horrible accident."

It wasn't until much later, when I heard more about it and I saw the footage with my own eyes at home (that was all they talked about on every single news station, all day long), that it really hit me how bad this was. This was no accident.

The next few days, weeks, and months can only be described as an emotional mess. At least twice, I broke down crying at school. Mom told me the terrorists wanted us to be scared (hence their name) and I could only think, "Well, they're sure doing a good job!"

To this day, it still sickens me that anyone could do something like this on purpose. Only God can judge, but the way certain people are taught to hate this much, how thoroughly they can be brainwashed, how few qualms they harbor about causing this kind of harm, is horrifying.

I can only imagine what Pearl Harbor was like, or the Holocaust, among many others. 

USA Love Pins

Been working on these for about a month, and just in time in for the Fourth of July.

Don't know if anyone would want to buy something like this, but some designing never hurt. At least it gave me something to do, because work hours have been cut and I'm left to entertain myself at home. Thank goodness I invested in Photoshop years ago.

But holy crap, I really don't want to look at anything blue for a while. I've just about gone blue in the face.