Of course you're right, but I believe that 9/12 in New York City really was kind of beautiful. Sadness seemed to overwhelm anger. I could be wrong, but I really hope I'm not.
In my view, the true purpose of any religion should be to uplift and empower people to improve themselves as individuals, and to uphold equality for all people to strengthen the positive collective human bonds that exist between and among them, regardless of their genders or gender identities, ethnicities, races, ages or disabilities.
If anyone’s religion does not at least largely live up to these standards, and instead focuses on judging and condemning people who do not agree with its beliefs or actions, I have NO USE for it!
Thank you so much for posting the wonderful interview of Dr. Simran Jeet Singh. He has a message that needs to be heard worldwide, especially here in the United States where there is so much racism, discrimination and distrust being pushed by the government. I remember, on that day of terror, somewhere between 50 and 75 coworkers gathering around the flag pole, outside of our office building, holding hands and singing the National Anthem and then Amazing Grace. It was an impromptu gathering of people of different races, religions and cultures sharing a moment of intense grief without prejudice. It would be so wonderful to get that sense of solidarity back and hold it in our hearts.
Thank you, especially for the numbers that put human lives and many hard earned dollars into perspective. We seem clueless about our hatred, its cost to our pockets and our souls. We honor other gods. It's all a terrible price we are paying to protect our policies of hatred.
I often think about how if the Democrats had held Clinton responsible in 1998 and put Gore in charge, Gore would have won easily in 2000 and our future would have been very different.
Also, I think you meant 9/11/26.
On 9/11/25 I am a 43-year-old father of three, husband of 17 years, and human rights lawyer with a platform committed to justice.
Thank you for the list of "what we could have had with all that money". It was an inspiring list - made me think about how much nicer a country we could have been!
On 9/11/01, I was 51 years old, and spent several hours with one of my Hospice patients, who turned 40 that day, we watched the TV. He talked more about his life and experiences that day than ever before. He lived in squalor with people who took his disability check but barely fed him. I did the cleaning when I could. Dreadfully ill, he died a few weeks later in our inpatient unit. That has never left me. I think of that man nearly every day 👹 someone very unlike me, but I genuinely cared for him.
I was never in favor of war against Iraq, even though I was 50+ on 9/11. After having lived in two Muslim countries, I was appalled by the torture at Guantanamo, the Islamophobia, the needless destruction of Iraq and then Afghanistan, our heroes killed, our dollars wasted.
I frequently ponder how different - perhaps- the US response would have been if the Supreme Court had allowed a recount in Florida during the 2000 election.
The USA continues its culture of continuous wars. I wish our connection to humanitarian ideals such as universal healthcare surpassed our commitment to war.
So well said: the lessons, the conclusion. I remember it all. But as I sit here I am in greater dread than ever. The path for those who understand what needs to be done now is blocked. The road to recovery has been torn up in the intervening years and I don't see the debris being cleared. Newly released information, the corruption has only gotten worse. I limit my news these days - I need to come up for air. I think this election is the time to define who we are. Right now we and the world have not the slightest idea.
Hundreds of thousands dead and $8 trillion wasted on the "war on terror." What a sickening and disastrous folly. I lived in downtown NYC on 9/11 and felt more traumatize by the US government's ineptly planned and hideously violent response. There was no one in power to stand up for even the smallest bit of wisdom. So here we are now. Ugh!
I totally agree with you and agreed with you at the time. When I saw Republican and Democratic Senators and Representatives standing together on the steps of the capital building as though they were were of one mind I wanted to throw up! I knew they did not feel the same and that they were just standing there behaving the way they thought was expected. Any politician who disagreed with the Georgia W Bush administration's push towards war and in Afghanistan and Iraq were afraid to say so because it wouldn't be politically expedient. So instead they went along with the horrible loss of lives and poorly spent tax dollars while waving the US flag.
When I first heard about it, my first thought was "I hope it's not muslim terrorists" Not because I feared that in particular. But because of how people might respond to ordinary muslims in Norway. There is a fair bit of xenophobia and white supremacy attitudes in Norway. I think they are a minority, but if muslims were blamed for this. It might florish. I never blamed muslims for 9/11 and I knew from day one that religion had nothing to do with 9/11. Although I knew far less about Islam then than I know now.
Amen, Qasim and Simran.
a pause in humanity & planting the hope to uplift us to appease that which is god's sense of solidarity to all life
Of course you're right, but I believe that 9/12 in New York City really was kind of beautiful. Sadness seemed to overwhelm anger. I could be wrong, but I really hope I'm not.
In my view, the true purpose of any religion should be to uplift and empower people to improve themselves as individuals, and to uphold equality for all people to strengthen the positive collective human bonds that exist between and among them, regardless of their genders or gender identities, ethnicities, races, ages or disabilities.
If anyone’s religion does not at least largely live up to these standards, and instead focuses on judging and condemning people who do not agree with its beliefs or actions, I have NO USE for it!
100% correct
Thank you so much for posting the wonderful interview of Dr. Simran Jeet Singh. He has a message that needs to be heard worldwide, especially here in the United States where there is so much racism, discrimination and distrust being pushed by the government. I remember, on that day of terror, somewhere between 50 and 75 coworkers gathering around the flag pole, outside of our office building, holding hands and singing the National Anthem and then Amazing Grace. It was an impromptu gathering of people of different races, religions and cultures sharing a moment of intense grief without prejudice. It would be so wonderful to get that sense of solidarity back and hold it in our hearts.
Thank you, especially for the numbers that put human lives and many hard earned dollars into perspective. We seem clueless about our hatred, its cost to our pockets and our souls. We honor other gods. It's all a terrible price we are paying to protect our policies of hatred.
I often think about how if the Democrats had held Clinton responsible in 1998 and put Gore in charge, Gore would have won easily in 2000 and our future would have been very different.
Also, I think you meant 9/11/26.
On 9/11/25 I am a 43-year-old father of three, husband of 17 years, and human rights lawyer with a platform committed to justice.
Thank you for the list of "what we could have had with all that money". It was an inspiring list - made me think about how much nicer a country we could have been!
On 9/11/01, I was 51 years old, and spent several hours with one of my Hospice patients, who turned 40 that day, we watched the TV. He talked more about his life and experiences that day than ever before. He lived in squalor with people who took his disability check but barely fed him. I did the cleaning when I could. Dreadfully ill, he died a few weeks later in our inpatient unit. That has never left me. I think of that man nearly every day 👹 someone very unlike me, but I genuinely cared for him.
I was never in favor of war against Iraq, even though I was 50+ on 9/11. After having lived in two Muslim countries, I was appalled by the torture at Guantanamo, the Islamophobia, the needless destruction of Iraq and then Afghanistan, our heroes killed, our dollars wasted.
I frequently ponder how different - perhaps- the US response would have been if the Supreme Court had allowed a recount in Florida during the 2000 election.
The USA continues its culture of continuous wars. I wish our connection to humanitarian ideals such as universal healthcare surpassed our commitment to war.
So well said: the lessons, the conclusion. I remember it all. But as I sit here I am in greater dread than ever. The path for those who understand what needs to be done now is blocked. The road to recovery has been torn up in the intervening years and I don't see the debris being cleared. Newly released information, the corruption has only gotten worse. I limit my news these days - I need to come up for air. I think this election is the time to define who we are. Right now we and the world have not the slightest idea.
I remember seeing Jon Stewart repeatedly pushing Congress to at least guarantee health care for 9/11 responders, and they wouldn't even do that.
Hundreds of thousands dead and $8 trillion wasted on the "war on terror." What a sickening and disastrous folly. I lived in downtown NYC on 9/11 and felt more traumatize by the US government's ineptly planned and hideously violent response. There was no one in power to stand up for even the smallest bit of wisdom. So here we are now. Ugh!
I totally agree with you and agreed with you at the time. When I saw Republican and Democratic Senators and Representatives standing together on the steps of the capital building as though they were were of one mind I wanted to throw up! I knew they did not feel the same and that they were just standing there behaving the way they thought was expected. Any politician who disagreed with the Georgia W Bush administration's push towards war and in Afghanistan and Iraq were afraid to say so because it wouldn't be politically expedient. So instead they went along with the horrible loss of lives and poorly spent tax dollars while waving the US flag.
22nd July 2011 was Norway's 9/11.
When I first heard about it, my first thought was "I hope it's not muslim terrorists" Not because I feared that in particular. But because of how people might respond to ordinary muslims in Norway. There is a fair bit of xenophobia and white supremacy attitudes in Norway. I think they are a minority, but if muslims were blamed for this. It might florish. I never blamed muslims for 9/11 and I knew from day one that religion had nothing to do with 9/11. Although I knew far less about Islam then than I know now.