We all need to grow a spine

This photo was taken in Iraq on 9 September 2003
by Baker Company, 7th Marines, 1st Battalion.

It takes a lot for me to be appalled, but that's the best word to describe the way I felt last week. I heard someone on TV or radio doing a tease for an upcoming segment along the lines of "9-11 remembrances - when is enough enough?" A few days later I read an editorial page item with the same tone - "I can't get too worked up over the fact that 9-11 happened six years ago."

Generally I'm all for living in the moment and not in the past, what's done is done, let bygones be bygones. Generally, but not absolutely. There's no statute of limitations on murder.

If you want to get back in touch with the emotions of 9-11 and all that has followed in these last six years, I recommend seeing HBO's Alive Day Memories. (If you don't have HBO, it says on their site you can watch the entire film online.)

This film is very simple. Ten people, male and female, who went to Iraq and got blown up in one way or another and lived to tell about it. Some are coping with it well, others not so well. As a film it works on many levels. Whether you are a hawk and think we should stay the course, or a dove who thinks we should get out today, you will be moved by these stories.

What's that? I hear someone shouting in the back....what are you saying? Oh, yes, I was expecting that question - "what does Iraq have to do with 9-11? Iraq didn't blown up the twin towers! Osama is not Iraqi! "

Tell you what. Today I will hold my tongue and keep my thoughts on the innocents who died six years ago today, and all those who have sacrificed life and limb in the days since. In my next post, I will explain in the simplest terms exactly why we are in Iraq and why we need to stay.

Fly your flag today.

Comments

DodgerScott said…
Sounds like a groovy show. What's HBO?

I'll always remember where I was on 9/11. Kauai. Some of us wished they'd shut down the airports for another week.
September 11, 2007 at 12:58 PM
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