IceCat started a marvelous thread for everyone to post posters, poems, et cetera, re. the terrorist attacks on freedom on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. Unfortunately, for some of us that thread is now becoming cumbersome to upload, so (with apologies to IceCat) I am starting this new thread to continue that purpose.

I now, here, replay IceCat's inspiring opening visual in his original thread:

And here, to kick off this continuation, is the poem I wrote in inspiration to Dalton's "God Bless the U.S.A." thread, which I have now revised slightly with the addition of a title and some material at the end:

"Remember the World Trade Center"

I remember when President Kennedy was assassinated
America grieved and wondered
Why?
I remember struggles for equality and dignity
American fighting American
America grew and became better
I remember the fire that took Apollo 1
America mourned
America cherished its lost heroes
I remember a war that challenged America
Pitting our dedication to the Dream
Against the Ideals we all hold dear and true
And I remember how
America survived
I remember America, and the world as well,
Praying
As Apollo 13 struggled home to safety
I remember crises
A president forced to the wall
Over a decision needlessly made
A nation forced to the wall
How to rise from the ashes
And how America
Survived
I remember natural disasters
Storms and draughts
And how Americans threw together in such times
I remember the Challenger and the turmoil
Of her terrible demise
I remember wars and horrors and seemingly endless struggles
Just to make the world a better place
Somehow
And I remember that America never gives up
Not on America
And I remember how America comes together to face
Any common struggle it has been given
Any challenge to the true and just principles upon which
America was born
And I know that for America there is always a tomorrow
With another challenge to face
And America will rise to that challenge as always
For that is what we do
Because America never just gives up
Not on America
That's just the way we are
Tonight America grieves and wonders
Why?
And tomorrow America will still be America
Because that's just the way we are
America Will Survive
America Will Prevail!

• RE: Sept. 11 Gallary Part 2...,Outfrontgirl, 04:25 AM, 09-18-01
  • RE: Sept. 11 Gallary Part 2...,dabo, 10:47 AM, 09-18-01
• RE: Sept. 11 Gallary Part 2...,ItzLisa, 10:31 AM, 09-18-01
  • It's Elementary, Itzy...,PepeLePew13, 03:31 PM, 09-18-01
    • RE: It's Elementary, Itzy...,ItzLisa, 05:07 PM, 09-18-01
      • Note to Self...,IceCat, 07:50 PM, 09-18-01
• From Time Magazine,dabo, 02:26 AM, 09-19-01
  • RE: From Time Magazine,ItzLisa, 06:22 AM, 09-19-01
  • RE: From Time Magazine,PepeLePew13, 07:29 AM, 09-19-01
  • RE: From Time Magazine,SherpaDave, 11:34 AM, 09-19-01
    • RE: From Time Magazine,dabo, 11:57 AM, 09-19-01
      • RE: From Time Magazine,SherpaDave, 12:09 PM, 09-19-01
• RE: Sept. 11 Gallary Part 2...,VampKira, 06:52 AM, 09-19-01
  • Just to clarify....,VampKira, 07:42 AM, 09-19-01
    • Nice to See You Posting...,IceCat, 07:59 AM, 09-19-01
      • RE: Nice to See You Posting...,PepeLePew13, 08:37 AM, 09-19-01
  • RE: Sept. 11 Gallary Part 2...,dabo, 12:03 PM, 09-19-01
• A Different Perspective...,PepeLePew13, 11:31 PM, 09-19-01
  • RE: A Different Perspective...,sleeeve, 11:38 PM, 09-19-01
  • RE: A Different Perspective...,dabo, 00:14 AM, 09-20-01
  • RE: A Different Perspective...,Mon Cherie, 00:25 AM, 09-20-01
  • RE: A Different Perspective...,SherpaDave, 00:25 AM, 09-20-01
  • RE: A Different Perspective...,ItzLisa, 02:53 PM, 09-20-01
• Not mine, an obscure oldie,Outfrontgirl, 05:13 AM, 09-20-01
  • RE: Not mine, an obscure oldie,dabo, 11:25 PM, 09-20-01
    • RE: Not mine, an obscure oldie,Outfrontgirl, 11:50 PM, 09-20-01

Amen dabo, thanks for this awesome though grim chronicle/poem.
America remains America, IMHO, because with each crisis America re-defines itself. Not as something un-American but as a further evolution of the original template that stays true to the past and yet adapts to the new.

Thank you, Outfrontgirl. I didn't want to focus on "grim" but had on my mind, while writing this, the character of our nation, which is a more difficult task. But I always find many reasons for hoping for a better future when I review American history. Our history isn't pretty, there are plenty of things most of us would change were it in our power to do so; but we are progressive, always moving ahead.

I hope everyone enjoyed "Constitution Day" yesterday, and a good "Rosh Hashana" to you all today.

Now, is there any way, does anyone know, how I can fix the typo in this thresd's subject? How embarrassing.

LAST EDITED ON 09-18-01 AT 10:33 AM (EST)

Thank you, dabs buddy!

Edit to fix my flag again! I wonder why our flags, at a time like this, keep having .GIF problems?

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umm... maybe it's because Canadians (according to Shakes) is about to overtake the world? Hello Canadian flag!

Back to the gallery... found this image entirely appropriate...

"Permit me to introduce myself. I am Pepe Le Pew, your lover."

Oooh, Pepe! That's wonderful - thanks!

(Hey, THOSE CANADIANS are gonna take over the world, at least I have an "in" with one of 'em, LOL!!!)

****************************************

Must remember to pick up a cute collaborator babe...

Issue cover date September 11, 2001 (special issue) final page.

The Case for Rage and Retribution by Lance Morrow

For once, let's have no "grief counselors" standing by with banal consolations, as if the purpose, in the midst of all this, were merely to make everyone feel better.

For once, let's have no fatuous rhetoric about "healing." Healing is inappropriate now, and dangerous. There will be time later for the tears of sorrow.

A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage. Let's have rage.

What's needed is a unified, unifying, Pearl Harbor sort of purple American fury -- a ruthless indignation that doesn't leak away in a week or two, wandering off into Prozac-induced forgetfulness or into the next media sensation (O.J. ... Elian ... Chandra ...) or into a corruptly thoughtful relativism (as has happened in the recent past, when, for example, you might hear someone say, "Terrible what he did, of course, but, you know, the Unabomber does have a point doesn't he, about modern technology?")

Let America explore the rich reciprocal possibilities of the fatwa. A policy of focused brutality does not come easily to a self-conscious, self-indulgent, contradictory, diverse, humane nation with a short attention span. America needs to relearn a lost discipline, self-confident relentlessness -- and to relearn why human nature has equipped us all with a weapon (abhorred in decent peacetime societies) called hatred.

As the bodies are counted, into the thousands and thousands, hatred will not, I think, be a difficult emotion to summon. Is the medicine too strong? Call it, rather, a wholesome and intelligent enmity -- the sort that impels even such a prosperous, messily tolerant organism as America to act. Anyone who does not loathe the people who did these things, and the people who cheer them on, is too philosophical for decent company.

It's a practical matter, anyway. In war, enemies are enemies. You find them and put them out of business, on the sound principle that that's what they are trying to do to you. If what happened on Tuesday does not give Americans the political will needed to exterminate men like Osama bin Laden and those who conspire with them in evil mischief, then nothing ever will and we are in for a procession of black Tuesdays.

This was terrorism brought to near perfection as a dramatic form. Never has the evil business had such production values. Normally, the audience sees only the smoking aftermath -- the blown-up embassy, the ruined barracks, the ship with a blackened hole at the waterline. This time the first plane striking the first tower acted as a shill. It alerted the media, brought cameras to the scene so that they might be set up to record the vivid surreal bloom of the seocnd strike ("Am I seeing this?") and then -- could they be such engineering geniuses, so deft at demolition? -- the catastrophic collapse of the two towers, one after the other, and a sequence of panic in the streets that might have been shot for a remake of The War of the Worlds or for Independence Day. Evil possesses an instinct for theater, which is why, in an era of gaudy and gifted media, evil may vastly magnify its damage by the power of horrific images.

It is important not to be transfixed. The police screamed to the people running from the towers, "Don't look back!" -- a biblical warning against the power of the image. Terrorism is sometimes described (in a frustrated, oh-the-burdens-of-great-power tone of voice) as "asymmetrical warfare." So what? Most of history is a pageant of asymmetries. It is mostly the asymmetries that cause history to happen -- an obscure Schickelgruber nearly destroys Europe; a mere atom, artfully diddled, incinerates a city. Elegant perplexity puts too much emphasis on the "asymmetrical" side of the phrase, and not enough on the fact that it is, indeed, real warfare. Asymmetry is a concept. War is, as we see, blood and death.

It is not a bad idea to repeat a line from the 19th century French anarchist thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: "The fecundity of the unexpected far exceeds the prudence of statesmen." America, in the spasms of a few hours, became a changed country. It turned the corner, at last, out of the 1990s. The menu of American priorities was rearranged. The presidency of George W. Bush begins now. What seemed important a few days ago (in the media, at least) became instantly trivial. If Gary Condit is mentioned once in the next six months on cable television, I will be astonished.

During World War II, John Kennedy wrote home to his parents from the Pacific. He remarked that Americans are at their best during very good times or very bad times; the in-between periods, he thought, cause them trouble. I'm not sure that is true. Good times sometimes have a tendancy to make Americans squalid.

The worst times, as we see, separate the civilized of the world from the uncivilized. This is a moment of clarity. Let the civilized toughen up, and let the uncivilized take their chances in the game they started.

(Also, a line from a Nancy Gibbs piece in that same issue:
On a normal day, we value heroism because it is uncommon. On Sept. 11, we valued heroism because it was everywhere.)

Thanks, dabs. I have a subscription to Time, and I have both WTC issues - they arrived in my mailbox, one Monday, one yesterday. The pictures from the first one are quite hard to take right now, so I have them both set aside on my coffee table, under a couple other magazines. I know I'll always have them - I just can't look at them right now. The photography...well, if you can take seeing it, I can say it's worth getting. And again, someday I'll be able to look at both issues and say what a fine job the magazine did in the coverage, but not right now...

****************************************

Yes, I saw that article as I also have that special edition of Time Magazine. Nancy Gibbs, who wrote the article, was in my class at private school.

"Permit me to introduce myself. I am Pepe Le Pew, your lover."

The Case for Rage and Retribution by Lance Morrow

And Lance enlisted right after writing this, right? Right? Sorry, but this about made me puke.

I quite understand how you feel, Dave, as there are things Morrow says which I disagree with and find insensitive. As a lifelong pacifist (by faith) I am tremendously saddened by the fact that my country is again at war, and I hate to think about how damned ugly this particular war might become. But this war was brought to us, and there is a certain need to face facts, which is what I found a subject of worth in Morrow's piece. Despite what the President has said (and said correctly) in the end we may not get justice for the attacks last week, it may be unattainable. But this war was brought to us and we have to destroy this enemy's ability to make war upon us, that is the duty our government holds.

Sorry about that, Dabs. I was reconsidering that post almost as soon as I clicked the Submit button. I think he does have some valid points. Specifically, we as a nation seem to be hideously complacent except in the worst of times. It took me a couple readings before I could get past his militance and find the value of some of his points. I think people who disagree with my views have shown a lot of consideration; it's only fair that I do the same.

Awesome Pepe and dabs.. *hugs you both*

Actually.. ever since this tragedy occured.. I have been wanting to post a little known song by Michael Jackson that is hauntingly sad and beautiful if you could hear it. It has been playing in my mind since the day it happened.. but I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to it yet. I KNOW it's too soon for that. ( I can't listen to ANY sad song these days..) and it has only been in the last couple of days that I can even think of Michael Jackson and the concert without connecting him to the horrors in NY. (I mean.. of COURSE they will always be connected.. I guess what I am trying to say is that now.. I am allowing myself to feel happy that lived my dream... sorry if I am not expressing myself very well... remember peeps.. I am STILL AWAKE.. lol)

Anyway.. here are the Lyrics to "Be Not Always" It is from The Jacksons Victory album.

Be Not Always

Always, be not always
And if always
Bow our heads in shame.
Always, please be not always
And if always
Bow our heads in blame.
'Cause time has made promises...
Just promises.

Faces, did you see their faces
Did they touch you?
Have you felt such pain?
To have nothing
To dream something
Then lose hoping
It's not life but lame?
But time has made promises...
Just promises.

Mothers cry, babies die
Helplessly in arms
While rockets fly
And research lies
Of progress to become
But what of men
Of flesh and blood
We turn our backs on life
How can we claim to stand for peace
When the races are in strife?
Destroying life.

Always, be not always
But if always
Bow our heads in shame
Always, please, please be not always...
'Cause if always
Bow our heads in blame
'Cause time has made promises
Death promises.

(side note: just posting this has opened the floodgates..LOL.. *sigh*)

"We'll know for the first time,
If we're evil or divine...
We're the last in line." - Ronnie James Dio

Du ar min hjälte, Supermänniska

I just re read my post, and don't think I expressed myself very well... I didn't mean the song was what I felt in all ways.. or that I don't think we should fight back, because I do!!! *sighs*.. Anyway.. sorry if I came across that way and offended anyone. All I really meant to say was that this song.. mostly for the sadness of the melody.. and the real emotion you can hear in it.. is why it was the first song that came into my head as I was listening to the reports on the radio praying that we would get to the Tappan Zee in time..

"We'll know for the first time,
If we're evil or divine...
We're the last in line." - Ronnie James Dio

Du ar min hjälte, Supermänniska

It's also good to see that you are working through the feelings left over from your good/bad time in the big apple...

As always... the memories of the good times are always more durable than those of the bad times. That's one of our species best survival traits!

>That's one of our species best survival traits!

Is that in regards to the feline species or the human species? I've always been amazed at how cats can be so matter-of-fact when they bring home a bird or something...

Only kidding... but yes, it is great to see you (Vamp) and really, just about everyone else too, on these boards posting and sharing experiences of the past eight days. I think it has done so much to show greater insights into each of our personalities and it's a great cathartic feeling for some of the people most directly involved (Vamp, Itzy, Moon, etc.) to be able to release their feelings on here.

"Permit me to introduce myself. I am Pepe Le Pew, your lover."

Awesome, Vamps; and that is a beautiful song. * Big Hug *

Don't worry about how poorly you are expressing yourself, I honestly don't think I would even have noticed had you not pointed it out!

Original "Uville"

(with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

Every U down in Uville liked U.S. a lot,
But the Binch, who lived Far East of Uville, did not.
The Binch hated U.S! the whole U.S. way!
Now don't ask me why, for nobody can say.

It could be his turban was screwed on too tight.
Or the sun from the desert had beaten too bright
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But, Whatever the reason, his heart or his turban,
He stood facing Uville, the part that was urban.
"They're doing their business," he snarled from his perch.
"They're raising their families! They're going to church!

They're leading the world, and their empire is thriving,
I MUST keep the S's and U's from surviving!"
Tomorrow, he knew, all the U's and the S's,
Would put on their pants and their shirts and their dresses,
They'd go to their offices, playgrounds and schools,
And abide by their U and S values and rules,

And then they'd do something he liked least of all,
Every U down in U-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand all united, each U and each S,
And they'd sing Uville's anthem, "God bless us! God bless!"

All around their Twin Towers of Uville, they'd stand,
and their voices would drown every sound in the land.
"I must stop that singing," Binch said with a smirk,
And he had an idea -- an idea that might work!

The Binch stole some U airplanes in U morning hours,
And crashed them right into the Uville Twin Towers.
"They'll wake to disaster!" he snickered, so sour,
"And how can they sing when they can't find a tower?"

The Binch cocked his ear as they woke from their sleeping,
All set to enjoy their U-wailing and weeping,
Instead he heard something that started quite low,
And it built up quite slow, but it started to grow --
And the Binch heard the most unpredictable thing...
And he couldn't believe it -- they started to sing!
He stared down at U-ville, not trusting his eyes,
What he saw was a shocking, disgusting surprise!

Every U down in U-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any towers at all!
He HADN'T stopped U-Ville from singing! It sung!
For down deep in the hearts of the old and the young,

Those Twin Towers were standing, called Hope and called Pride,
And you can't smash the towers we hold deep inside.
So we circle the sites where our heroes did fall,
With a hand in each hand of the tall and the small,
And we mourn for our losses while knowing we'll cope,
For we still have inside that U-Pride and U-Hope.

For America means a bit more than tall towers,
It means more than wealth or political powers,
It's more than our enemies ever could guess,
So may God bless America! Bless us! God bless!

"Permit me to introduce myself. I am Pepe Le Pew, your lover."

That was phenomenal!!!!!!

WOW!!!! I can't say anything more...

Thanks for sharing .

That was fantastic, Pepe! That sorry Binch, how sad it must be to be a bad Binch.

That was great Pepe! Dr. Seuss would be proud!

Mon Cherie

Pepe, Pepe, Pepe... wow. This touched me more than just about anything I've seen this week.

I posted on Sami's thread before I saw it here, too - this is so wonderful, and it truly brought tears to my eyes!

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I didn't write this one, obviously. It's very early Dylan, from when he was very close to his Woody Guthrie disciple phase.
It confronts hards times and comes up with a very positive and very American message:

"Let Me Die In My Footsteps"

I will not go down under the ground
"Cause somebody tells me that death's comin' 'round
An' I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high,
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

There's been rumors of war and wars that have been
The meaning of life has been lost in the wind
And some people thinkin' that the end is close by
Stead of learnin' to live they are learning to die.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

I don't know if I'm smart but I think I can see
When someone is pullin' the wool over me
And if this war comes and death's all around
Let me die on this land 'fore I die underground.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

There's always been people that have to cause fear
They've been talking of the war now for many long years
I have read all their statements and I've not said a word
But now Lawd God, let my poor voice be heard.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

If I had rubies and riches and crowns
I'd buy the whole world and change things around
I'd throw all the guns and the tanks in the sea
For they are mistakes of a past history.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

Let me drink from the waters where the mountain streams flood
Let me smell of wildflowers flow free through my blood
Let me sleep in your meadows with the green grassy leaves
Let me walk down the highway with my brother in peace.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

Go out in your country where the land meets the sun
See the craters and the canyons where the waterfalls run
Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho
Let every state in this union seep in your souls.
And you'll die in your footsteps
Before you go down under the ground.

This is really neat, OFG. Thanks! It took me a minute to get the bomb shelter reference, believe it or not. One question:

If I had rubies and riches and crowns
I'd buy the whole world and change things around
I'd throw all the guns and the tanks in the sea
For they are mistakes of a past history.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

Does this mean we should simply buy Afghanistan? I like that idea, actually; I mean, what could it be worth, e-bay probably has the bucks by now to cover it. Yeah, let's just buy the place, make 'em prosperous like we've done other places, give 'em laws, teach 'em how to spruce up the joint a bit. Clean out the intollerable riffraff, of course. Show 'em how to fly kites, buy 'em some tv's ...

>>It took me a minute to get the bomb shelter reference, believe it or not.

Believe it? *I* didn't get it until *You* pointed it out! LOL Thank you!

I thought the refrain meant something like 'live life without fear and actively until the time comes to die'... which it does, but going into the bomb shelter makes a great metaphor for fearing to go forward with life in the world.

Ja, I think we should buy the sorry place. How much could such screwed up real estate cost, anyway? Give em TVs, that's the ticket, make 'em all very happy happy like we in the West. No need to kill anyone. Give em satellite TV, sure, let them discover channel surfing. Oh, and they'll need couches, so they can do the 'potato' thing. No need to worry mate, once this strategy in place. Well, they'll still need pizza delivery...