. . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . . . In dedication to . . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm everyone who was lost . . . . . or lost someone . . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm September 11, 2001: . . . . . Anada 433 . . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm "This Is Big" by Schoolboy mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 09/30/01 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Bigger than Kennedy, bigger than Diana, almost as big as WWII. This is stuff you read in history books. This is the sort of thing you learn about sitting in hot dusty classrooms and only occasionally wondering what it might have been like to be around then. Many Europeans think that the US has finally been born into the world for real and is at last realising how much it is despised as a country and that being "America" does not make it untouchable. Some Europeans have long been annoyed that the citizens of the USA insist on claiming the word "American" for themselves when, in fact, America is a continent, a land mass. Canadians can't call themselves Americans, nor can Peruvians yet that is what they are. They live in the twin continents of North and South America. But, for some reason, US citizens have commandeered that definition. A sign of supreme arrogance some say. Almost as arrogant as the WTC itself. I don't subscribe to most of this, as it is far too cynical. I am a cynical person but, hell, this is different. I was at work at the time (it was 2pm British time) and I was relying on overloaded news websites to get any details. The BBC's crashed very quickly so I tried ABC's (Australia's state broadcaster) as everyone would be asleep there and got to follow the story. Colleagues had friends in the buildings and the group that owns my employer had one employee on the first plane. The thing about this is that makes it hard to fully process is you wonder what you should focus on? The human tragedy, the act itself, the American angle, the reasons for this event or what this will do to the world, the way the media handles this, the effects only in my country, how my job has been affected, and it goes on. The sheer scale of this event cannot be overstated. For the first time in history 42 European countries and their TV and radio stations paused for a 3-minute silence on Friday. Never has a silence been as long as 3 minutes. This is going to affect oil prices, gold prices, the world economy, day-to-day security measures across the world, taxes may go up if a prolonged conflict is entered into, insurance will go up do to the sheer cost of repair, air tickets will go up to pay for the security staff and equipment, there'll inevitably be more racially motivated violent attacks on anyone will dark hair and a moustache or beard, skyscrapers will be redesigned. And this is just some of the effects. The images are the most indelible ever. There is not just one wobbly shot like the Zapruder film but multiple angles of planes in high quality footage, with sound. We have taped phone messages from doomed office workers and mobile phone calls from passengers. We'll soon have security camera footage of the suspects boarding the planes. We'll see dozens of photographs, amateur and professional video footage and we'll remember it all. Everyone alive today will have a corner of their brain in which these images will be stored and we will think back to it every time we see another effect of that Tuesday for years ahead. The attacks were like some demented Hollywood pitch, "Titanic meets Air Force One." People jumping out of 80th floor windows, passengers voting to fight the hijackers, an oblivious President being informed in front of the cameras sitting in a school. And then on Thursday the terrorists weren't happy with the first take of their attempts to get the White House and Camp David so they set they brought in some stand-ins to do a reshoot. Now real films are having to be reshot. "A.I." still has the twin towers standing way into the future but submerged in water. T oo late for the cinema release but will they still be there on the DVD? I doubt it. "Spiderman" and "Collateral Damage" are in trouble and I bet several recently greenlighted projects will be rethought too. But let's be honest, how can any film now ever trump this real event? Will this be the death of the blockbuster now that the ultimate nightmare has already happened without the courtesy of waiting for the vital plain- clothed cop, nearing retirement, to pause trying to get back with his overly glamorous ex-wife and save everyone with a toothpick and a fluorescent hardhat? Nobody was there with a Hispanic catchphrase and black sidekick to stop this and that is what America must start getting used to. The rest of the world has been trying to tell them that for years. We could go into all sorts of fundamentals about the root cause for this situation but what I can't understand is how ostensibly Christian leaders (Blair, Bush etc.) are happily choosing to ignore the annoyingly inconvenient lines in the Bible about turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile and, in the Lord's Prayer, forgiving those who trespass against us. They instead are choosing to go with the Old Testament eye for an eye message. This thing will bring the unchristian out in all of us and will test Bush (poor, pathetic Bush) to his psychological and diplomatic limits. I'll be walking around will two fingers out of action for the next few months because they'll both be crossed. If there is a God, God save us all. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . .------ * * ------ by Schoolboy (c) anada.net 09/30/01 ----------- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm