WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Enya – Only Time (9/11 Tribute)
byVanderleunonSeptember 11, 2022
Note: I don’t remember how soon after 9/11 I saw this (or something very close to it) on the new and fresh WorldWideWeb. It would have been very soon after 9/11 — a week or two. At that time my day job was as the Vice-President in charge of Penthouse.com. As you can imagine it was, in those early much more innocent days, a popular paysite and it made a good deal of money for Penthouse.
At that time bandwidth was a very expensive part of putting a large site online and I bought bandwidth by the trainload.
At the same time, this was not a “video” but something made of coding called “Flash.” That made this video very very large and very expensive to have online for a private individual. I found the man who created this and hosted it and who was being rapidly impoverished by the bandwidth charges. Because I had “extra bandwidth” I took this on and the memorial was hosted by Penthouse right up until the time Penthouse crashed and burned a year and a half later. (It was purchased, ironically, by the hosting service that provided the bandwidth, later to be known as AdultFriendFinder.)
I hosted it because it was something I could do. In those days there was very little you could do, but what you could do you did.
If I were speaking to Jacob right now,
I would say, I’ve always loved the story of your ladder,
with the angels going up and down,
Once, when I was a child, I even dreamed I saw it.
I was in a field, and the clouds parted, and there it was.
And it looked like a long crowded highway,
the red lights were the angels going up
and the white lights were the angels going down.
But it was only a dream.
But last week, I wasn’t dreaming, and I saw it.
I saw your ladder, its silver poles, and rungs of glass,
and I saw the angels falling down, and they were so fast, fleeting,
and they were so beautiful … and terrible.
and I saw in a cloud of white and gray,
thousands of angels going up, up, up…
And if I could, I would ask Jacob
if he wishes he could forget the vision of his ladder,
the way I wish I could forget mine.
There it is, the ripping of the old scab and reopening of that wound. After so long, I can endure most of the remembrances as scabs have slowly become scar tissue, but that poem hits deep.
Thank you.
ThisIsNotNutellaSeptember 11, 2022, 4:26 PM
If you look carefully at who rules over you, you’ll soon see that regular formalised Ripping of the Scab is a very effective group survival and motivation mechanism. Can keep you trucking along for a few thousand years, minimum.
Just beware as Whiteys that we don’t instinctively rush to pick at the Big Red Scab that the always-with-us Matador waves in front of our (allegedly, but given recent history maybe they have a point) bovine noses.
It’s time to mostly Forget the Arabs and channel the 9/11 anger fully onto those who knew something was about to happen but failed to act, and whose who mismanaged and corrupted and totalitarianized the aftermath. Focus your hatred when you think of the dead and especially those forced to jump. It has more utility targeted closer to home.
ghostsniperSeptember 11, 2022, 5:30 PM
“…channel the 9/11 anger fully onto those who knew something was about to happen but failed to act, and whose who mismanaged and corrupted and totalitarianized the aftermath.”
====
Right there.
THAT is the biggest threat to any living thing on this planet, and even the planet itself.
FooSeptember 11, 2022, 4:28 PM
Thanks, G.
Never forget.
Dan PattersonSeptember 11, 2022, 5:16 PM
Two thousand, nine hundred, and seventy seven is the hard number. Countable, confirmed, and tallied. American for the most part, though their ancestry reaches all parts of the globe and among that number are the murderers themselves. There is no distinction between any of them now, only between us and them; they are now part of a life beyond this one, with earthly conflicts discarded and corporal needs vanished. People from every slice of life taken brutally in a murder plot larger, more destructive, and more successful than any such thing seen before.
Terrorism was the claim; there was no overt war maneuver by dedicated uniformed troops in the way that marked prior acts of war. There were no immediate moves to counter an invasion, no cannon fodder thrown toward the enemy lines, no reports to headquarters of ground taken or lost. And those missing parts traditionally composing an enemy military action confused us. What would cause such an outrage and clearly well-planned, well-funded plot to take so many lives and create chaos in the civilian world? We threw a wide net looking for answers, and found some though not the right ones.
Stimulation produces predictable responses in humans. We all see it daily; the mothering instinct, the protective impulse to shield an innocent from wrong or harm, the territorial claims made in overt and subtle ways. Nature’s boundaries are respected generally, and when they are not trouble is right there as an answer. Christian tradition teaches difficult lessons in that regard: Love one another, and defend against threat. Seemingly contradictory commands to the naïve, but the real world combines with the scripture to make those rules simultaneously achievable, difficult as it may be, but I’ll leave that study to better versed theologians.
The response to the September 11th attack was as predictable as it was misguided and largely ineffective. The people responsible, the financiers and supporters of the murderous actions, were unimpeachably guilty but by the governments’ responses so were innocent civilians anywhere in Iraq, Afghanistan, and surrounding territories. Our response toward them only made the division greater, the distrust deepen, and the price much higher; little if any progress was made toward solving the root cause and that came at an incredible price. Domestic efforts were equally toothless, though decorated with patriotism and glory, and all that bravado drug many of us along behind like tin cans on a wedding car. The antonymous Patriot Act is the crowning achievement of the presumption of guilt by tyrannical bureaucrats against citizens; that measure, along with the Department of Homeland Security is nothing but a guise for adding more distance between you and the Constitution. Perhaps you cannot see the strings but the string master sees you, and you are made to dance like it or not. Plenty of recent examples prove that theory.
The concept of “everyone loving everyone else” is maybe a slogan too far. We can love one another, but it looks like we aren’t meant to love exactly everyone, only the ones that are mostly like us despite what the bumper sticker proclaims. A closer read of the Gospels might shed light there, but there are too many unmeshed values, too many outside allegiances, and too many adulterations and false gods being worshipped to believe otherwise. And before you take up arms, “like us” means shared values and beliefs, similar cultural platforms, not “look like me”.
the concept of “never forget” might also be brave talk in the face of cold reality. The faces, names, and personalities of each of the long dead are best known by their dearest ones; the event, too, will begin to fade as generations pass and other needs elbow that day out of the collective mind of society. Its importance, the echoes of policy implications from mundane to profound, will certainly resonate; once liberty is stolen it is not easily recaptured.
The murder of nearly 3,000 fellow humans, most of them American citizens, cannot be forgotten by those who witnessed it. But it will be forgotten by the yet unborn, and much to their loss. My heartfelt sorry, sympathy, and prayers for peace and comfort for all affected by the evil that was personified on September 11th, 2001.
That was not the last event.
MichaelSeptember 11, 2022, 6:18 PM
The photo at about 50 seconds made me very emotional. The fireman heading up the stairs to what he probably knew was his death.
I guess the number 28 is his truck and 12898 his serial number I hope he made it out.
Thank you ghost! Great music to, “get away from the world . . . “
MichaelSeptember 11, 2022, 7:21 PM
Sorry, I should have checked before I posted about the fireman going up the stairs. He did indeed survive. His name is Mike Kehoe and the tale of his survival was well publicised. My sincere respect and gratitude to you Mr Kehoe.
anonymousSeptember 11, 2022, 9:57 PM
Never forget Boeing completed the move of its corporate headquarters out of Seattle WA and into Chicago on September 4–just 7 days before the attack. Their PR people try to convince us it was for financial reasons, but because the discussion and decision-making happened so quickly I will always believe it is because the powers of Boeing had received some type of info that made them want to get the headquarters off of the coast and into the middle of this great land mass. Somehow, I believe that either because of Boeing’s relationship with our military or through Microsoft’s all-pervasive satellite/intelligence gathering info was received that something was coming–thus the quick decision to move headquarters away from the coast. Ironically, they left the corporation’s financial section behind, making the claim that they moved to Chicago for financial reasons questionable. I will always believe they had a suspicion.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Thank you for posting this.
If I were speaking to Jacob right now,
I would say, I’ve always loved the story of your ladder,
with the angels going up and down,
Once, when I was a child, I even dreamed I saw it.
I was in a field, and the clouds parted, and there it was.
And it looked like a long crowded highway,
the red lights were the angels going up
and the white lights were the angels going down.
But it was only a dream.
But last week, I wasn’t dreaming, and I saw it.
I saw your ladder, its silver poles, and rungs of glass,
and I saw the angels falling down, and they were so fast, fleeting,
and they were so beautiful … and terrible.
and I saw in a cloud of white and gray,
thousands of angels going up, up, up…
And if I could, I would ask Jacob
if he wishes he could forget the vision of his ladder,
the way I wish I could forget mine.
(Zoe Klein)
There it is, the ripping of the old scab and reopening of that wound. After so long, I can endure most of the remembrances as scabs have slowly become scar tissue, but that poem hits deep.
Thank you.
If you look carefully at who rules over you, you’ll soon see that regular formalised Ripping of the Scab is a very effective group survival and motivation mechanism. Can keep you trucking along for a few thousand years, minimum.
Just beware as Whiteys that we don’t instinctively rush to pick at the Big Red Scab that the always-with-us Matador waves in front of our (allegedly, but given recent history maybe they have a point) bovine noses.
It’s time to mostly Forget the Arabs and channel the 9/11 anger fully onto those who knew something was about to happen but failed to act, and whose who mismanaged and corrupted and totalitarianized the aftermath. Focus your hatred when you think of the dead and especially those forced to jump. It has more utility targeted closer to home.
“…channel the 9/11 anger fully onto those who knew something was about to happen but failed to act, and whose who mismanaged and corrupted and totalitarianized the aftermath.”
====
Right there.
THAT is the biggest threat to any living thing on this planet, and even the planet itself.
Thanks, G.
Never forget.
Two thousand, nine hundred, and seventy seven is the hard number. Countable, confirmed, and tallied. American for the most part, though their ancestry reaches all parts of the globe and among that number are the murderers themselves. There is no distinction between any of them now, only between us and them; they are now part of a life beyond this one, with earthly conflicts discarded and corporal needs vanished. People from every slice of life taken brutally in a murder plot larger, more destructive, and more successful than any such thing seen before.
Terrorism was the claim; there was no overt war maneuver by dedicated uniformed troops in the way that marked prior acts of war. There were no immediate moves to counter an invasion, no cannon fodder thrown toward the enemy lines, no reports to headquarters of ground taken or lost. And those missing parts traditionally composing an enemy military action confused us. What would cause such an outrage and clearly well-planned, well-funded plot to take so many lives and create chaos in the civilian world? We threw a wide net looking for answers, and found some though not the right ones.
Stimulation produces predictable responses in humans. We all see it daily; the mothering instinct, the protective impulse to shield an innocent from wrong or harm, the territorial claims made in overt and subtle ways. Nature’s boundaries are respected generally, and when they are not trouble is right there as an answer. Christian tradition teaches difficult lessons in that regard: Love one another, and defend against threat. Seemingly contradictory commands to the naïve, but the real world combines with the scripture to make those rules simultaneously achievable, difficult as it may be, but I’ll leave that study to better versed theologians.
The response to the September 11th attack was as predictable as it was misguided and largely ineffective. The people responsible, the financiers and supporters of the murderous actions, were unimpeachably guilty but by the governments’ responses so were innocent civilians anywhere in Iraq, Afghanistan, and surrounding territories. Our response toward them only made the division greater, the distrust deepen, and the price much higher; little if any progress was made toward solving the root cause and that came at an incredible price. Domestic efforts were equally toothless, though decorated with patriotism and glory, and all that bravado drug many of us along behind like tin cans on a wedding car. The antonymous Patriot Act is the crowning achievement of the presumption of guilt by tyrannical bureaucrats against citizens; that measure, along with the Department of Homeland Security is nothing but a guise for adding more distance between you and the Constitution. Perhaps you cannot see the strings but the string master sees you, and you are made to dance like it or not. Plenty of recent examples prove that theory.
The concept of “everyone loving everyone else” is maybe a slogan too far. We can love one another, but it looks like we aren’t meant to love exactly everyone, only the ones that are mostly like us despite what the bumper sticker proclaims. A closer read of the Gospels might shed light there, but there are too many unmeshed values, too many outside allegiances, and too many adulterations and false gods being worshipped to believe otherwise. And before you take up arms, “like us” means shared values and beliefs, similar cultural platforms, not “look like me”.
the concept of “never forget” might also be brave talk in the face of cold reality. The faces, names, and personalities of each of the long dead are best known by their dearest ones; the event, too, will begin to fade as generations pass and other needs elbow that day out of the collective mind of society. Its importance, the echoes of policy implications from mundane to profound, will certainly resonate; once liberty is stolen it is not easily recaptured.
The murder of nearly 3,000 fellow humans, most of them American citizens, cannot be forgotten by those who witnessed it. But it will be forgotten by the yet unborn, and much to their loss. My heartfelt sorry, sympathy, and prayers for peace and comfort for all affected by the evil that was personified on September 11th, 2001.
That was not the last event.
The photo at about 50 seconds made me very emotional. The fireman heading up the stairs to what he probably knew was his death.
I guess the number 28 is his truck and 12898 his serial number I hope he made it out.
You need this.
Pathless Road
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WtFB_mytEE
Thank you ghost! Great music to, “get away from the world . . . “
Sorry, I should have checked before I posted about the fireman going up the stairs. He did indeed survive. His name is Mike Kehoe and the tale of his survival was well publicised. My sincere respect and gratitude to you Mr Kehoe.
Never forget Boeing completed the move of its corporate headquarters out of Seattle WA and into Chicago on September 4–just 7 days before the attack. Their PR people try to convince us it was for financial reasons, but because the discussion and decision-making happened so quickly I will always believe it is because the powers of Boeing had received some type of info that made them want to get the headquarters off of the coast and into the middle of this great land mass. Somehow, I believe that either because of Boeing’s relationship with our military or through Microsoft’s all-pervasive satellite/intelligence gathering info was received that something was coming–thus the quick decision to move headquarters away from the coast. Ironically, they left the corporation’s financial section behind, making the claim that they moved to Chicago for financial reasons questionable. I will always believe they had a suspicion.
I remember that move…