Making fun of 9/11 is a one-way ticket to being hated and despised, so I'll just leave that to Ann Coulter.
It's sort of weird that it happened 10 years ago, because it really does feel just like yesterday when it happened. Back in those days, my brother and I used to watch a lot of cable news, so it wasn't surprising that the television was on when I woke up. What was surprising was that the World Trade Center had been hit by a jetliner. I started watching the news at approximately 9:30, so the second plane hadn't yet hit, so I began wondering how this could possibly happen. A jetliner typically cruises at 30,000+ feet, or approximately 6 miles high or more. That meant the plane would have to be either taking off or landing. However, the distance of JFK or Newark airports from downtown Manhattan means that the plane would have been in air for several minutes before reaching downtown. The answer to my questions came in the form of a second plane striking the second tower.
That day brought about a lot of odd consequences: two wars, conspiracy theories, a color-coded alert system that no one understands, a near-riot over a mosque being built, and also, a line in the sand. Are you with us or against us? That was the question we were asked by our government, and dissent or debate was regarded as unpatriotic or even cause for suspicion by the government. There was no room to be empathetic towards the terrorist organization that allegedly carried out the attack. At least with Timothy McVeigh and the Columbine shooters, we wanted to know why they did it. With the terrorists, we were fed the answer: "They hate freedom."
Some people want to know why it happened, whereas others simply don't care, and can only be satisfied with vengeance - and understandably so - more than three thousand people were killed brutally, and mercilessly, some of whom were in the process of trying to save the lives of others. But real freedom - freedom from fear, freedom from misguided information, freedom from being led away to be slaughtered - necessitates a love and desire for the truth, because information and knowledge are the key to the doors of freedom. Sure, celebrities are fun, but there comes aside when one has to take a step back from what consumes their time and realize there is a much bigger universe out there to be considered.
Years later, in the present, Osama bin Laden is dead at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and there are still seemingly never-ending wars going on, costing us billions of dollars and lives of thousands of young men and women. It hardly seems like a fair trade to me, but then again, it's war; you really can't expect it to be pretty. But imagine the guy who shot Osama bin Laden in the face. That guy is going to get so much pussy. Think about one of those crazy ladies who has a house that is just filled with cats everywhere. That's how much pussy he's going to get. It's going to be legendary. But first, we have to bring him and everyone else home from that death-pit. If we have to wait another 10 years to catch Ayman Al-Zawahiri, then I say fuck it. Let's just pull everyone out of there, because let's be honest - we've killed a lot of Al-Qaeda's people, and at some point, we have to either just wipe the organization out in one big blow, and get acquainted with the idea that, even after they're all dead, there will still be people in the world who hate America.
If you're religious, I would recommend praying for protection. If you're an atheist, you should probably move to the Yukon. It's quite cold, but no terrorists have ever attacked or cared about that particular area. Either way, it's been 10 years since 9/11, and most of us are still alive. If there is any way I recommend commemorating 9/11, it would be to be thankful that we're alive and well, be happy for the lives we have, and not live in fear of losing that life. Even though it was a terrible day, and hard for some people to get past, I think a lot of them would agree with me in saying: love your life, every minute of it.
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