A Decade Gone

I went to Manhattan early yesterday one day before the 9-11 tragedy got to be 10 years old. Living and working in NYC there is not a single day that my recollections of that day don’t come to mind.

I was 2,500 miles away that day working in a manufacturing plant just across the border from Nogales Arizona. One of my fellow co-workers that happened to live in Arizona walked in to our department wit a rushed stance saying that there had been an accident in NYC. Soon we all got into our computers and tried to get to news sites… tough order as all were overloaded and we got nothing. A quick stroll downstairs to the conference room we got the TV on and there we stood for most of the morning; production came to a stop, all of the US based staff was recalled to the Arizona side and us the remaining were more or less left in charge of the operation in Mexico.

My first thoughts were with the fire & EMT responders. One thing I never expected to see was both buildings crumble down how they did. Again my thoughts were with the fire & EMT responders, I feared the worst and soon it was confirmed: 343 dead.

Fast forward to the first sightings of the authorities. I didn’t like the Bush administration from before, so when George’s “you’re either with us or against us” speech bit came to be, right then and there I knew things were turning for the uglier and what little sympathy I had for the US governmental body went out the window. I knew those words were the worst to use under such emotional circumstances, and also knew that they would be used to justify greater crimes in the name of purported new world menace: terrorism.

How much have we lost under the guise of policies supposed to be set to make our life more secure?. Ten years after and we have:

• Ill conceived security measures on airports.
• Illegal spying and arrests justified by an embarrassingly named “Patriot Act”.
• A no end in sight war on the Middle East.
• NYC police state lockdowns.
• The worst reputation the USA has ever had in the international theater.

Its sad to see that those who claim to protect it are the ones that have done the most harm. In my mind Bush, Chenney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice and a slew of other political figures are amongst the greatest traitors this country can count about, they have lied and misrepresented the best interests of the country.

It doesn’t take real effort to be certain that we are set for another ass kicking. And it will be worst than what happened 10 years ago, that’s the bestial nature of man, to keep topping itself on new ways to sink to new lows, religion and politics being the fuel that drives that. As always, it will be the innocent ones that will pay the dearest.

We are all responsible for what happened one September 11 in one of the greatest cities of the world. We will be responsible of the next one as well if we don’t wake up from our stupor and change our  ways.

Our sons and daughters deserve better. Thus far we’re failing them.

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