In a different world. I often talk to my sons and ponder what happened and when. But I don't think even the most cynical of us imagined where we would be today. As one of my sons said, 9/11 was what Japan had hoped Pearl Harbor would be.
I very much disagree with the Pearl Harbor comparison. September 11 was a wave; Pearl Harbor was a tsunami. The difference is that a wave surges and then retreats, but a tsunami keeps coming and coming and coming, sweeping everything in front of it. After September 11, bin Laden went into hiding; after Pearl Harbor -- in fact, almost simultaneously with it -- the Japanese moved on and took Singapore and the Philippines.
From a military point of view, 9/11 was more similar to the Doolittle Raid; both were designed to demonstrate that the target was not "untouchable", but neither had much real value other than the symbolic and psychological effect.
September 11 had little to do with the destruction of this country, except in one sense: "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH."
For once, I deliberately decided against posting about 9/11 on social media.
ReplyDeleteIt now seems like it happened to a different country.
In a different world. I often talk to my sons and ponder what happened and when. But I don't think even the most cynical of us imagined where we would be today. As one of my sons said, 9/11 was what Japan had hoped Pearl Harbor would be.
DeleteI very much disagree with the Pearl Harbor comparison. September 11 was a wave; Pearl Harbor was a tsunami. The difference is that a wave surges and then retreats, but a tsunami keeps coming and coming and coming, sweeping everything in front of it. After September 11, bin Laden went into hiding; after Pearl Harbor -- in fact, almost simultaneously with it -- the Japanese moved on and took Singapore and the Philippines.
DeleteFrom a military point of view, 9/11 was more similar to the Doolittle Raid; both were designed to demonstrate that the target was not "untouchable", but neither had much real value other than the symbolic and psychological effect.
September 11 had little to do with the destruction of this country, except in one sense: "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH."