9/11 Twenty Five Years On

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Five years ago I posted a piece remembering the utter horror of what happened in the US on 11 September 2001. On the twenty fifth anniversary it feels right to share that again for the many of you who weren’t with me back then. I’ll return at the end for a few brief comments, but for now, from 11 September 2021, this was:

9/11 TWENTY YEARS ON

A couple of years ago I posted about this on the Facebook page for this blog, and shared it here too. It will be on the Facebook page again, as my posts are automatically linked to there. I make no apology for repeating myself, as I think this needs to be remembered.

No matter where we are from, it is impossible to comprehend the awfulness of that day, a day which has shaped so much of what has happened since then. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of those atrocities and it feels like an appropriate time to reflect, especially since the recent abandonment of Afghanistan to the Taliban has rendered the likelihood of further terrorist acts more likely than it probably has been at any time since 9/11. It is said that those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them, and I’m hoping that isn’t true in this case. Time will tell.

Like most people, I guess, I can remember exactly where I was on that fateful day, 11th September 2001, when so many innocent people were murdered and the world changed for ever. For us in the UK, this happened just before 2pm. The guy in the next office rushed in saying ‘you have to see this!’ We spent the next hour or so transfixed with horror at what was unfolding on his computer screen, watching the BBC live news. Work was forgotten for a time, and seemed so inconsequential by comparison.

To honour those who lost their lives, and all those whose heroic efforts helped so many others, I’m dedicating this song to them. An explanation of the song is on Songfacts, and I’m repeating it here as background:

“Grand Central Station is a train terminal in New York City, and a bustling hub of activity. It’s a majestic building where amid the din, travelers can find moments of reflection, as so many journeys started or ended there.

Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote the song after hearing an interview with an iron worker who was one of the first on the scene after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The interview aired on a New York City radio station on the first anniversary of the attacks, and it brought Chapin Carpenter to tears. “Those first few days there at ground zero, he felt it was a very holy place,” she told NPR. “When his shifts were over, he felt this lifeforce was somehow asking for his help, and when he would leave his shift he figured, whoever wants to go, I’ll take him with me, and he’d find himself just going to Grand Central Station, standing on the platform, and figuring whoever wanted to go home could just catch the train home.”

Chapin Carpenter immediately started writing the song, and had it finished three days later.”

Whatever you are doing today, I hope you can find four minutes to watch this video. The song is beautiful, and some of the images are almost impossibly heartbreaking. Today is a day for reflection, a day to put aside differences, a day to shed a tear for humanity – whilst hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself..

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And this is me today. Twenty five years have now passed since that atrocity, and we have gone through so much. We are still seeing wars around the globe, Ukraine and Iran in particular at present, and we went through the Gulf War in response to 9/11, the only time NATO’s pact of support for a member nation being attacked has been invoked (can someone ask Natalie to tell that to Numpty?) And what have we learned? As I said five years ago, it feels that we are doomed to keep making the same mistakes, and we are still doing it. Is it too much to hope that the world will come to its senses? Probably, but I live I hope. You may call me a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Today, of all days, let us wish for a better future.

40 thoughts on “9/11 Twenty Five Years On”

  3. Thanks, Clive. It’s easy to take life for granted until tragedy strikes. It’s not only critical too remember events like this, but equally important, to learn from them. Unfortunately, it’s a little bit like feeling sad after another gun tragedy, yet not taking any proactive changes,

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  5. Thank you, Clive, for your beautiful tribute and this song. Both have brought a tear to my eyes, but then … this day in itself did that. Just remembering … the pain will never go away. I think the likelihood of something similar happening again is at an all-time high, for we truly did NOT learn the lessons of that day. Thanks again, my friend.

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  6. Lovely tribute, Clive! I am glad you decided to republish this piece. We all hope for peace but we’ll never see true serenity in this life. May God keeps us all safe from the hands of evil everywhere!

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  7. Thanks for this poignant post and song! What a touching song with the images it has.
    One thing that I will never forget about that horrible day and the days that followed is how other countries surrounded the US with their compassion and love. It was so reassuring to feel that after the horror of hate that flew into the towers. Like you I hold fast to that dream that we can unite as a world again in spite of those who are trying to divide us.

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  9. Clive, Roger and I are blogging buddies, both on the general topics of blogging, but also footballing buddies, he Aston Villa and myself a Gooner of Arsenal. 🙂 Hence, I’m here on his account/referral.

    A wonderful song. My eyes welled up a bit listening to the lyrics and watching the images. Ugh, gut-wrenching. Yes, all that you thought about, wished and hoped for, explained ‘Why can we not learn from history’s (massive) mistakes and stop repeating them in various forms.’ Your allusion to John Lennon’s Imagine was quite apropos. Well done.

    And as an American in his 6th decade of life as well as an 8th-generation Texan, I must say to you and all Brits, thank you deeply for all the thoughts, sentiments, and remembrance to that awful bloody day. Here’s to us Yanks not repeating history so much as we do and have. 🍻 Here’s to you Brits sticking with us during these last 25-years and of course much longer. 🍻 And here is my deepest apology for what we Americans have allowed to infect our federal (and state) governments, such as the buffoon in the White House. 😔 He and his administration has caused nothing but useless turmoil in life, the world economy, and a preposterous 3-ring circus in foreign affairs. What an effin, shameful embarrassment he is and for us putting him in the White House a second time—we voters and more importantly non-voters made TWO colossal mistakes with him!

    Again, thank you Clive for this proper post. 🙏

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    • I almost didn’t reply to this when I saw which team you support: guess mine!

      Thank you for your kind words. It’s a beautiful, meaningful song, like so many of hers, and that video – which isn’t an official one – is perfect.

      His re-election was met here with incredulity: how could so many be so stupid? I just hope he doesn’t manage to steal the midterms and gets the electoral beating he so richly deserves. If the Dems can control both houses that might at least rein in his worst excesses.

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      • Oh no, I’ve said too much. 😬😄 There will likely be caution, disdain, or even worse… deletion of my words or banning. 😉

        I shouldn’t dare to guess your club for fear I might anger you more. Yikes! Me thinks I’m too wobbly and twitchy with nerves to venture a polite “stab.” I have two ideas off the cuff, but my better judgment tells me “Dwain/PT, as Ol’ Abe Lincoln once said [with misattribution], “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.“” But Clive I would appreciate you telling me your club upfront so that in the future I don’t constantly step on your toes with my footballing opinions. Well, unless you are the maniacal torturing type. 😈🤭

        (many groans under his breath…) The tantrum-throwing toddler tRumper has already been audaciously corrupting our election process with the mail-in ballots via our U.S. Postal Service. Get this:

        As I understand it if any one voter ballot in a whole batch of ballots, that’s plural, does not PERFECTLY match what is indicated on the prior registrar’s file/roster (assuming it hasn’t already been purged without the voter knowing in time) then the ENTIRE batch is thrown out. To me that implies that voter ballots that did match and were precise on both accounts/registrar’s file, by happenstance those correct ballots will all be thrown out even if they did their ballot perfectly, but one ballot was wrong! 😡 I hope I am dead wrong about that, but yesterday and the day before that’s how I understood what CNN and PBS were reporting.

        Now tRumper doing that and causing nothing but chaos, THAT is as UNConstitutional as all the hundreds and hundreds of other unconstitutional lawbreaking he has ever done as (a fake) president, even inciting and flaming the violent insurrection Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capital Building.

        Yes, if Dems do take back both chambers of Congress, that is a good step forward toward recovery—that will most likely take several years—however, we still have the major problem of the Supreme Court Justices that are essentially tRumper appointed and tRumper arse-kissers. The degradation this one man and his MAGA base have caused will not go away overnight, not even by 2030 I suspect. 😔🤦‍♂️

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      • Don’t worry, I have no religion to lose. My team is the obvious one for a Gooner to dislike: Spurs.

        The damage he has caused, and is still causing, will take many years to correct. A good step for the Dems whey they regain power is to increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court and appoint liberals to the new posts. That might counteract some of his worst excesses.

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  10. It’s so important to remember those people who died…several months after the horrific event, I was at a pre-Oscar party thrown by my Host Joan Rivers. Her close friend Matthew Modine was there…he told of an event he was at a few months after 9/11 when someone complained about all the dust still in the city. “Those are people’s souls” Modine replied. I will never forget that story.

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  12. This song, which I am ashamed to say missed my faulty radar. Thanks very much Clive . What a beautiful and soulful song going right to the heart of the subject. Thank you for your post too. From a UK perspective this says it all, you covered all the major points.

    And your penultimate sentence: not a fan of the actual song, but by heck, this is one time when the use of those words hold strong.

    No need for me to put up a post of my own. (I’ve reblogged yours)

    Roger

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  13. I was lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen at The Giants Stadium a couple of times, and one night he was playing The Rising and I recall looking up and seeing the US flag flying on one of the turrets and the lights of a plane flying in the New York sky. It was so deeply poignant.

    As is the Mary Chapin-Carpenter song, thanks for sharing. Lovely blog.

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  15. A very moving song Clive. I too wish the humpty would learn from past mistakes, but zi look over there and see there is always another one waiting in the wings. We need a major change to the way

    politicians think and act on our behalf before the world id beyond saving but zi hope it is possible.

    Hugs my friend

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    • Thank you, David. It’s a wonderful song and that video is a perfect fit for it. We need major change, but the problem is that too many people have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

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