Patterico's Pontifications

9/11/2011

9-11, Ten Years Later

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:43 pm



Everybody has a 9/11 story. The story of my day is nothing remarkable. If one memory stands out, it was watching the repeated footage of the plane hitting the tower, and seeing our 1 1/2 year-old daughter point and excitedly yell: “Airplane!!” She was old enough to recognize airplanes as those things that fly in the sky, but not old enough to recognize that they could be instruments used by evil people.

Early on in the day, I popped in a new 6-hour VCR tape and taped the news coverage. I left it on all day and still have it. I used to go back and watch it from time to time.

Things change. I don’t watch the VCR tape any more. Our VCR eats any tape you put in it. And our daughter knows what terrorists are. So does our son, who wasn’t even there on September 11, 2001.

I remember telling a friend: I feel, all of a sudden, that my career is relatively meaningless, in light of what just happened. In a good career, I’ll prosecute maybe a few dozen murder cases and bring justice to a few dozen families, I said. What is that compared to the 3000 lives just lost in one day?

Things change. Today, I am preparing to start a murder trial tomorrow. It doesn’t feel meaningless.

Some things stay the same. There were people on September 11, 2001, who wanted to kill me and my family. Who wanted to kill you and your family. Such people still exist. If they could have made today a living hell ten times worse for America than September 11 was, they would rejoice. They would rejoice in our death and misery.

I don’t need a working VCR to remind me of that.

33 Responses to “9-11, Ten Years Later”

  1. It was hard to absorb the events of 9/11 at the time because it was so overwhelming. Time hasn’t made it easier to accept but it has been clarifying, and today the lessons of 9/11 seem more clear than ever. As President Bush said, “One of the lessons of 9-11 is that evil is real, and so is courage.”

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  2. Patrick, good luck on the case.

    either orr (58d2a4)

  3. I feel today that I was lucky on 9/11 in that I had to work, and we had no radio or TV there to distract us, but the evenings were a hard slog in looking at what had been done.

    Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (379fae)

  4. I’m not different than anyone else. I remember the day. I remember where I was when the first plane hit. I remember all of the confusion and fear.

    I suffered no personal loss directly from the day. Now, my little 2001 kids are practically grown, one in college and the other about to graduate high school.

    One thing I never did, though, is revisit the day. I never watched the anniversary shows on the news. I never saw any of the movies or read any of the books. I never read the 9-11 commission report.

    I needed no reminders of the horror of the day.

    This year was different. After reading “Decision Points,” I did look up some histories. I watched “United 93.”

    All of this reminded me of an incident that happened during the chaos of the day. I may have posted it here before.

    A young woman, a co-worker, asked me why the events of the day were happening.

    I answered:

    “Because they want to kill you.”

    It was the truth, but I still regret saying it.

    Ag80 (9a213d)

  5. I have yet to turn on the TV today…
    Maybe I’ll watch PanAm tonight?

    Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (379fae)

  6. Yep, well said

    EricPWJohnson (4380b4)

  7. and as someone else said – good luck on the case

    EricPWJohnson (4380b4)

  8. Patterico, people doing jobs like yours are part of the reasons the our warriors feel able to go and do theirs. It’s not that the American justice system is perfect (it’s not, and never can be) but because there are people like you in it who try to make it better. Thank you.

    htom (412a17)

  9. Well, P, the death of one is a tragedy, and seeing justice done and preventing possible further tragedies one by one is noble work.

    Yes, in our desire to do good and make things better it can be discouraging at times when compared to tragedy/evil on a massive scale. There has ever been only One who could take on all of the world’s suffering, the rest of us have our own human-sized part to play. It would be hard to single out who on the battlefield was responsible for success at Normandy, thousands and thousands were doing their parts; even women in the US making fake tanks that were used as decoys of where troops were amassing in Britain.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  10. hang ’em high!

    just kiddin’… good luck!

    ColonelHaiku (601b0d)

  11. I know what you mean, Pat.

    AZ Bob (aa856e)

  12. Patterico the only lawyer who disembowels the stereotype that lawyers are sleazy…………………..I respect thee.

    DohBiden (d54602)

  13. And yes I complimented you.

    DohBiden (d54602)

  14. 9/11 revealed both the worst and the best of our frail nature: Evil was personified and threatened to defeat, but through the grace of God, we the people created in His image more than rose to the occasion. On the small personal scale of my life, 9/11 will always be a pointed reminder to always strive to maintain the correct priority and focus: My family first, then loving my neighbor. In light of the fragility of this life, everything else pales in comparison.

    Dana (4eca6e)

  15. Rudy Giuliani who I respect despite my disagreements with went to HS on 357 Clermont Ave In Clinton Hill NY and he used to be a democrat before he switched to Republican.

    DohBiden (d54602)

  16. Comment by Dana — 9/11/2011 @ 8:51 pm

    very well said and thank you

    no one you know (11a076)

  17. You have, again and always, what is by definition the most righteous of client, Patterico: The People. I root for you.

    Beldar (42c763)

  18. I root for you in two different senses, by the way.

    One is as I root for lawyers whom I respect and consider friends — a professional and friendly regard combined.

    The other way, though, is more subtle: I root not necessarily for your side to win, but for you personally to be an effective instrument of justice. Which does means your side winning on the ones you’re taking to trial, if you deserve to win, with a solemn respect for the high bar you must surpass on every element of every crime thus prosecuted. But if you’re the effective instrument that I expect and believe you to be, then also, on every deal you cut, and every occasion you decide to dismiss or not to file, you’re also serving Lady Justice through wise exercise of professional discretion and resource allocation.

    I know, it’s awful that I have to examine and qualify even a “Good luck!” wish, isn’t it? Anyway, I’m rooting for you.

    Beldar (42c763)

  19. @Ag 80: why would you feel bad for telling the truth?

    you cannot coexist with people who want to kill you, whether they be Al-Q,La Eme, MS-13, Crips, Cartel or old school Mafia.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  20. 10 years ago, we were (and still are) horrified at these atrocities…The Towers, Flight 93, and DC. Yes I remember where I was, what I was doing- immaterial, truthfully. The material point was…we wanted to know why…that was quickly obvious. And then, we wanted justice.

    We. Still. Do.

    Sir Patterico, your job is all about justice. So bring that justice, sir…bring it. Because you CAN .

    ppk_pixie (901c40)

  21. you might should take your tape to one of those vhs to cd places

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  22. dvd I mean sorry

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  23. I root not necessarily for your side to win, but for you personally to be an effective instrument of justice.

    Exactly. May God guide you to win the ones where the accused is guilty and to lose the ones where he’s innocent, so that you always serve justice.

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  24. 23 yes have it converted to a CD and/or digital file.

    sarahW (fd5a41)

  25. I have home movies from the early 60’s, were in terrible condition, but they are preserved and viewable on a DVD conversion.

    sarahW (fd5a41)

  26. Fine days only make me uneasy now. They are rare, too rare to sever the association with beautiful things being shattered. Last one we had an earthquake.

    sarahW (fd5a41)

  27. Milhouse

    Part of Pat’s job is to review the evidence to see if there is a reason to go to court – I’m sure depending upon the structure of his Office unit – Pat may very well have the extremely unfortunate task of deciding not to go ahed and prosecute cases.

    In either situation there is a long and lasting toll on both sides – to tell a victims family that there isnt enough evidence to convict or even press charges – to me – given Pats more than apparent sensitivity and compassion to his fellow man – must be very rough on him.

    EricPWJohnson (2a58f7)

  28. the best 9/11 story I have is one that took place in 1979.

    we were in the attic of a large regional lutheran church in Tulsa, getting the xmas decorations down from the cramped storage spaces an annual event of the churches mens club. They always sent a few of us “expendable” teenage boys that could navigate the cramped spaces above the soaring arches in the massive church. Its a fun rite of passage.

    My buddy found a metal plaque, it was very heavy, it took 4 of us to move it so we could take the thick canvas off of it to read it – it was a memorial to those Lutherans of this church who fell in the country’s service.

    Almost all were from one womans family that lost a father in Law and an Uncle in WWI, husband and a brother in WWII and two of her sons in Vietnam.

    Naturally we all scrambled down with this monster plaque somehow managing not to destroy the stained glass and the altar and carried to the Senior Pastors office and presented it breathlessly to him as if we found the holy grail.

    The Senior Paster told us to put it back where we found it and my older friend immediately said no – it must be displayed to honor them

    The Pastor said he was aware of the plaqur and so is the congregation and he said it was removed at the family’s request years ago. The Pastor said during the bicentenial service it was displayed on the altar and the Matriarch of the family left during the service.

    The Pastor continued the story that he immediately went to her house after church to apologize and comfort her and the widow replied he didnt need to do either that the men in her family defended their country, not to be a name on a plaque and the church needs to move on to its business.

    EricPWJohnson (2a58f7)

  29. feel free to delete 3 of my comments in the stimulus thread.

    DohBiden (d54602)

  30. What we need is a formal Crusade against the Militant Islamist Sand Nazis.

    Michael Ejercito (64388b)

  31. This is how it sounds when you have somebody who really knows what he’s doing singing the Star Spangled Banner, instead of some twit rock star.

    (Yesterday 9/11/11 at the Bears -Falcon’s game with an American flag the size of the whole field being displayed.)

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/oer-land-free-and-home-brave_593139.html

    elissa (ad7deb)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0923 secs.