...but there's been a lot running through my mind today, same's everyone else, I s'pose...
..one of the first places I went this morning was Amnesty Int'l's site, tho. I remember a year ago, they sent out an e-mail..and the one difference between theirs and everyone else's was that they warned against lashing back against all Muslims and things, to make sure we didn't overlooks others' rights while seeking justice on our own behalf...which I thought a very valid point.

..but that morning...I remember being in the auditorium, hearing the pa system come on..and we couldn't quite make out what was being said, we just assumed Salvaggio was yelling at us again for being out in the hallways thirty seconds after the bell...
...but then they quieted us down, and we moved silently out into the foyer, straining to hear what was going on...Mr. C. found out the details, and read it back to us in the auditorium a few minutes later...and we were stunned.
...and we went to lunch, and I was still largely numb..and we were all talking about it..I remember Vicki being ready to dive under the lunch table, in fear that we'd be hit next...
...and it was doing lunch, that I finally realised - there were *people* in those buildings, in those planes.
...somehow, I hadn't realised that before...I'd heard, yeah, two buildings were destroyed...and that's sad, but.....and then I realised, there were *people* there...*so* many people...people's sisters, brothers, father, mothers, best friends, secret crushes...
...and I knew three of the members of U2 had places in New York City, and I was so scared...
...and we went to english class, and...I think we jus kept on with what we were doing, to get through the day..."counting peas"...though I started writing then...
...during my early dismissal, I remember the radio on, trying to figure out what was happening...
...got home, and we all just sat in front of the tv all night...and I remember just falling in love with the newscasters, esp. Peter Jennings...they did such an incredible job, I was in awe and in love...*smile*...
...but the thing that got me...they showed footage on the tv...and we all saw the planes hit, the buildings fall, again and again...but you could see people falling from the buildings...and they told of a fireman, who had come to help...and was killed by someone falling, who landed on him.....
...that day, and for the next few days, I kept short journals on what was going on, how we all felt, what I was thinking...
...the Twin Towers were symbols of America's wealth...rubbing our affluence in the faces of the rest of the world...and I knew, and I know, we've so many enemies...and many of them were making treaties and such at the time, which scared me...
...but I wondered if we weren't just scape-goating with Bin Laden?
......I listened to Bush's speeches...and was comforted...I'm sorry, I still have faith in Bush, I was and am glad that he's in charge right now...but the one thing that scared me was Bush saying that we'd hunt down and punish those responsible...that worried me...as Amnesty still proclaims - "Justice not revenge"...
...day one was fear...day two, clean-up, discussed the impace and what should be done...day three, partiotism...day four, uneasy normalcy...day five was quiet...

But both then and now, I knew, I know, that it did us some good, as a country..it was a slap in the face...cos this sort of thing happens every day in other countries, Israel and Ireland and others, it's on a smaller scale but it's constant...and we can't ignore the rest of the world so easily now, as we did before...
...and it's kinda sad, cos I look around now..and we *are* starting to forget..and it's inevitable, I know, but...we're becoming self-centered again...tho I pray we're never woken up the same way again...

...across the hall, she's listening to the old "New York, New York" again and again...I've been listening to U2's "New York" all day long (tho I remember, it was several days before I *could* listen to it, then..)...but I remember what a help U2 was in those days...*smile* ..I'd had "Sunday Bloody Sunday" ("I can't believe the news today, I can't close my eyes and make it go away..."), and "The Cry" ("Somebody cry, somebody cry, somebody cry...and I can't see why, or what for!"), and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" ("I hear the children crying, and I know it's time to go...I call out Your name, I call out in pain...") in my head...and I tried to listen to "New York", but I *couldn't*..so I listened to "Peace on Earth", again and again..tho after awhile I couldn't listen to that, either..

...180 choirs in different countries sang a requiem today at the (local) time the first plane had hit...*touched*

Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I'm sick of all this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain

Where I grew up, there weren't many trees
(It's down to Alphaville...
Religious nuts, political fanatics in the stew)

You become a monster, so the monster will not break you
(In New York freedom looks like too many choices)
It's already gone too far, who says that if you go in hard
you won't get hurt

Jesus could you take the time to throw a drowning man a line
(Voices on the cell phone, voices from home...voices down the stairwell...)
No whos or whys, no-one cries like a mother cries...
...she never got to say goodbye...now he's in the dirt

...All the folks the rest of us won't get to know...
Their lives are bigger than any big idea...
(In the stillness of the evening,
When the sun has had its day,
I heard your voice a-whispering...)
Hope and history won't rhyme...
(That's where I lost you, New York...)

^ the combination of "Peace on Earth" and "New York" that I wrote up the day after...(both orig. by Bono)