Saturday 15 September 2007

6 Years On

So what were you doing when the Twin Towers fell?

I was on my way home I think. I was back at my editor job at Times Publishing. Else I was at work, overtime. I went home and saw it the confusion on Channel News Asia. They had a feed from FOX TV. It was far from the towers and wasn't very clear. I went on to listen to the BBC. Unless you were in New York, I guess not many people really knew what happened till about a few hours later. I was in awe at the scale of the act. The balls of these guys to carry out something this big. I was thinking of two friends I knew were in New York at the time. With all communication lines busy to the point of bursting, I was only able to confirm their safety later that week. The morning papers had the images of the towers on fire and collapsing. It was scary. I remember Denise on Power 98 FM's morning show crying on air, with no one really knowing what to say. Words of comfort fell flat in comparison to the scale of the catastrophe. We were all hooked to the Internet and BBC on the radio, eager for the latest news.

Ever since, the world has not been the same place. Security issues are now primary concerns. We are reminded each day as we take the MRT to look out for "suspicious articles" in 4 languages while we watch a video of an Ah Beng leaving a big, black bag under his seat on train schedule LCD TVs. Some folks got arrested in Singapore for being up to no good. The video of Yishun station really hit home - terrorists are here in our island, they are upset people willing to blow up public facilities to get back at our government's stance on terrorism. Also, the cost of air travel has gone up because of additional security measures, while we can't bring in liquids beyond a certain small volume these days. People now play 'who's the air marshall?' games on their flights.

Of course, Afghanistan and Iraq, George Bush and Osama, Bali and JI. And so many lives lost.

In all of this, we should remember why there are some people in the world who want to blow us up. If you think our current terrorist threats occur because some people are nuts or belong to a religion that advocates violence, you are WRONG. Go think about it. Leave a comment if you need help.

4 comments:

stardust said...

the huge divide. the power struggle. these people aren't nuts. religion is probably a tool to justify.

if you haven't, try The Invasion. my most intense/draining movie ever. :)

Unknown said...

Dear Bush rest assured that the war against terror will never be over until you admit that you made a huge mistake. The September 11th bombing were made by arabs and not Iraqis. It was your goverment who sells arms to the arabs to fight the Iraqis. You have no one to blame but yourself. Perhaps you knew this all along. In fact Osama was in US soil during the attack and was allowed to leave the US to leave in hiding. Dont blame religion propaganda to hide the truth. About 400 people died in September 11th. Theres still far shot of the few thousands who died during the Vietnamese war by the countless mines you guys happily planted and another few thousands who died during the illegal invasion of Iraq. I call it TIT FOR TAT. There is such a huge media coverage about the september 11th . Why?? cause they are a rich power house bully . I pity your citizens and i applaud that the bush administration grasps in the white house is nearing its end, but untill the fucker leaves the oval office . More lies will be created ,more "threats" and fears will be planted into our subconcious space. Until then there will never be peace.

Unknown said...

and to those who use religious idealistic to cause more harm to others you all should GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gurmit singh said...

Strong words my friend. Thanks. Remind me not to piss you off.