Listening to the radio this morning, I heard a neighbor of mine on the Radio, retelling the story of how his daughter died. Lisa Frost grew up in Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange County, raised by her dad Tom and mother Melanie. She went off to Boston Univerity and graduated summa cum laude with two degrees, one in communications and one in hospitality administration. She was awarded the Boston University Scarlet Key for extraordinary achievement in student activities and organizations. Tom related the story about the last time he spoke with his daughter. She called him from Logan International Airport in Boston, excited to be flying home to spend some time with her parents. A short while later, she boarded United Airlines Flight 175 headed for Los Angeles. I can only imagine what was going through her father's head as he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11/2001. A short while later, it was confirmed that the flight that hit the second tower was indeed UA 175. I listened again to the story, as told by her father, and I felt the same accellerated heartbeat and anger that I did on 9/11. As a father of two girls of my own, I can imagine how difficult it must have been for Tom and Melanie Frost to move beyond the tragedy of Lisa's death. Their marriage did not survive it. Osama's death can't bring back Lisa, but it had to bring some small measure of closure to the parents. I started this thread because, 10 years later, its pretty easy to lose sight of how all this started and why we are here. We waste our time arguing over whether the photographs should be released, or the burial at sea was appropriate, when the real answer is, who cares. We are busily dancing around the delicate sensibilities of a bunch of nutjobs who glorify a murderer of men, women, children, babies, muslims, christians, and atheists. Its not like Lisa Frost was dancing around the streets of Boston burning the Pakistani flag, shouting death to Pakistan or Afghanistan, like so many Pakistani's are doing, now that Seal team 6 has dealt out a bit of justice. Its not like Lisa Frost was working at or near a military installation and was a civilian casualty of some ongoing war. Its not like the people who killed her were the elected, or even unelected, representitives of some nation. What we are dealing with are a small group of people who took it on themselves to murder 2,752 people in a symbolic statement of their beliefs. What we are dealing with are a slightly larger group of people that think you can murder innocent women and children, and still be a Muslim in good standing. Stories like those of Lisa Frost should serve as a reminder of these simple facts to all of us. After 10 years, there seems to be no question a reminder is needed. If anyone else has one of the other 2,751 stories, I'd love to hear it.
Thank you my friend , in the quest for truth we often miss it because we're to busy not to offend anyone while the only message they understand is the one send by the barrel of a loaded gun .
I'm sure we all have harrowing stories about how someone died, from the drink driver or an evil husband / wife to the mass slayings in your schools. 9/11 was a sad day for all. It speaks volumes when to get justice the saviours of victims can blame whole countries and enforce cruelty upon 'friends' or simply fellow countrymen of the aggressors. In its search for the aggressors and the hundreds of thousands civilians dead have you ever considered how many of them had loved ones and many of them have 'stories' too?
Do please try to stay on topic. If you want to start a thread about dying from cancer or something else equally unrelated, then do so, but don't post that cr*p here. There is the 10 year post 9-11 thinking I'm talking about. In answer to your query, I don't honestly care. The previous generation of Americans didn't fuss about when Pearl Harbor was attacked. They simply hit back with sufficient force to bring the issue to closure. Did they kill an enormous number of Japanese, including civilians? Absolutely. Perhaps Japan should have thought about that before bringing us into the war. Feelings of pity for an enemy that has sworn to kill off you and your culture are yet another sure way to end your gene-pool(Haven't we covered this already?). Regarding blaming whole countries for the actions of their residents and citizens, you need to study up on your Bush Doctrine. It is a philosophy that will not be going away anytime soon for civilized nations, and rightly so. Looking at Pakistan's apparent involvement in sheltering Osama, they should be thinking about it too. Watching the Republican debate tonight, I saw more than one call to cut off the $3 billion in aide money we send them annually. Without that money, I find it highly likely their current government will collapse. Maybe then Australia can go clean up the mess.
One vivid, painful memory was watching, as people carried signs and pictures on the street, asking if anyone had seen their loved one. I'm sure many knew deep down. They just didn't want to give up hope, it was all they had. The hope they might come back any moment. I was a stranger, but still, it makes me cry to think of, even now.
Let's also not forget the family of Bin Laden (who were innocent) that had to witness him being killed despite being un-armed. Seeing your father or your husband shot in the head right in front of you, is not only horrible, but could traumatize them for life. As Fidel Castro said: "Whatever actions may have been attributed to bin Laden, the assassination of an unarmed human being surrounded by his family constitutes an abhorrent act,". And let's also have a moment of silence for the 100,000's of innocents that died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
Second off topic post. If you want to start a thread about the hundreds of thousands of civilians murdered in post-invasion Iraq by people like yourself over sectarian hatred, be my guest. This thread is for the stories of the folks murdered by Osama Bin Laden on Sept. 11th 2001. Your post has been reported.
Third off topic post. I saw one of my best freinds die in front of my eyes when i was in Delhi. That day i realized that how far range emotions can be.