h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's the 2nd Anniversary of the attacks. I've already seen political commentary on a thread for the Anniversary. You'd think that people could give it a rest for just a single day, out of respect for the dead, if not for Researchers in mourning.




This is in memory of the victims of 9/11/2001.

You'd think...

But as P T Barnum put it, no-one ever went broke underestomating the taste of the general public.

You make a valid point, AD. I just checked the 9/11 Anniversary thread, and it's only headed downhill.

Sigh.

Hi WR.
I would have thought that if someone didn't want to memorialize the day, the absolute least they could do was ignore it instead of using it for political commentary.

If it's not too personal a question...

... is the mourning for anyone in particular?


<"Not a personal question!? How bl**dy personal can you get?!" In Terry Jones' inimitable falsetto>

It's not too personal, AD. And no, I didn't lose anyone in the attack. I've never been to NYC, or Washington DC, or Pennsylvania, and I don't know anyone there.

I don't totally understand my feelings myself, why after two years it is still so overwhelming. Just the loss of life was so staggering, and literally for months afterwards you saw pictures of smoking rubble and debris every single night on the news. You couldn't escape it.

Also, I guess as Americans it robbed us of our false sense of security. As a culture, we'd gone about our merry way, thinking the world was our oyster, and that we were indestructable. NOT! It was a long-overdue awakening, but also a very painful one. It's not the same world I grew up in, and that can be terrifying.

And regardless of where you live, or what side of the political fence you fall on, I cannot for the life of me understand how some of the researchers on this site can be so callous about such a massive loss of life. It's beyond my comprehension.

Probably more of an answer than you wanted, but there it is.

Hiya, Evangeline! I agree, you'd think if they can't say something polite, they could just not say anything at all. I signed on planning to start a memorial thread, saw that one was already posted, and hoped maybe people could show some restraint for a change. Guess not.

Oh well.

This is something I wrote last year to sort out how I felt about the preceding year and to have a chronicle of it as well.

A822737

Thanks for sharing, Evangeline.

Hope all is well for you, Mike, and the critters...

Ah well.

"'Cheer up!' they said, 'It could be worse.' So I did, and it was."

I suppose there is so much human suffering that we can each only latch on to a tiny fraction of it. I'd imagine this could make us seem callous to anyone who's latched on to a different part: the old tribal tendency to split up the world into "us" and "them" is still around, for all the lessons of history.

The first thing that really got me viscerally to understand sacrifice was hearing about those Russian guys who parachuted and abseiled into the wreckage of Chernobyl in a kamikaze mission to seal in the remains of the reactor... Some things you just can't think about too deeply.

I did catch a distinct sense of other-worldliness when I visited the USA, it's such a big place that even its constituent parts each feel like a world unto themselves. Whether such isolation is a good thing or not (I found it varied from charming to irritating, dependent on my mood as much as anything else) a terrorist attack was no way to get rid of it.

I don't suppose you could tell me where the Immigration Service gets its recruits could you? That really would be a place to avoid!

Thanks for the answer, thought I'd just pop by.

"POP BY! SWARM BY MORE LIKE!"

WR,
Mike and I are . Xena is doing well, and one of the store's had a litter of calico kittens. Still haven't found a .
How are you these days? And, how are the critters in your family?

AD,
Where in the U.S. did you visit?
Immigration Services, I dislike renewing my driver's license at the DMV...can't imagine the INS.

Me and the kids are all doing okay. Getting ready to go on my first real vacation in years next week, so I'm looking forward to that!

AD, I know some folks in Customs and Border Patrol around here. Some of them are good people, and some of them I'd away from myself, even though I'm a cop!

Where are you going for your vacation?

San Francisco! Gonna catch a Jimmy Buffett concert, tour Yosemite, see the Redwoods, you name it. Go play tourist and have fun for a few days! I can't wait!!!!!

Hi Evangeline,

It was a while ago now, but I did a tour of some of the western National Parks: Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. I didn't get as far as WR's patch, unfortunately, but maybe next time

The INS are well worth steering clear of: any resemblance they may bear to humans is purely superficial. I briefly wondered whether they were born that way or if it was some element of their training program that expunged the last vestiges of personality, but decided that some things are not for mortal man to wot of

Hi WR,

Glad to know that there are good people in US Customs

Unfortunately my encounter with the INS was in New York, where they're doubtless a tad more jaded.

I had wondered if it was just me, but then my parents had some problems (and trhey were only changing planes in Miami for a visit to the British Virgin Islands) as did others on their flight. (One poor German chap tried to belie the national stereotype for humourlessness by joking "Guess I picked the wrong line" when he eventually reached the desk: he was sent straight to the back of a different line.) Then I read in one of Bill Bryson's books that he'd had problems with the INS, and he's American, so I decided that on reflection, it isn't just me.

Would it help to confuse them if we away some more?

Mike wants to go to the Jimmy Buffett concert...or at least hear all about it. Have a safe and enjoyable trip!

I haven't traveled as much of the U.S. as I'd like. Maybe one of these days... Most of my travels have taken me Eastward to Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee. Been Westward to Texas a few times, mostly Houston with a trip to Austin as well.

Is the Grand Canyon as breath taking as the pictures lead me to believe? I'd love to see mountains in person. *Bits of Louisiana are actually below sea level*

Was that an INS agent? ......

It may be hard to believe, but pictures just don't do the Grand Canyon justice. There's nothing quite as awe inspiring as sitting on the edge taking it in for yourself: it's the best way I can think of to acquire a sense of perspective

After visiting Bryce Canyon, which is astonishingly beautiful with orange and purple rock layers and wind-eroded formations, I was steeling myself that the Grand Canyon might turn out to be a disappointment.

It didn't

just in case...