Mixed Feelings

I dont think there is a single person in the US who isnt aware of the date.
Or one who isnt remembering- well, maybe the younger children.
But for me, today is a day of mixed emotions.
What happened was devastating. It was meant to send a message, and we got it, loud and clear.
However, I have a really hard time pulling apart my sadness for those lost in the tragedy and the frustration in what has happened in the last 10 years.
It frustrates me to no end that we went to Iraq.
And I think the building that they are building in its place is a bit much.
(Above comments were written before 12 noon)

As the day has worn on, I have been able to sift through emotions and reactions and I know now what I was trying to say earlier.
The almost 3000 deaths that happened on 9/11 were a tragedy, absolutely. The family and friends that had their loved ones ripped from them are definitely in my thoughts.
But there were around 10,000 people who successfully evacuated from the Twin Towers before they collapsed. I think we should celebrate those lives a little bit more. Those are the people who lived through the horrors. I've been watching 9/11 specials all day and not once was I told the number of survivors, but I heard their stories. These people are haunted by what they lived through. Friends didnt make it, or they were spared in the blast when everyone who was with them was killed.
I salute those who survived. They may look like ordinary people, but they have extraordinary stories.

And while I dont discount that the story of 9/11 is an important one. I feel that perhaps as Americans, we blow it up, far too much. Yes, it was a bad thing. Yes, it changed our lives, whether directly or indirectly. But there are far worse things that happen far more often around the world.
For example:
2004 Tsunami that happened between Christmas and the New Year - death toll of 230,000
2010 Haiti earthquake 46000-316000 casualties
Various terrorist attacks in India- tens of thousands dead. (Attacks that I've never heard of)
Darfur genocide- over 300,000 casualties, and far more displaced
Israeli-Palestine conflict has claimed over 14,000 lives


And ok, so none of those are a single terrorist attack, but rather natural disasters or a series of attacks. In fact, if looking at a list of specific terrorist attacks, the 9/11 attacks are the most deadly. But lets look at the flip side of the situation- how many Iraqi's have we killed? Over 100,000. And why are we killing Iraqi's if Osama bin Laden was based in Afghanistan?

Another fun fact- we have lost 6300 American troops in the war since 2003. 1750 of them were in Afghanistan. If we just stayed in Afghanistan, think of the better job we could have done there, as well as the smaller death toll.

Im not saying that I dont respect what today means for the citizens of the United States, I am just saying, if we are going to give it this much attention we should give other live changing events the same amount of attention.

Here's to recognizing that everyone in this world has their own daily struggle, and that perhaps as a society we could help others with their issues as they helped us. No, they didnt stay with us in Iraq, but they did support our war on terrorism, in Afghanistan.