September 11, 2005
September 11: Things I Never Thought I'd See
I live in the Midway of Saint Paul. It's liberal - we keep electing the likes of Alice Hausman and Ellen Anderson to the legislature, and the likes of this person to Congress. Not as debilitatingly wacked-out as Highland Park, but more prone to silliness like Cindy Sheehan vigils and sending kids to Quaker School than, say, the East Side.
One of the most jarring things about the immediate aftermath of the attacks were the empty skies. I remember walking out of my office on September 13 and being astounded to see contrails in the sky - and more astounded still when I noticed they were travelling in pairs, and curved around in loops and circles, unlike the purposeful, arrow-straight single lines of commercial jetliners. It was a combat air patrol, probably F-16s from Duluth or Fargo, patrolling the skies and ready to shoot down the next wave of attackers.
A week later, I was at my kids' soccer practice, on a still September evening behind the local rec center. Kids skittered about the big grass field, kicking and yelling and being kids. Among the parents - well, there was still only one topic, whether the parent was a nose-ringed metal parent, a tank-topped union guy, a polo-clad yuppie parent, or a prematurely-gray, straight/short-cut, frumpy Volvo-driving Wellstone-voting fiftysomething; the attacks and what was going on.
Suddenly, a roar from the south:
An F-16 flew over, low enough I could almost make out the pilot's facial features. I presumed it had been flying CAP over the Cities, and fueled up, and was on its way back to Duluth or Fargo.
And a cheer went up from the parents, as well as the kids (the boys, anyway); nearly all the parents shook their hands in the air as the plane roared away to the north.
In my neighborhood? Cheering the military?
Oh, not everyone. There was one of those frumpy, alpaca-wearing fiftysomethings, muttering and phumphering. But you could feel exhilaration among most of the parents; they (and I) finished the evening with a spring in our step, a little jolt to finish the day. Uncle Sam was upstairs with a can of whoopass for the next piece of vermin who tried to attack us. "They're all going to hear this, soon".
Damn, that felt good.
Posted by Mitch at September 11, 2005 10:04 AM | TrackBack
The can of whoopass remains, but the cheering has died down. The North Vietnamese manipulated America via Monah Charen's "Useful Idiots", ie: the MSM, the ivory towers of academia and the Hollywood establishment. The terrorists are doing the same. Many Americans now understand how we defeated ourselves, but too many have not.
Left wing self-flagellation wouldn't be so bad if they only bloodied their own backs, but I refuse to accept their perverse cat o' nine tails without hitting back.
Posted by: Hammerswing75 at September 11, 2005 11:03 AMInteresting how differently the sound and appearance of an F-16 or other fighter jet makes some of us feel today. There was an annual air show in the next town west of us on Saturday, September 10. Forgetting that the show was that day, when I heard a fighter jet circling pretty high up I wondered to myself who they were chasing. Not three minutes later the jet buzzed our neighborhood, causing me, my kids, and the dog to look up and gasp in horror. The sound was terrifying and the effect lasted for several minutes. I, a forty-something, non-Alpaca wearing American, who understood perfectly well on 9/11 that our country had been attacked by terrorists of some type, could only think of how terrified the little children of Iraq must feel each and every time one of jets flies over their neighborhoods.
Posted by: Teena at September 12, 2005 09:03 AMAs long as the neighborhood isn't a terrorist base, the kids probably enjoy the airshow.
Posted by: fingers at September 12, 2005 12:37 PMJet noise tends to have that heart wrenching awakening effect on people who exist rigidly within their own, small microcosm.
Teena, probably a lot less terrified then when Sadaam had agents of their own "government" knock on the door and take their parents away...but we all know how our debate would play out.
Yeah Mitch, that is the one thing I most plainly remember that day. Glued to the t.v. for most of the day at work, huddled with co-workers struggling to grasp what had just happened only to go home and confront the same with roommates. We ended up going to the bar for a beer to get away from it all and continue the obvious discussion. Remember the address by Bush televised at the bar, knowing we were going to kick some ass and avenge those who struck. But getting home later, skies silent in Bloomington for once...until you could hear those jets above. Comforting to know they were there that night. And still today, tormenting folks like Teena and striking at those who wish to do us harm.
Posted by: Dave V at September 12, 2005 03:42 PMPasted from my post: I "understood perfectly well on 9/11 that our country had been attacked by terrorists of some type..."
Posted by: Teena at September 13, 2005 01:41 PMRead my whole post. Don't just pick out parts that you interpret to be offensive, but read the whole thing to understand my message. There's that vulture-like tendency of some of the readers here once again.
I have Lebanese friends who fled their home country because their young son began to dance to the sound of bombs as if they were drums. Now do you get it?