Ten years tomorrowWoke up on the couch. Turned on the TV and there it was on CNN. Smoke and fire. Planes took flight, crashed, and blew up. World changed when I turned it on. Explosions reminded me of Columbia.
Got to work and I heard the old guys in the locker room. They were talking about Gee and Ji, the owners of the restaurant. Good guys who I knew for some time. People at they gym, who were members for years were saying that the Gee and Ji could be terrorists. Made me sick thinking about it. These old men were eating at the restaurant yesterday, like many times before. Gee and Ji were getting blasted. People who I had thought were respectable and stand up were full of shit.
Can’t fully be angry with them. They were hurt and angry. I was, too. These doctors, lawyers, and business owners were saying these two people were part of it. These members were two-faced. Made me angry that they would so easily turn on them. How can these people just scapegoat Gee and Ji? I would watch them sitting at their table, being served food with a smile. Then when I heard these same people in the locker room, all I can do is shake my head. They didn’t think anybody else was there. These private moments of betrayal.
Sitting in NOHO, I remember late nights sitting in the backyard with family and friends talking about the attack. Talks about cesnas flying overhead spraying poison gas in the Valley. Listening to KIIS fm. Those angry callers. They were so angry and upset. The DJ calling for calm. So many so quick to make judgment. Forgotten friends, wholly dismissed in a minute. It was ugly. Made me think how ugly it could have been out there.
Ji and Gee’s restaurant in the gym got thinner with customers because they were from Lebanon. Gee and Ji was short for Jihad. That’s what their name was. They were nice guys. There was this new blonde haired guy that quit because Nick, the manager, was Lebanese. He was a Marine that served in the Middle East and Nick just wanted us to get back to work. This was an impossibility. World got turned around, but we were all in a state.
People were hurt. Too many people were hurt. Still, it was done.
Admittedly, someone close had similar feelings. She said it would be an insult for them to build there. Just didn’t see her way. I respect her, but didn’t even have the same view.
A holy place they wanted that’s all. Can’t speak for the people there that watched their own fall to the ground. Can’t speak the brave men in red run into danger instead of away from it. Can’t speak for the heroes of United and Pentagon.
10 years tomorrowHurt is still there. Bin Laden is gone and I felt justice. Might have gone to the White House like the others, but there is something about celebrating over one’s killing. It troubles me.
Wrong was done. Wrong still happens. We see it everyday.
Don’t want to rationalize what a troubled few do. Still, we must not forget the Heroes. We must not forget the Fallen. We must not forget we are a strong and we survive through tragedies, injustice, and wrongdoing. Must never forget. Forgive, but never, ever Forget. . .what happened 10 years tomorrow. 9/11
