Time flies

Here it is, december.... it's the end of a decade. 2000 - 09.... now that kind of went fast didn't it. I remember new year's from 1999 to 2000. All the fears about Y2K, the illusions, expectations, dreams. The confusion: "Is it the beginning of the 21st century?" ( It wasn't. The 21st century started in 2001) But it was the beginning of something. and now, here we are, 9 years into the 21st century, and so much has happened.

Let's begin with Tuesday, September 11, 2001 because that day changed the world... literally. I must say that for a native New Yorker Sept 11 was a kick in the crotch, even more so than to the nation as a whole BUT, New Yorkers took it more in stride than the rest of the US. It's incredible that the rest of the US needed to be reminded of that constantly. People who have never been to NY, who see it as a nest of vipers, a place full of sin, etc. made 9/11 their mantra. And in the process, they cheapened everything related to it. The good will that came after such a horrific act, the fear and sacrifices... No wonder so many conspiracy theories sprung up.
Sept 11 also killed, destroyed and maimed in Washington DC but since that didn't happen on television and left, as far as we know, no dramatic images akin to a plane crashing into a huge building, or those buildings falling, it tends to not be the image you recall when you say 9/11.

It wasn't my intention when I began to write this post to rant about 9/11. It could be that I haven't dealt with my emotions about it as thoroughly as I had thought.
I remember the first time I flew after 9/11. It was a shuttle flight from NY to DC after they had reopened Reagan National. The passengers were told by the crew " If anyone stands up at any time the plane will be turned back to NYC". My wife was dealing with Chemo and was given extra barf bags. The flight attendant told her that anything she felt she needed to do, just go right ahead on the seat ( in case she had to go to the bathroom) It was a short flight, so that didn't become an issue. But those things made you think.

The first time I saw the hole in the Pentagon made me gasp. That hole actually offered perspective into just how huge and fortified a building it is.

Well, perhaps I'll expand on that theme in a later post, cause looking back I remember so many specific things post 9/11. The first time someone looked at me weird because of my beard, the first time I came to Europe which was later October 2001, and just little things that looking back you know were visceral reactions by people who had panic in their eyes but were trying to deal with it.

Back to my original thought.... what I began to write about. In these ten years a lot of things have happened: George Bush, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, 11-M ( Spain's 9/11 which ushered in a new gov't, that of the Socialists with Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the helm ), then came the London bombings July 7th 2005, Bombay, and many other events that have shaped our present.
Is Barack Obama a result of these events ? If John Kerry had won in '04 what course would the wars have taken?
We see Obama surging in Afghanistan. What would have Kerry been advised to do in these wars, and how political would he have been with these wars.

I don't know if anyone remembers during the 2000 campaign between Gore and Bush that Ralph Nader said, when told that perhaps he would take votes away from Gore and that would allow Bush to win, that " maybe things had to get worse before they got better". Are we there yet?