Ann Curry Profile: "We interupt this program to bring you the following breaking news"

TGIF Everybody!
I'm doing a special post today so I thought I'd be a little serious about this one.

As I'm sure the world over knows by now, this Sunday will mark the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.
I for one am glad the people of NY were able to rebuild, not just their lives, but also the buildings that were demolished that fateful day.

If it hasn't by now, 9/11 will live on forever entrenched in the lore and history of American for generations to come. Every anniversary, much like Pearl Harbor and the assassination of JFK, people will ask "Where were you on 9/11? What were you doing?"

I remember where I was and what I was doing on that day. Surly nothing as spectacular or as live-altering as what was already going on in NY, Washington and PA mind you.

At the time, Heather and I and a high-school friend all attended our local technical college in town. I remember my college world history teacher interrupting class to announce that the one of the twin towers had just been hit and was collapsing at that very moment.

After class, Heather, I, and the high-school friend were all sitting around a table in the common's area watching the news at the time. Even while seeing the devastation that was going on live and in front of me, I still didn't feel as bad as I later would. I guess I can blame to an extent be desensitized due to the seeing too many violent movies that featured government buildings being blown up on a regular basis. What movie featuring terrorists didn't shown stuff like that. I'm not saying it's all Hollywood or the media's fault, but the whole thing all seemed so surreal to me. But later on that day after being able to sit down and really digest what had just happened, and the staggering amount of lives lost that day, I truly did feel bad for all those involved. Every year when the anniversary comes I still do.

I've heard it said that the terrorists ultimately didn't win, and that we're more safer now than we were then. And to an extent that's true. But American citizens for the most part, had to give up a lot of their privacy and rights due to the Patriot Act and not to mention the new metal detectors that now occupy most/all airports. We've beefed up security both out of a sense of fear and prevention, but isn't that what the terrorists really wanted to achieve? They wanted to make us afraid, and in trying to combat that fear has forced us all to compromise our daily lives. Seriously, look at those new security detectors in the airports that are supposed to do full body scans and you tell me we haven't lost something. I'm not saying we don't need them, but the terrorists forced us to have to go to such lengths in an attempt to keep them at bay. Sure the extra long lines and pat-downs of everyone including children are readily accepted by the American people as a means of staying safe, and with the incredible amount of attempted bombings and different ways of smuggling bombs/bomb-making material, it's easy to understand why. But it almost looks like we're being overly zealous about being cautious and safe, and that's not always a good thing.

I hope I didn't seem UN-American in this post, as many have been called far too often if they didn't readily agree with certain tactics or laws, but that's just how I feel. Like I said, I'm glad NY and the US in general rebuilt themselves and refused to let religious extremists dictate how they lived their lives because that's no way to live.

I'm also proud of the various publishing companies, like Marvel, DC, and various indy publishers that reacted so fast as to put together projects and tributes aimed towards helping all of those impacted by 9/11.
It might not have seemed like much, but it made me proud, and no doubt countless others to see so many people care like they did.

In fact I still have my Marvel Heroes Tribute issue that came out, and it still looks awesome.