The 20 year Afghani war has finally ended
Ten days short of this year’s 9/11 anniversary,
the war with
Afghanistan was brought to a close. Just in time so we could “celebrate” 9/11
and not have anymore blood on our hands. Indeed it was time to pull out. The
death count of our soldiers by its end tallied up to more than all who were
killed on 9/11, 2001. And we can add to that count the 13 servicemen who died
by a suicide bomber before the withdrawal was completed!
All these brave souls will not have their names
read on
9/11. They will not be part of a ceremony or etched into a memorial. There is
talk that on veterans day this year there will be a reading of their names.
Hopefully, there will be a way to honor their sacrifices. Some weren’t even
alive on 9/11, others were just babies. They gave their lives for a cause that
failed. May we never forget their service and sacrifice.
The
9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York canceled plans for exhibitions
The National September 11 Memorial &
Museum is crying poverty for the second year in a row. This time, it says it
can’t afford to mount special exhibitions planned to mark the two-decade
milestone.
The
reduction came after a severe budget crisis forced the nonprofit museum to make
cuts that included furloughs and layoffs affecting around 60 percent of its
staff. More than half of the exhibitions department was laid off. The museum is
largely dependent on ticket sales; its temporary closure and NYC’s limited
capacity regulations left the institution with an $18 million deficit last year
that impacted 2021.
“What a wrongheaded, defeatist message
for these times. New
York City lost 33,000 citizens to COVID-19. The pandemic-stricken Big Apple
needs every affirmation it can get of its inherent valor and resilience,
qualities that saved us on 9/11 and in the fraught years that followed” wrote Steve Cuozzo of
the NY Post, August 14,
2021, 9/11 Museum’s
Decision To Scrap Special 20th Anniversary Tribute Is A Disgrace
And also this
year, Steve
Guozzo wrote in his article, the museum is shamefully restricting the
reading-of-the-names ceremony exclusively to the families of
9/11 victims. No hero firefighters, cops, first responders or emergency
workers, who were normally welcome until the pandemic eliminated last year’s
event, are invited.
20 anniversary memorabilia
Well if you want to make money, then just
create and sell 20th
Anniversary, 9/11 memorabilia! That’s the big thing this year. Yes, the selling
of 9/11 and WTC memorabilia has been around for all these years. This year
however, a new twist is added by labeling the merchandize “commemorative” and
either including 20th Anniversary on the item itself or selling it
under that label. Is that any way to remember such a sad event? I remember in
the days after 9/11, there were people down at Ground Zero who sold picture
books of what had happened. Grainy, unprofessional photos placed into plastic
holders, $20 a pop. I found that sacrilegious. That honored nothing except the
pocketbooks of those who sold them. Eventually they were made to leave the area
but for at least a year they continued to sell their items elsewhere in
southern Manhattan.
This year’s batch of “commemoratives” range the gamut from trashy pins to caps,
fire fire helmet decals, Twin Tower pins, etc. Some are cheap, others
expensive. No
thank you! I’ll remember 9/11 with the beautiful Twin Towers photo I have and a
prayer card my church distributed.
