Sobre o 11 de setembro

Essa foto eu tirei em Nova York, para mostrar o que restou de vivente do atentado de 11 de setembro. Uma árvore, onde as pessoas deixam cartas de apoio ou mensagens de paz. Sabemos que esse ataque não foi o pior da história da humanidade, mas devido a algumas questões, passou a ser um dos mais lembrados do mundo. E com certeza é o grande pesadelo da vida da grande maioria dos norte-americanos. Alguns nem suportaram continuar morando na cidade ou ainda no país. Li ontem mesmo um artigo falando de um americano que veio morar na Paraíba e mesmo depois de 12 anos ainda se emociona com o que houve, já que ele ainda se lembra nitidamente dos fatos que presenciou, próximo as torres gêmeas. 

Também lembrando-se dessa data, nosso colaborador Greg Lehman enviou para mim seu depoimento sobre o 11 de setembro.

A data ficou conhecida como ‘Patriot day’ e Greg diz que sempre se lembrará dela.  
Confira o seu depoimento em língua inglesa e veja o que entende sobre ele. Ao final, Greg ainda sugeriu um vídeo, que seria uma resposta ao ataque.
"At the time, I was working in the basement level of an office building in downtown Minneapolis.  That morning, I arrived at work and got settled in at my desk just like any other day.  A while later, one of my coworkers announced, “A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.”  I paused, shrugged it off and continued working.  A little while later, one of my coworkers exclaimed, “Another plane has hit the World Trade Center!!”  I paused again, shrugged and continued working, albeit a little slower as I pondered the probability of two planes hitting the same building in such a short time frame. 
One of my team members logged onto a news website and pulled up a live video stream of the now damaged World Trade Center.  My coworkers and I stood around the computer screen, mesmerized.  No one spoke.  All of a sudden, one of the twin towers collapsed.  A short while later, the second tower collapsed. 
I sat there stunned.  I had trouble mentally processing the idea that I had just witnessed thousands of people perishing.  The web had changed the way that news was delivered.  Instead of hearing about this event in the news, I had witnessed it (albeit from afar).  911 was not something distant or remote.  I was there, in a way, witnessing and watching.
For a long time afterwards, no one had any idea of what was going on, including the government.  Hollywood tough guys, who in movies chased bad guys, went into hiding.
The 911 attack was in essence a modern-day version of the Pearl Harbor attack that took place in the mid-1940’s.  What made this event unprecedented was the scale of the attack on mostly civilian targets for ideological purposes.
Numerical coincidences
There were 19 hijackers involved in the 911 attack.  The number 19 is significant to the Islamic faith.  The American emergency services phone number is 911.
911 lottery coincidence
On the anniversary of the 911 attacks, the New York state lottery randomly drew three numbers.  They happened to be 911.  On the 10^th anniversary of 911, the first three winners at the Belmont racetrack in New York were horses bearing numbers 9, 1 and 1. 
Superbowl conincidence
In the U.S., American style football is indisputably the country’s most popular sport.  The championship game is called the “Superbowl”.  In the first Superbowl after the 911 attack, the St. Louis Rams played against the New England Patriots.  The Patriots won the game.  The Patriot logo could have represented America.  The Rams logo could have represented the terrorists.  Rams hide in mountains and are commonly found in the countries where the 911 attackers came from.  The fact that the Patriots won the first Superbowl after 911 is so ironic that some are calling it a conspiracy.
Coming together
The 911 tragedy caused the United States to rally together behind a common cause in a way I had never seen before.  We were no longer Democrats or Republicans, Yankees fans or Red Sox fans, country music fans or hip-hop fans, blacks or whites.  We were all Americans, determined to resist a cruel enemy that did not respect freedom or justice.
Here’s Toby Keith’s song, ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (the Angry American)’. 
The song's lyrics talk the 911 attack and America’s response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNrdmjcNTc