VALDOSTA —
Hard to believe nine years have passed since the events of Sept. 11, 2001. In some ways, it’s hard to believe it happened at all.
Planes smashing into buildings. One then the other. All caught by cameras. Large jets slamming into glass. Dizzying spirals of smoke. People jumping, falling, dying from the burning immensity of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. The towers collapsing. An apocalyptic storm of smoke, ash, dust, cascading in a rush through the caverns of New York’s streets. A third plane in Washington, D.C., ramming the Pentagon. A fourth plane forced down in the wreckage of a Pennsylvania field. All planes grounded across the nation. The president on the move in Air Force One across the nation.
The near-biblical exodus of soot-covered New Yorkers walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Grey posters littering a grey city seeking missing people. Thousands missing. Thousands dead. Nineteen terrorists. Rumors of the United 93 passengers fighting the terrorists before the plane crashed into that Pennsylvania field. Rumors that United 93’s destination had also been Washington, D.C. Rumors that more attacks may come. Rumors that the government might shoot down any commercial plane that did not properly respond, that did not land. The nation coming to a bleak standstill.
This is the stuff of nightmares. We lived through it. We experienced it. We saw it on television live and then rebroadcast repeatedly from almost every conceivable angle because it was such a public event.
Still, it almost seems too impossible to have happened, too large and awful to contemplate, especially now, Saturday, nine years later, nine years on and counting. But it did happen as so many awful holes attest. The awful hole left in the New York skyline. The awful hole left in the heart of Manhattan. The awful hole in the side of the Pentagon. The awful hole in that Pennsylvania field. The awful holes in the hearts of relatives who lost loved ones that day. The awful hole left in the American psyche. A hole so large that planes and buildings could disappear in it. A hole so personal that fear could seep into it.
On the far side of this nine-year shadow, there may be those who wish to re-dedicate the nation to a litany of fear. But remembering 9/11 should not serve as a national commitment to fear. Past bombs, planes, bullets and knives, it is fear that is the prime ingredient in the terrorists’ arsenal. Terrorist is literally a person who barters in terror. A terrorist deals in death, but his real merchandise is fear.
To give into fear or to lash out in fear, to curtail rights and freedoms, not only surrenders to the terrorist, it trembles, cowers and kneels before the terrorist. As Benjamin Franklin so astutely said, people who would trade freedoms for a little security deserve neither.
On this coming anniversary of 9/11, and for all of the anniversaries of that horrible day in the years to come, let us make Sept. 11 a time to recommit ourselves to being a nation of courage. Let us remind ourselves of the final words of our National Anthem. That America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
What We Think
What we think: September 11, 2001
- What We Think
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Grading policy: A second chance?
In clarifying the Lowndes County Schools’ controversial grading policy, Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith spoke of second chances.
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Be up to any weather challenge
Georgia’s Severe Weather Awareness Week starts today and runs through Friday. The idea behind the week is to prepare Georgians for weather emergencies and how to keep these situations from becoming tragedies.
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Parents and schools
There is a lot of talk lately about school systems and grading policies, and how all of a child's problems come back to a lack of parenting. But is it really that simple? Can it be a case where the school systems are so focused on the problem few that the majority of students are ignored?
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Thumbs up, thumbs down
THUMBS UP: To Brooks County High School engineering and technology teacher Don Morgan and his students. They recently received national attention for their work with biodiesel fuel. They collect used cooking oil from area fast-food restaurants then process this oil into biodiesel. Morgan hopes to next interest the Brooks County school buses into running on the fuel created in his class. This classroom not only prepares students for the future but may prepare all of us for an alternative energy source.
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Take me out to the ball park
The Valdosta State baseball season begins today. The Blazers host Lindenwood at 2:30 p.m. Nothing beats quality baseball played in warm weather with a great venue like Billy Grant Field.
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What We Think: Signing Day
Wednesday was National Signing Day, the day when high school athletes across the country make official announcements about what school they’ve chosen to sign with.
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School policy fails expectations
Lowndes County Schools recently implemented new grading guidelines for students. These guidelines have left many parents upset ...
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Just the facts, please
The Times has taken some hits this weekend following the reporting of the Rev. Floyd Rose’ rally on Saturday concerning the car which drove into a home, killing an infant on New Year’s, and an incident at Pinevale Learning Center. Some police officers think the VDT is not being fair, and Rose accused the VDT of not printing the facts, but the facts are as follows:
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Fathers teaching daughters
It began as a small gathering for fathers and daughters. It has become one of Valdosta’s most popular social events of the year.
Several years ago, Jeff Stewart co-founded the event with his wife, Becky, as a way for him to give a special night to his two daughters. Other fathers of First Presbyterian Church liked the idea and the Father-Daughter Valentine Dance was born. -
Sports tourneys: They will come
More than 20 years after its release, “Field of Dreams’” mantra, “If you build it, they will come,” has possibly become one of the most overused lines from any movie. Yet, it seems all too fitting for what’s been happening lately within the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority.
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Grading policy: A second chance?
