9/11 and its aftermath

 

Twenty years ago, I struggled to absorb the images of fire and smoke wafting from the World Trade Center.

I turned the TV on when the second plane was ready to hit the tower.  I thought it was a movie.

When I later saw the beams twisted and in rubble, it was eerie, very eerie!

It is still hard to process what happened but the melancholy and pain of that day have been replaced by hope as we see the One World Trade Center tower and adjacent buildings in lower Manhattan.

So, what has happened in the interim?  The masterminds behind the attack are incarcerated, and Osama bin Laden was killed.  The Taliban that provided a safe haven to OBL were overthrown but they are again back in charge.  Nearly 3000 people lost their lives in that horrible day and thousand upon thousand more in the wars that followed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other Arab countries.  And the wars ended but the pain and confusion still persist for millions of people. 

The story America told itself in the aftermath was one of resilience but the grief is still alive in our hearts and tears are rushing down when the brutal events of that day and those that followed come to our minds.

MIkis Theodorakis 1925-2021

Mikis Theodorakis the best-known Greek composer and lyricist died today at the age of 96.  He composed music for the films "Zorba the Greek" (1964) and "Z" (1969).  His "Mauthausen Trilogy" also known as "The Ballad of Mauthausen" is considered the most beautiful music written about the Holocaust.  Politically he clearly stood on the left and was a member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).  He was among the most prominent opponents against the 1967-1974 Greek junta which imprisoned and tortured him.  In 1989 he run for Parliament as an independent candidate and was instrumental in creating a coalition between conservatives, socialists, and communists.  He became a minister in the government of Constantine Mitsotakis, a conservative, and fought against drugs, for better education, and for better relations between Greece and Turkey. "Today we lost part of the soul of Greece," said Culture Minister Lina Mendoni "the man who made Greeks sing poetry"