911

I remember. I was mugging for my Chemistry and Higher Chinese O level prelims that night when I got out of my room to get a drink. My father was watching CNA and all of a sudden, I saw one majestic tower explode. I was like, "Cool! Daddy what's that? Who made it?" He was like, "It's real! Terrorists bombed one of the U.S. Twin Towers." I couldn't believe it. I sat there, momentarily forgetting about my double papers the following day (seriously, who cared about exams when an important world event was happening?) At first, I was just awed by the whole image. It was unbelievable. How could anyone actually do that without the US even knowing? And then it struck me. I saw what seemed like stick figures jumping out of the building. Like JUMP. And I realised. They were people, live human beings. Thousands of people were dying. High-flying professionals, CEOs, people who were worth millions of dollars. Yes they were indeed 'high-flying', but their million dollar bodies meant nothing in that rubble.

Thanks to US propaganda, I too felt that the NYFD deserve a lot of respect. Whether a corporate mogul or a toilet cleaner, the NYFD didn't care. They just saved. I don't think they were like, "Hey there are two injured, one Asian, one White, let's save the white first," or "Hey bro, this guy is in a suit, and this woman is a cleaner, let's save the richer one first." They probably just saved according to the 'saveability' of the people in medical terms.

Anyway, on this 6th anniversary of 9-11, I salute the people who risked their lives to save others, who waited for everyone to run down the staircase before running down themselves, who helped in one way or another to save the injured, or comfort the families of the dead. No matter how we may be irritated with the way the US government handled the matter, we still mourn the lost of thousands of innocent lives.

Of course, addressing the issue in a legal sense, this incident raised the awareness of damages done by aircraft on third parties, persons outside the aircraft as well as buildings. Like the poor old 1952 Rome Convention on Damage caused by Foreign Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface which was probably ignored till then. Which is good. But it also raised the awareness of terrorism, causing all the trouble of airport security. Is it all necessary? There are many implications of tightened security, leading to many discrimination cases as well as delays in flights. Which is bad.

I guess everything has its pros and cons.

Some trivia on 9-11:
Date of attack: 9/11 - 9+1+1=11
September 11 is the 254 day of the year: 2+5+4=11
After Sep. 11 there are 111 days left in the year
119 is the area code to Iraq/Iran: 1+1+9=11
Twin Towers standing side by side looks like 11
The first plane to hit the Towers was Flight 11
NY was the 11th state added to the Union
New York City -11 letters Afghanistan-11 letters
The Pentagon-11 letters
Flight 11-92 on board: 9+2=11
Flight 77-65 on board: 6+5=11


p/s: on a stupid note, I remember the thing on everyone's minds that year was whether the terrorists will bomb UK so we won't have O levels that year because the papers can't be flown to Cambridge. Young kids...