911

On September 11th, I think of all of the ordinary people who died at work, whether tragically as victims of murder or heroically as first responders. At the entrance to FDNY HQ in Brooklyn is a simple plaque honouring firemen who died in the line of duty since the mid 19th century. Over half the wall has names dated september 11th 2001. Another moving aspect of that wall, a large portion of the dead were senior officers. They shared the fate of their men. I read the wikipedia page for this day. So many terrible things happened on this day in history. It makes me think of the horror of political murder. It is horrifying that there are those who believe murder can achieve aims, and that there are those willing to murder innocent people for ideas. Here are some of the things that happened on this day in history: 1943 – World War II: Start of the liquidation of the Ghettos in Minsk and Lida by the Nazis. 1973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. 1982 – The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. 2001 – Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashes into The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks by members of Al Qaeda. Altogether, 2,996 people are killed.