September 11, 2002

8:45 AM

Todaysome of us thought it would be fitting to build a thread made exclusively of links, where each link would be allowed to speak for itself and be each user's personal take - his or her own wordless comment, as it were - on any of the many issues, meanings and aspects surrounding today's date. (Here's the MetaTalk thread where it was discussed).
posted by MiguelCardoso (189 comments total)

We remember.
posted by hitsman at 8:57 AM on September 11, 2002

Last Words
posted by Fat Buddha at 9:05 AM on September 11, 2002

Eternal vigilance
posted by shagoth at 9:05 AM on September 11, 2002

a smile is an upside down frown
posted by ZachsMind at 9:06 AM on September 11, 2002

2001. 2002.
posted by Danelope at 9:07 AM on September 11, 2002

we remember
posted by gravelshoes at 9:07 AM on September 11, 2002

Freedom and Liberty are always worth defending
posted by cell divide at 9:07 AM on September 11, 2002

Time to Stand Up
posted by quirked at 9:09 AM on September 11, 2002

mnftiu.
posted by xowie at 9:12 AM on September 11, 2002

As it happened in MeFi's eyes.
posted by SuzySmith at 9:13 AM on September 11, 2002

1961.
posted by stinglessbee at 9:18 AM on September 11, 2002

Buildings and bridges
Are made to bend in the wind
To withstand the world,
That's what it takes
All that steel and stone
Is no match for the air, my friend
What doesn't bend breaks
What doesn't bend breaks
posted by me3dia at 9:18 AM on September 11, 2002

I measure every Grief I meet.
posted by Vidiot at 9:19 AM on September 11, 2002

Hope
posted by swerdloff at 9:21 AM on September 11, 2002

invitation to average war
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:21 AM on September 11, 2002

Evil. Period.
posted by MidasMulligan at 9:22 AM on September 11, 2002

.malsI lacidaR
posted by Ljubljana at 9:24 AM on September 11, 2002

self link
posted by 10sball at 9:25 AM on September 11, 2002

Quiet Memory
posted by Jade Dragon at 9:28 AM on September 11, 2002

The Brilliance I fear (self link)
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:29 AM on September 11, 2002

A Recollection
posted by lilboo at 9:29 AM on September 11, 2002

Communication
posted by RavinDave at 9:30 AM on September 11, 2002

From that Black Day comes an anonymous poet.
posted by revbrian at 9:32 AM on September 11, 2002

God Damned Towelheads!
posted by oh posey at 9:33 AM on September 11, 2002

"We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves."
posted by orange swan at 9:33 AM on September 11, 2002

Remember. Support. Prepare.
posted by jazon at 9:36 AM on September 11, 2002

Love (self link)
posted by bondcliff at 9:37 AM on September 11, 2002

different neighborhood, same outrage
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 9:39 AM on September 11, 2002

Missing Pieces.
posted by metrocake at 9:40 AM on September 11, 2002

Future (NYT)
posted by semmi at 9:40 AM on September 11, 2002

Lest we forget how fragile we are.
- Sting
(and a great backstory behind Sting's performance on 9/11/01)
posted by msacheson at 9:42 AM on September 11, 2002

Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow
posted by gottabefunky at 9:42 AM on September 11, 2002

Pretentious crap.
posted by PickleWeasel at 9:44 AM on September 11, 2002

September
Streets capsizing
Spilling over
And down the drain
Shards of glass
Splinters like rain
But you could only feel
Your own pain

October
Talk getting nowhere
November
December
Remember

Please
posted by prolific at 9:46 AM on September 11, 2002

Suicide in the Trenches
posted by normy at 9:46 AM on September 11, 2002

The Truth the Dead Know
posted by botono9 at 9:48 AM on September 11, 2002

3,005 names.
posted by yhbc at 9:50 AM on September 11, 2002

unnecessary
posted by adampsyche at 9:52 AM on September 11, 2002

The Wind Increases.

The harried
earth is swept
The trees
the tulips bright
tips
sidle and
toss-
loose your love
to flow
Blow?
Good christ what is
a poet-if any
exists?

a man
whose words will
bite
their way
home-being actual
having the form
of motion

At each twigtip
new
upon the tortured
body of thought
gripping
the ground
a way
to the last leaftip

-W.C. Williams
posted by clavdivs at 9:53 AM on September 11, 2002

You can read this now, or you can log off and shut down and get quiet, and just remember
posted by krinklyfig at 9:53 AM on September 11, 2002

tolerance
posted by adampsyche at 9:53 AM on September 11, 2002

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Ulysses - Tennyson - 1842
posted by Irontom at 9:58 AM on September 11, 2002

Please Call Me By My True Names
Don't say that I will depart tomorrow-
even today I am still arriving.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 9:58 AM on September 11, 2002

first, they came for the muslims
and i did not speak out - because i was not a muslim.

then they came for the drug dealers
and i did not speak out - because i was not a drug dealer.

then they came for the hackers
and i did not speak out - because i was not a hacker.

then they came for me
and by that time, there was no one left to speak up for me.
posted by boogah at 9:59 AM on September 11, 2002

Exhibit 13
posted by dejah420 at 10:03 AM on September 11, 2002

As you were.
posted by crunchland at 10:03 AM on September 11, 2002

i like to watch [300k Quicktime, 100k, 36k]
warning: bizarre and offensive
posted by quonsar at 10:09 AM on September 11, 2002

Our cares - quite small, our lives - quite short. Make the most of them.
posted by kokogiak at 10:13 AM on September 11, 2002

Embrace beauty.
posted by PrinceValium at 10:14 AM on September 11, 2002

As you were.

(with respect to Crunchland)
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:17 AM on September 11, 2002

Sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here.
posted by grum@work at 10:17 AM on September 11, 2002

You truly are the man now, dog.
posted by pemulis at 10:18 AM on September 11, 2002

Imagine...
posted by Jaybo at 10:18 AM on September 11, 2002

A Fallen Victor
posted by plemeljr at 10:19 AM on September 11, 2002

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
W.H. Auden, September 1, 1939
posted by onlyconnect at 10:19 AM on September 11, 2002

Everything is relative
posted by RobertLoch at 10:20 AM on September 11, 2002

September 11th Remembered
posted by madamjujujive at 10:23 AM on September 11, 2002

Silence And Respect
posted by TCMITS at 10:26 AM on September 11, 2002

Read to the Children
posted by thomcatspike at 10:29 AM on September 11, 2002

Photographic memory.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 10:30 AM on September 11, 2002

ALL AMERICAN CAMEL JOCKEY LYNCHING DAY!
posted by crackheadmatt at 10:32 AM on September 11, 2002

Please Call Me By My True Names
Don't say that I will depart tomorrow-
even today I am still arriving.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 10:33 AM on September 11, 2002

My friend.
posted by Tin Man at 10:38 AM on September 11, 2002

The Black Day
posted by aacheson at 10:38 AM on September 11, 2002

Cowardly acts and our folklore.
posted by rich at 10:40 AM on September 11, 2002

Eleven Score and Six
posted by ZachsMind at 10:41 AM on September 11, 2002

Do not pretend to convenient beliefs
even when they are righteous
you will never be able to defend your city
while shouting.

--Audre Lorde, For Each of You
posted by mariko at 10:42 AM on September 11, 2002

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy."

[sound]
posted by precocious at 10:45 AM on September 11, 2002

It almost was me. He wasn't so lucky.
posted by rich at 10:48 AM on September 11, 2002

The messengers.
posted by gsteff at 10:48 AM on September 11, 2002

110 Stories
posted by tabbycat at 10:49 AM on September 11, 2002

Holy the Firm
posted by junkbox at 10:56 AM on September 11, 2002

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
posted by Mick at 10:57 AM on September 11, 2002

Only in Amherst
posted by MediaMan at 10:58 AM on September 11, 2002

Forever may not be long enough for my love
I have a will but I'm lost inside your time
If you could, would you come with me to the other side?
posted by thanotopsis at 11:00 AM on September 11, 2002

18 takes.
posted by anser at 11:03 AM on September 11, 2002

Silent Posts
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 11:03 AM on September 11, 2002

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world...
posted by triggerfinger at 11:12 AM on September 11, 2002

"He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past."
-- Henry David Thoreau (self-link)
posted by Wingy at 11:14 AM on September 11, 2002

5,000 lives changed in Lower Manhattan.
posted by anser at 11:17 AM on September 11, 2002

-
posted by jammer at 11:23 AM on September 11, 2002

Tell everybody
Waitin' for Superman
That they should try to hold on
Best they can
He hasn't dropped them
Forgot them
Or anything
It's just too heavy for Superman to lift
posted by brand-gnu at 11:24 AM on September 11, 2002

I think of Dean Moriarty.
posted by fletchmuy at 11:24 AM on September 11, 2002

MCAS Iwakuni Friendship Day
posted by robself at 11:26 AM on September 11, 2002

Leap
posted by TCMITS at 11:34 AM on September 11, 2002

I woke up listening to NPR coverage that morning. I swear I thought it was a "War of the Worlds" re-enactment.
posted by trixare4kids at 11:38 AM on September 11, 2002

Witness/Participant
posted by RJ Reynolds at 11:38 AM on September 11, 2002

Thank You. You are missed.
posted by jonmc at 11:47 AM on September 11, 2002

Though, in Britain, America is often ignorantly caricatured as a land of impoverished rhetoric its public speech has often been the glory of its democracy. And now it needs to sound off. Starting in New York, starting now, we need to do what the people of this astoundingly irrepressible city do best: stand up and make a hell of a noise.
posted by RakDaddy at 11:47 AM on September 11, 2002

a frown is a smile upside down.
posted by ZachsMind at 11:51 AM on September 11, 2002

"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" -- Abraham Lincoln
posted by Silune at 11:56 AM on September 11, 2002 [1 favorite]

excerpts
posted by adampsyche at 11:57 AM on September 11, 2002

Stay safe, everyone.
posted by emmling at 11:58 AM on September 11, 2002

Be brave in trouble; meet distress
With dauntless front; but when the gale
Too prosperous blows, be wise no less,
And shorten sail.
posted by liam at 12:01 PM on September 11, 2002

Mourning. .
posted by vacapinta at 12:02 PM on September 11, 2002

we are the youth of the nation (self link !)
posted by mcsweetie at 12:03 PM on September 11, 2002

Mandatory 9-11 entry
posted by quibx at 12:05 PM on September 11, 2002

Alive. (self link)
posted by ctartchick at 12:11 PM on September 11, 2002

Again. Apologies..
posted by vacapinta at 12:11 PM on September 11, 2002

common sense
posted by triv at 12:14 PM on September 11, 2002

casualties
posted by blue_beetle at 12:15 PM on September 11, 2002

All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
(it's a Yeats kind of day)
posted by eilatan at 12:33 PM on September 11, 2002

He was there.

As was he.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:35 PM on September 11, 2002

Wittgenstein (self-link)
posted by languagehat at 12:36 PM on September 11, 2002

"...It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.... " A. Lincoln, Gettysburg PA, 11/19/1863
posted by m@ at 12:40 PM on September 11, 2002

Today we may say aloud before an awe-struck world: "We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls." Winston Churchill on the War Situation, House of Commons, September 9, 1941.

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Speech delivered by Winston Churchill at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, London, November 10, 1942.
posted by readymade at 12:51 PM on September 11, 2002

Do good.
posted by amberglow at 1:02 PM on September 11, 2002

Saliga är fredsmakarna, för de ska kallas Guds söner.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 1:03 PM on September 11, 2002

Peace begins with a smile. ~Mother Teresa
posted by ZachsMind at 1:05 PM on September 11, 2002

I could see the smoke, smell the fires, feel the grit of the buildings. I walked around wondering how much of what I breathed was atomized particles of the dead. When I began to get light-headed, I then wondered if it was relief at still being alive, or if the particles had infected me with the souls of men and women.
posted by Mo Nickels at 1:06 PM on September 11, 2002

((Hug)) - self link
posted by halcyon at 1:15 PM on September 11, 2002

Pray and light a cyber candle (patience: very slow server) or open a cyber shrine (php code available).
posted by ugly_n_sticky at 1:17 PM on September 11, 2002

Archetype.
posted by grahamwell at 1:19 PM on September 11, 2002

365 days ago - self link
posted by mkelley at 1:20 PM on September 11, 2002

From a distance...
posted by konolia at 1:21 PM on September 11, 2002

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow

Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow...

The Fantasticks ~ full lyrics
posted by anastasiav at 1:25 PM on September 11, 2002

another sept.11
posted by specialk420 at 1:27 PM on September 11, 2002

The front pages of today's newspapers.
posted by me3dia at 1:27 PM on September 11, 2002

And in the end,
the love you take
is equal to
the love you make...
posted by ?! at 1:28 PM on September 11, 2002

Flight 93. If this doesn't get you, nothing will.
posted by devo at 1:39 PM on September 11, 2002

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
posted by internal at 1:47 PM on September 11, 2002

Get out and do.
posted by raysmj at 1:47 PM on September 11, 2002

Donne
posted by trox at 1:54 PM on September 11, 2002

A friend's friend...
posted by tpl1212 at 2:01 PM on September 11, 2002

My recitation of a historical speech (self link)
posted by lysdexic at 2:05 PM on September 11, 2002

My recitation of a historical speech (self link)
posted by ZachsMind at 2:11 PM on September 11, 2002

July, 2001
posted by andrewraff at 2:17 PM on September 11, 2002

a to-do list. mine, anyway. (a self-link.)
posted by grabbingsand at 2:23 PM on September 11, 2002

The Rage of Achilles
posted by Zombie at 2:32 PM on September 11, 2002

I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning
and the end,
But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.
posted by Ty Webb at 2:40 PM on September 11, 2002

They told me, Heraclitus,
They told me you were dead.
They left me bitter news to hear
And bitter tears to shed
I wept as I remembered
How often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking
And sent him down the sky.

But now that thou art lying,
My dear, old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes
Long long ago at rest
Still are thy pleasant voices
Like a nightengale awake
For Death, he taketh all other things
But these, he cannot take.
-Callimachus
posted by oflinkey at 2:48 PM on September 11, 2002

imagine
posted by ZachsMind at 3:16 PM on September 11, 2002

Counterpoint.
posted by trox at 3:25 PM on September 11, 2002

-
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:34 PM on September 11, 2002

-
posted by triggerfinger at 3:36 PM on September 11, 2002

Happy Birthday to my Dad and my cousin. oh, and to a few others.
posted by whatnot at 3:38 PM on September 11, 2002

we cannot consecrate, we cannot dedicate, we cannot hallow this ground.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:40 PM on September 11, 2002

wrongwaygoback
posted by macadamiaranch at 3:56 PM on September 11, 2002

Go out in Your Garden
posted by thomcatspike at 4:03 PM on September 11, 2002

June 30, 2001
September 15, 2001
June 8, 2002
(very large images, via spaceimaging)
posted by varmint at 4:09 PM on September 11, 2002

the little ones
posted by aine42 at 4:27 PM on September 11, 2002

The world is feverishly working to build the things of war,
The world is preparing destruction of a kind unknown before.
I hear much cursing of enemies, and arguments increase,
But, oh, the world is longing, is yearning,
Is praying for peace - for peace!
posted by yertledaturtle at 4:41 PM on September 11, 2002

waffles for heroes
posted by mathowie at 4:46 PM on September 11, 2002

Love is stronger than hatred.
posted by swerve at 4:48 PM on September 11, 2002

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.
posted by Mack Twain at 5:08 PM on September 11, 2002

Common Dreams
posted by anastasiav at 5:12 PM on September 11, 2002

The War Prayer by Mark Twain
posted by redhead at 5:24 PM on September 11, 2002

Honolulu Advertiser. Front Page. Sept 11, 2002
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:29 PM on September 11, 2002

a very special Get Your War On (no, really)
posted by mathowie at 6:01 PM on September 11, 2002

36 Views
posted by madamjujujive at 6:08 PM on September 11, 2002

Released 10 years before 2001 (WARNING: MP3). Has nothing to do with 911, but is very happy:)
posted by poopy at 6:11 PM on September 11, 2002

Beloved best friends.
posted by Wulfgar! at 6:34 PM on September 11, 2002

Enough.
posted by bingo at 6:41 PM on September 11, 2002

Canada remembers.
posted by debralee at 6:46 PM on September 11, 2002

Orphans
posted by crunchburger at 6:46 PM on September 11, 2002

Take a minute.
posted by kristin at 6:53 PM on September 11, 2002

Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing
posted by poopy at 7:47 PM on September 11, 2002

Mefi silence.
posted by Tarrama at 7:55 PM on September 11, 2002

we're trying to have a society here, people
posted by captain obvious at 7:56 PM on September 11, 2002

The diameter of the bomb. -- Yehuda Amichai
posted by redshoes3 at 7:58 PM on September 11, 2002

"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance..."
posted by Lynsey at 8:01 PM on September 11, 2002

The twin trade towers in New York lie
a tribute to combating peni
posted by nasim at 8:04 PM on September 11, 2002

For those who missed it here is (my? or has this idea popped up somewhere else?) the 7-Eleven 9/11 logo.
posted by nasim at 8:14 PM on September 11, 2002

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
posted by redshoes3 at 8:19 PM on September 11, 2002

the buildings and the builder
posted by casarkos at 8:22 PM on September 11, 2002

The light.
posted by redshoes3 at 8:26 PM on September 11, 2002

"Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace."
--Amelia Earhart
posted by ChaosKitty at 8:37 PM on September 11, 2002

As 2Pac said, Keep Ya Head Up.
posted by popvulture at 8:49 PM on September 11, 2002

I remember (self-link)

The Gold Coast, Australia remembers
posted by dg at 9:02 PM on September 11, 2002

"I am an American."
posted by thatweirdguy2 at 9:04 PM on September 11, 2002

Five minutes away.

For Thou Art With Us.
posted by SuzySmith at 9:09 PM on September 11, 2002

-
posted by dg at 9:14 PM on September 11, 2002

Here is New York
posted by sillygit at 9:46 PM on September 11, 2002

A Tear And A Smile

I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart
for the joys of the multitude.
And I would not have the tears that sadness makes
to flow from my every part turn into laughter.

I would that my life remain a tear and a smile.

A tear to purify my heart and give me understanding
of life's secrets and hidden things.
A smile to draw me nigh to the sons of my kind and
to be a symbol of my glorification of the gods.

A tear to unite me with those of broken heart;
a smile to be a sign of my joy in existence.

I would rather that I died in yearning and longing than
that I live weary and despairing.

I want the hunger for love and beauty to be in the
depths of my spirit,for I have seen those who are
satisfied the most wretched of people.
I have heard the sigh of those in yearning and longing,
and it is sweeter than the sweetest melody.

With evening's coming the flower folds her petals
and sleeps, embracingher longing.
At morning's approach she opens her lips to meet
the sun's kiss.

The life of a flower is longing and fulfilment.
A tear and a smile.

The waters of the sea become vapor and rise and come
together and area cloud.

And the cloud floats above the hills and valleys
until it meets the gentle breeze, then falls weeping
to the fields and joins with brooks and rivers to return
to the sea, its home.

The life of clouds is a parting and a meeting.
A tear and a smile.

And so does the spirit become separated from
the greater spirit to move in the world of matter
and pass as a cloud over the mountain of sorrow
and the plains of joy to meet the breeze of death
and return whence it came.

To the ocean of Love and Beauty----to God.

Kahlil Gibran
posted by justgary at 10:43 PM on September 11, 2002

They were there for us.
posted by dash_slot- at 10:57 PM on September 11, 2002

I believe we have things to do.

(I believe when I sleep, you are near to me
When you sleep, I am near to you.)
posted by blissbat at 11:05 PM on September 11, 2002

Love is stronger than death.
posted by redshoes3 at 11:21 PM on September 11, 2002

Can you hear them?
The helicopters?
I'm in New York
No need for words now
We sit in silence
You look me
In the eye directly
You met me
I think it's Wednesday
The evening
The mess we're in and
The city sun sets over me ...
posted by allaboutgeorge at 11:39 PM on September 11, 2002

And its funny how time flies
In the city that never sleeps
It’s getting after hours
And I’m feeling the heat
I’m almost dead and buried
The day nearly done
But I want to keep on going
I’m going to kiss the sun in New York
...
New York
Are you tuning in?
posted by chronic sublime at 3:07 AM on September 12, 2002

Lest we forget - Chile, 9/11, 1973. Tens of thousands killed by the US government.
posted by tripitaka at 6:06 AM on September 12, 2002

"9/11, I can barely remember you, they've buried you in so much hype" (real audio)
posted by thewittyname at 6:08 AM on September 12, 2002

one
two
posted by fredosan at 7:13 AM on September 12, 2002

Let it be tomorrow
posted by werty at 7:33 AM on September 12, 2002

i sing of Olaf glad and big
posted by mapalm at 8:20 AM on September 12, 2002

Never forget
posted by holloway at 1:10 PM on September 12, 2002

"Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence
and nothing ever could."
posted by ZachsMind at 1:09 AM on September 14, 2002

Everyone remembers.
Multireligious Commemorations of September 11
posted by sheauga at 11:48 AM on September 14, 2002

mmm...skyscraper, i love you
posted by yonderboy at 1:46 PM on September 14, 2002

Rare photos in this WTC Photo Gallery
posted by jayantk at 12:44 PM on September 15, 2002