Strange Notations From a Laborious Life

 September 11. To paraphrase President FD Roosevelt’s comment about a different moment that shook the world, September 11 is a “day that will live in infamy!”
 10 years ago this evening I was reclining on my two person couch at home in Stanfield Close, Kambah. I had not long arrived home from work so it couldn’t have been much past 10pm. My usual routine in the days before I had the internet connected was to make myself a cup of tea and then flick through the channels on TV or play a dvd until about midnight or 1am when I would then decide that it was time to go to bed.
 I can’t remember what I was watching but I am certain that it was Channel Nine and a brief news flash came across the screen indicating that a plane had struck the World Trade Centre in New York. I imagine that I thought it was a tragic, unfortunate accident until about 20 minutes later a grim faced TV anchor, perhaps it was Jim Waley, appeared with the news that a second plane had struck the WTC and I new immediately what that meant!
 I can still remember my first thought in the moment after that news broke across Australia. “Someone is going to get clobbered”!
 10 years later and thousands more lives have been lost as a direct result of that day in New York. Saddam Hussain and Osama Bin Laden have been clobbered. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have pushed Islamic terrorism back although it is by no means dead.
 I know many people will disagree with me and it is easy to say what should happen whilst living in the safety and security of my home here in Australia whilst better men go out and fight but I do believe the United States had no choice but to do what they did in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
 So here we are 10 years later. Fighting is still going on in the Middle East but despite everything that has happened I do believe the world is a safer place for us now.
 Who knows where the world will be in another ten years. Cultural and political differences have resulted in wars ever since the sun first shone and I don’t think that will ever change.
 So on this major anniversary of a day that shook the world I hope everyone will remember the fallen and look forward to the future with a bit of hope.