Nonsense

Mike, The Mad Biologist is someone I read because he tends to have well-thought out posts even if I don't agree with him on the conclusions he reaches. This however has to be one of the most ridiculous posts I've ever read. Go read it and then come back. I'll wait.

Finshed? Now go read it again.

Now that you're back let's address what Mike had to say. The primary point of his post seems to be that we as a nation have created a fictional description of the events of that day in order to better sleep at night. This premise is based on his assertion that the it was just bad luck that the civilians in the WTC "worked in the wrong damn building" and we couldn't deal with that reality. He also feels that the firefighters and police who kept going back into the WTC aren't really heroes because they didn't rush "into those buildings with the express intention of dying."

First of all, the civilians who died didn't work in the wrong building. They worked where their jobs were. That makes the WTC the right building for them. What was wrong about the building? That some worthless cowards decided to attack innocent civilians instead of military targets? That they were good enough and bright enough to have jobs with the companies that operated out of the WTC? I don't see those as reasons to blame the victims.

Secondly, a hero is not someone who rushes headlong into a situation knowing that it's going to kill them. A hero is someone who puts other before himself. Police, firemen, and soldiers are heroes EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES. They put themselves in harms way so that others don't have to. They go into every situation knowing that they may die. That's part of the job. The job they volunteered for. No one forces them forward into the flames or into the hostage situation or into the firefight. No one forces them to put their lives at risk so people like us can sleep soundly. That is why these people are heroes. A hero can be you. It can be me. It can be the guy walking his dog down the street. In stories the hero is almost always the biggest, or the strongest, or the most handsome. In real life, the hero is none of these and all of these. The hero is the everyday guy who comandeers a bus to get as many people as he can out of a drowning town. A hero is the firefighter who braves sniper fire to get to a wounded paramedic. A hero is the soldier who cradles a mortally wounded child trying to hold back his tears. Heroes are all around us every day. And those men and women who died in the WTC trying to get John Q. Public out are all heroes and forever will be.


MAIREANN NA CURAIDH GO DEO