9/11 - 10 years on.

This blog post, as you can guess from the title, centres around 9/11 - and it's impact to come on the world, it's inhabitants, and humanity as a result.

(I am aware that the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Centre disaster isn't until Sunday, but I felt compelled to blog about it today, seeing as my daily blogs are more based around my observations on that particular day).

As such, my need to centre the blog around the subject arose from a video I saw posted on someone's Facebook wall. The video in question is below: 

Watching the video today, out of curiosity, I shocked myself. I had an actual breakdown of tears by the end. I couldn't recall a time when I'd felt so emotionally empathic towards a stranger, providing a mere voice to a cartoon as he recalls his version of events surrounding a truly tragic day. In actuality, I couldn't recall a time over the last 10 years that I'd been so affected by the events of that day. In fact, I found myself brought back to the day that it happened (because I'm sure everyone remembers where they were when it happened), and was appalled at my completely juvenile response to the news.

Coming home from school at about 3:30pm (GMT) (more or less an hour after the disaster occurred in New York), I had set up a routine for after school: come in, sit down in front of the TV and watch cartoons. (the cartoon in question was Cardcaptors - don't laugh; It's my belief to this very day that every young boy dreams of becoming a Cardcaptor one day... :| Plus, I was like... 10). When I turned on the TV, I was met with the same image on every channel - and quite likely one that still haunts many peoples minds as it is burned into their memories - the smoke billowing from the sky high buildings as people struggled to come up with the explanation behind the attack. My 10-year old self, not knowing any better, was furious at the lack of cartoons on TV. I immediately was unconcerned for whatever supposedly "worldwide event" had just occurred, and was more preoccupied with whether they were going to repeat my favourite shows.

How short-sighted and misguided my 10-year old self was; and indeed, if some crazy time-paradox were to occur where I could go back and be my own father, I would have given myself an invaluable "education" on that day. 


My point of today's blog is not to rant at how terrible a youth was, for it's obvious to anyone how ignorant a 10-year old can/could be. I guess the point is to not let that same ignorance pass over to further generations. And indeed, come Sunday, I'm sure there will be plenty of parents our there who aren't willing to expose their children (regardless of their age - but more specifically those who were born post-9/11) to the horrors of what happened 10 years ago. But I think they would be wrong - and they would be doing their children an injustice. 


People should remember. People should be taught. The memories of those lost that day should be honoured, and not pushed aside because it might be easier to deal with. It is after all a modern-day disaster, and one that should never be forgotten. 

The real social network: Stalking - We all do it.

The ability to use the internet to find out information is an astounding thing. It has no doubt settled many a debate, query or concern for everyday internet-users. But is there harm in using the internet to find out information on people...? Be they your peers, potential colleagues, or possible love interests, the internet can be an invaluable tool for gathering personal information on individuals. 

This cat takes the internet seriously... should I?

And it seems to be something that is harder to admit, while in turn, becoming ever more prominent.

This sense of "cyber-stalking" can seem to carry a social stigma - in that, admitting to knowing information about a specific person (most commonly, via their Facebook page) requires you, successively, to admitting to having looked on their Facebook page - removing the anonymity the internet provides.

I, however, suffer no ill-effects of stalking, nor of being "stalked"... I have no problem in confessing how I know things about people from their Facebook page - it's on their Facebook (in a sense, it's their fault that I'm looking on their facebook page in the first place... :P). On estimate, I would say I source around 85% of my pre-existing knowledge of an individual from Facebook. Would I call myself creepy (most people would), or just an astute internet-user?

I also have no problem in people knowing semi-intimate details about my life. In fact, recently (without wanting to come across too big-headed) I seem to have acquired a few "stalkers..." That is to say, people who have - either knowingly, or unwittingly - found one of my online profiles and started "talking" to me as a result. As I previously mentioned in my trust post, I can only trust these people. What reason would I have to suspect any "foul-play?" (although, if they were to ever ask for my credit card details, alarm bells might start ringing... D:)

Moving on, if I were to think back to the days before Facebook, or even Myspace... (well, to be honest, my memory is SHOCKING, so I actually can't remember back to those days... :| and I never even used Myspace...), it's strange to think of a time when our personal lives weren't on display to the world... and our main method of finding out about people was good ole' fashioned conversation. Is this new-found "social-networking" just making us more... anti-social? 

I find talking to new people in person a challenge. Talking to someone over Facebook, when I don't have to worry about making awkward facial expressions, or over-exaggerated hand gestures (or, more appropriately, over-exaggerated facial expressions and/or awkward hand gestures... =/ ), is far easier to handle. But does that make me... lazy? And if that's the case, when would it stop? Would people stop showering if they knew they were able to avoid social interaction for a day?! (well... I would hope not...)

Are we all destined to turn into... THIS?! 

Personal hygiene = win.