Day of Rememberance

I missed it a little. One could not really forget what happened, yesterday, 3 years ago, nor where we were when it happened.

I remember arriving at work, and my next-door cube-mate asking me if I had heard the news. No, I had not. Evidently, a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers and it was on fire. The rest of the day was pretty much spent watching the unfolding drama, the newscasts and what was happening.

The world seems to have changed as a result. This level of terror was always present, always there; but it became much more in focus for us, here in North America, after that date. I am old enough to remember the strife in Beruit, the troubles in Northern Ireland and other terrorist hot-spots around the world. In fact, I used to travel to Northern Ireland as a child (with my parents) and had first-hand witness to the results of that terror. We were searched going in or out of stores, or in or out of Belfast. You could not leave your car unattended in the main town of Lurgan and I was around the corner when a bomb went off.
What happened 3 years ago was different. It was close, in our cities in which we have always felt safe. Terrorist activities were things which happened in other countries.

I am not sure what the coming years will bring. Not a big fan of the American approach to this. Their feeling that their way of life, their values are in themselves the correct values is not the appropriate reaction. This is a worldwide issue, not exclusive to the US or the problem which confronted us on 9/11. The US does not have a right to seek justice on another country for the acts of an individual. Even more so their actions against Iraq.
I see my own country reacting to things that the Americans are doing, and I am concerned. There is talk about IDing landed immigrants, through fingerprints. There has even been talk about extending that to all Canadians. No way. There is absolutely no reason for our government to collect this information from me, or from the 99.99999% of immigrants to this country who arrive here to start a new life. We accept these individuals into our country and we should treat them with the respect with which we treat all Canadians. They are not foreigners, but people who have expressed a desire to come to this country. In fact, most immigrant people show more respect for Canada than some of the people who were born here.
But yes, we need to make sure that we screen and verify people who are coming to this country, and every citizen of Canada has a responsibility to respect others, as Canadians.

Recently, during the Olympics, there was an Iranian wrestler (I believe) who refused to compete against an Israeli competitor. His government, through the ambassador to Greece stated that they shared his views.
The IOC should have immediately thrown then entire Iranian team out of the Olympics. Their statements and opinions contradict the whole premise of the Olympics and the IOC, through their complete inaction gave weight to these views. This was NOT one athletes view, but the view of the Iranian government, expressed through their ambassador. That cannot be tolerated.

Only when the world starts to establish and live by a code of conduct that is intolerant of these statements will terrorism become more difficult to support. International bodies, such as the UN or IOC have to be the first to stand up and be accountable for these values.
Kudos to Greece, by the way, for a fantastic Olympics.