Remembering September 11....

The image of an airplane flying into one of the World Trade Centre towers in New York on that fateful morning was one few Americans could wipe out from their memories – a picture like one out of a Hollywood movie, dramatic and memorable, except this was no film-director’s creation. This was reality of a historic event relayed “live” into the American living rooms. Only minutes earlier, a first airplane had similarly flown into another twin tower, creating an effect similar to that from a rocket missile or aerial bomb, turning the skyscraper buildings into twisted wrecks within minutes of impact.

Since that September morn, when thousands of office workers stared at ‘weapons of destruction” wreaking havoc above the New York financial hub, the international stage of politics has been thrown into a new threshold of warfare. This is a higher plane of enemy encounter. In the 21st century “terrorist” war, the enemy wears no easily discernible human face. The terrorists can strike, equally and effectively, by day or night time, anywhere where the owners of terror weapons take them.

September 11, 2001, must surely rank as a landmark day in this relatively new millennium’s history – when the world was shaken to its core as helpless people watched “live” as well as through constant replays over television, two commercial aeroplanes allegedly commandeered by Muslim terrorists and used as “missiles” to crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, USA.

Suddenly, we were made to realise that the world has become a “very dangerous” dwelling place indeed, and even the United States, the sole superpower in the world, is as vulnerable as its poorer cousins in the African and Asian continents who hardly have enough rations to feed their people, what more having money to spend on weapons of mass destruction! We all woke up that day to experience what I think was the “rudest awakening” of this new century, that possibly transformed our lives forever in the most dramatic way, and evoked in us all the whole range of human responses, including grief, shock, rage, despair and bewilderment.

And how would human beings find a suitable channel, a meaningful outlet, for this spontaneous outpouring of grief and anguish, rage and bewilderment, shock and helplessness in the face of such great tragedy? This ruthless attack on humanity came “out of the blue” and certainly was beyond human imagination (initially some viewers thought the second airliner crashing into the WTC tower was an advertising trailer from the latest Hollywood blockbuster!), yet it was stark reality staring at us in our comfortable Malaysian living rooms. This “creature” resembling a suicide bomber wrought by fellow human beings motivated by things beyond our ken and understanding to wreak carnage and havoc on human lives and dignity, so how do we begin to even comprehend and cope with a “new” world thrust upon us?

Many American citizens, and feeling fellow humankind across the globe – enjoying common membership of the species called Homo sapiens -- responded with dedications of poems to 911, as the day of infamy has become identified. One online poetry website, operated by the International Library of Poetry based in Washington, D.C., immediately set up a dedicated page for people to share their responses. Poetry writing becomes a channel for release, and this is definitely useful therapy at a time of tremendous sorrow and grief.

This writer contributed one, titled Reflecting on Newton’s Law of 16 lines. I am reproducing here the said poem to demonstrate the brevity and niche theme summarising some key points flowing from 911, served adequately by just one quarter web-page. If Desiderata were to write a piece of prose, I believe an essay of a few thousand words would not be as effective.


Reflecting on Newton's law

To every action
There is an equal and opposite reaction
Goes one of Newtonian laws
governing physical forces and motion

Extrapolating on Newton's law to human affairs
In light of the tragedy of Sept 11 morn
I fear that human response to
such horrendous attacks on humankind
Usually brings forth an opposite but often,
more than an equal, reaction,
Inflicting more, and spiralling, violence and tragedy on innocent ones

Borrowing Dylanesque wisdom while we're
adrift in this wind of confusion and sorrow
"When will they ever learn?", I say,
Leave the wrath of the Maker
To visit upon the actors of such cowardly acts.


The premise of my poem was that in human affairs in inflicting violence, usually the reaction is often greater than a reaction to physical force, creating a spiralling chain of increasingly more violent events. I firmly believe there was no way the U.S. could avoid following up with retaliatory action, as some reaction must follow such an attack on humanity. It was only a question of how and in what form the “reaction” (retaliation) would be, and for how long, to justify the objectives once the enemy has been identified and the objectives have been spelt out. My final premise of the poem was that finally, an end must come, and only God – in whatever form we perceive Him to be - can exact the just retribution on the perpetrators of the terror attacks.

Coincidentally on September 17, a close friend of mine, J. Vong, who runs a business website called klsetracker.com, also wrote an article in prose, titled “Hope Amid the Carnage”, to mark what must be the rudest awakening ever in both our lifetime. He wrote that his was a “small voice pleading for reasoned thought and action amid the raging fires for revenge and retribution”.

Vong said the September 11 attacks on the financial edifices of the world and the center of the U.S. military power “mark yet again the frequent and unwanted blips in the long-march of peaceful civilization. ... However, reconciliation will ultimately have to succeed conflict … history teaches us that. Rebirth and regrowth must follow destruction … markets will boom after doom.”

He stated that it served no useful purpose from the perspective of human history for revenge and retribution. “Ultimately, building an international resolve to establish a system that can open more minds and hearts will undoubtedly, bring civilization to its next stage of evolution. Tearing down the walls of religious and racial bigotry is what makes for global leadership and this is the greatest chance for a global initiative by the United States.”

For the record, Vong has been a regular columnist for a local newspaper for more than 15 years, hence he could produce such a lengthy piece quickly, but I am also sure it would have taken him a lot of time. On current affairs in the economic field, Vong is a sort of Sifu to Desi. Comparatively, composing a poem for me is a breeze, butto write an economic topic, would have taken much research and archival recall which Vong is truly blessed, but it's the effort and time that counts. Usually, a poem would just focus on one theme or central idea, unlike an essay which would follow the format of Introduction, Body and Conclusion – quite a daunting task for most ordinary people.


Those who composed poems on 911, and readers worldwide who shared these works, would have reaped the benefit of “catharsis” so essential in the healing of wounds on the emotional and mental front. Poets worldwide demonstrated the range of subjects they touched on such challenging times, indicating the breadth and depth of the raw emotions that singular event evoked in different people. The contributors obviously benefited from releasing their innermost feelings, also fostering a common bond through sharing their poems, and bringing the world community closer together. Hopefully, this common bonding serves to unite the human race for a better tomorrow … and Poetry would have played a small, but meaningful, part in the process.

Therefore, it is seen that poetry on the heels of 911 had served, and continues to serve, as an outstanding medium of communication at a time of great tragedy and unfathomable distress, not just for Americans, but for all the world citizens. The world indeed becomes truly one and borderless under certain circumstances that hold momentous consequences for peoples of all nations as they mourn and commemorate the loss of some 2,800 lives.

However, with the passage of time, memory fades, and minds become dim, until the next “surprise” terror attack came out of the blue again to wake us up from a semi-settled state of peace and tranquility. The recent 7/7 -- or as Deesi terms it SEVEN7 -- event of the London bombings threw up the spectre of “terrorism” again – some four years of that landmark exactly four years ago today. The London bombings were of a smaller scale, but the terror wrought on the people of London, and the whole British nation, was never any less heart-breaking and agonising, especially for the victims’ families. Again, the world community mourned the human “losses”, but a second time around has reduced the “surprise” element – on many lips, the whispers now are “when” – not “if” – the next bombings will take place, and where. So sad. So tragic. So unfathomable to the human race on earth.

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DESIDERATA: If Sunday's rumination is too serious for thee, go back to Saturday's CHALLENGE S'X where another Booker Prize awaits the Winner.The Deadline -- NOT dateline! -- is 2400 hrs today (ie Midnite Sunday;) ENJOY! :)

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