by Alex Lloyd Gross
There are certain events that you can remember where you were when they happened. September 11 2001 was one of them. That was the day a group of cowards hijacked airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a failed attempt for another attack on Washington DC that resulted in the plane crashing in Shanksville Pa.
Alex Lloyd Gross File Photo Delaware Valley News.com . In NYC National Guardsman checks the package of someone near ground zero.
Those cowards changed the way we do business in this country. In the days after the attack, Muslim hate was high. A 7-Eleven on Castor Ave. was firebombed, when someone thought erroneously that the owners must be tied to the cowards because their skin was different than his.
We got the Patriot Act signed, we demanded better controls for banking so tracing funds would be easier, and many businesses flourished. Security became a multi-billion-dollar industry. Suddenly, we were not safe. Or not as safe as we could be. The TSA was formed. This was the agency responsible for searching bags at the airport. It was the same personnel as before, just with a new blue uniform shirt.
Every nation on this planet offered to help the United States. They condemned the actions of a handful of idiots. First responders were revered. Within a few years that mentality would change. Locally, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter ordered fire companies decommissioned or put out of service for tours of duty. Those cuts were rescinded and the PFD is back, with even more medic units.
In the rush to become safe many police departments have been sued and the payouts have been in the hundreds of millions of dollars. This is all due to officers that ignored their training or were not trained at all. People with cameras were arrested for photographing federal buildings, or for just having a camera. Legitimate delivery drivers were profiled as suspicious. In Delaware, a Muslim couple who regularly delivered items to the Air Force Base were profiled by local police. They were held at gunpoint. That settlement was in the millions.
Alex Lloyd Gross File Photo Delaware Valley News.com The Naval Defense Supply Depot in Northeast Philadelphia . Thier security did not want this photo taken from a public street.
When it was all finished, those responsible were dead, Thier actions inspired nobody. They were not martyrs, but cowards, who were easily lead by crazed idealists. When they hit the World trade Center, they killed people from all over the world. Those people practiced every religion, from Jewish, Catholic, Christian, and even Islam. In the simplest terms, the cowardly act of 9/11 resulted in the murder of the people that practiced the same religion as the attackers. They murdered their own who had noting to do with what the attackers were against.
People from all over this region were affected, many were killed. The Garden Of Reflection in Lower Makefield was erected in their honor, as well as many local fire departments making their own memorials.