The third tower

The World Trade Centre were built with Peace and Harmony in mind, according to Yamasaki, principal architect. 200,000 tons of steel, lifted by “Kangaroo Cranes” imported from Australia and assembled to be then the tallest. Another tower, the Third Tower, our pillar of Democracy, is under attack, from voting rights to culture war, from domestic terrorism to foreign ones.

Although not as immediate and horror-filled, these attacks and attempts erode our confidence in the democratic system, itself a work in progress (or else, Congress wouldn’t have to return from recess).

The Twin Towers (and Pentagon’s newly constructed wing) buried almost 3,000 lives with them. 20 years later, the war on terror almost doubled that (on the last days of Saigon, two more US lives vs 13 in Kabul). 9/11 babies grew up in war, the war against terrorism – foreign (ISIS and Syria) and domestic.

One can’t perpetuate a lie, cry wolf and kick the can down the road. Fixing a problem by creating two more. Sarcasm wouldn’t work. Problems at one level needs solutions at their commensurate level.

We have to face up to a broken world of our own making (made worse by our denial and distraction). To bring down the towers, by one estimate, takes at least two years – brick by brick. Yet those ten terrorists – led by a graduate student of architecture, namely Atta, could do it in less than 2 hours. This is to show when there is a will, there is a way.

I, of course, share our anger, resolve and revenge. BUT we need to shore up and hone “Monte Cristo” feelings for constructive resolve. And we did. Brick by brick, in a physical sense. Ten years after saw One-World Trade Centre up and OBL down. Then another ten-years of quagmire.

That leads us to Kabul (Saigon part II), with close to 120,000 evacuees, vetted, vaccinated and eager like trapped bulls out of the gate (let loose in Texas and FL which drives De Santis and Abbott nuts). Tit-for-tat drone strikes, to kill the “Planner” of terrorist plot, albeit a mismatch: maximum force- minimum impact as opposed to minimum force- maximum impact.

We live and work in the Third Tower (figuratively speaking). The West is out in the open with bright lights of Madison Avenue and Times Square. The terrorists move and operate in caves and shadows. Their Tunnel (not Tower) traverses the underworld of theocracy, of jihad, of suicide missions. Ours: democracy, of logistically outsourced mercenary (uberized warfare) – of this edit, perhaps deployed in Ukraine, a replay of Emerald City with well-stocked PXs. Conventional vs guerrilla, State vs non-State actors, command/control vs distributed cells, strategic/short-term vs tactical/attrition.

The best way is to ignore (as opposed to fuel) their free publicity. Succumb not to inflated & irrational fear-induced tactic (we are reaping our own downside of hyper technology, such as encrypted communication, social media … as I just happened to view “Enigma” the movie which showed how difficult just 80+ years ago, making attempts at troop coordination).

Don’t be under virtual siege/paranoid or digital house-arrest. Do not buy in to their last wish i.e. assisted trip to Heaven – just as the neighboring thief who was overhearing: “Today you shall be with me in Paradise” (via slow and excruciating Roman death).

In short, not only do we need to build the One World Centre to restore confidence in our civilized society, “the steel of our resolve” as Bush put it; but we must also deny those extremists, their oaths and ends: world dominance via ways of western recruit.

Save those amendment “rights” for human rights i.e. those C-17 Kabul runners and the WTC jumpers.

To those who still haven’t learned the lessons: somehow, somewhere and someone, will make sure bad guys go down, if not by us, then by our children, if not by boots on the ground, then by drones from the sky. Of the 13 who were killed while carrying out their final mission of evacuating Kabul, many did not see a day without war (they were 9/11 babies-turned-soldiers).

Teach your children well. That it takes work and grit. Teach and lead by example. Force-rank your core values. We are to compete against time not to the bottom. Leaders who appeal to our debased values, vote them out. Our Third Tower is growing taller each day – Democracy come-of-age brick by brick i.e. to face ALL enemies, foreign and domestic.

Rule of the road, rule of Law, rule of civility and even grammar rule. Darker at times, but despair not, since we thanks to it (darkness), can spot some stars.

I long for people who debate in courtesy and context, with mutually respectful audience. Reading about those 19 terrorists who situated themselves in seats 2B to easily rush the cockpit, while all of us, freedom lovers, had to squat days on end in crowded barge (or died and never lived to reach freedom shores, then be called – of all things – by means of self-financed transport: Boat People) makes me furious, Monte Cristo like.

While they used planes for missiles, people’s lives (of jihadists) as passports to Paradise; we appreciate and value life, the only life, worth living and fighting for. In a final analysis, they can live in eternal indulgence as Twin Towers ash, but we Third Tower phoenix.

7 notes, the Alphabet and various shades and colors which elevate life.

Twenty years ago, Yamasaki designed perhaps in the shadow and flashbacks of two Nuclear Bombs earlier dropped. Yet his most genius and wildest imagination couldn’t have flash-forwarded to 9/11 terror acts. Our failure of imagination- a precautionary tale. While they monetize our attention, they can never fully extract our imagination, which always see different permutation and combination, even sparks of the Divine.

You are so beautiful, to me………

I still get those chills when flashback to 9/11 vertical jumpers, to certain but slightly delayed deaths (North tower inferno = incinerator at 2200-degrees of jet-fuel grade). I still get those chills reliving the longest night out of Saigon when hungry babies were forbidden to cry around narrow Song Be River bend. No buckle strapped, no aisle seat 2B for easy exit.

Just live.

Are we sure it will never happen again? Have we forgotten right after Gore vs Bush Florida re-counts, with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer of The Today Show that crystal clear Tuesday morning: “We interrupted the show for Breaking News” e.g. UA-175 casting a large Batman-like shadow on the South-Tower glass and by extension, a longer one into our future of freedom and fear.