COMMENT: Where were you on 9/11?

Coverage of the 10th anniversary of the attack on the United States on Tuesday 11 September 2001 has been extensive.  Plenty has been said but where were you on that terrible day when the United States was attacked?  For all of us our whereabouts and movements are encased in our minds.  We will never forget. 

For a generation that is now passing on of course the outbreak of World War II on Sunday 3 September is recalled, Americans have to deal with Pearl Harbour on Sunday 7 December 1941 and all what that means for them, your Editor vividly remembers Friday 22 November when John Kennedy died in 1963, and of course Princess Diana’s tragic death on Sunday 31 August 1997.  Everyone has their personal poignant dates to reflect upon.

With 9/11 there is one point that has not been mentioned in the blanket coverage as far as we are aware.  The age of the highjackers!  None of them appeared to be older than 33.  Their manipulators had reached an age of maturity (rather than majority).  Why is it the young are taken in by these perpetrators of evil?  Is there some threshold reached when the shear pointlessness of such an act is understood? Does one ever hear of elderly suicide bombers? 

By the time a certain age is reached the value of life is understood. 

The lessons of 9/11 have still to be learnt.  We can only hope for a better world.

Malcolm Ginsberg

Editor in Chief

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