I’m still used to the YouTube crowd and even though my experience on Steemit has been wonderful so far, I still want to ask everyone in advance to please be considerate and constructive with their comments. Just in case!
Last month I was on a baseball road trip with one of my closest friends. Even though I’m not a Yankee fan, a trip like this would of course, not be complete without paying a visit to Yankee Stadium. We booked 3 nights in NY because my friend had never been to the US, so I figured NY would be one of the highlights of our trip and it didn’t disappoint!
I’m not saying this to get New Yorkers or Americans on my side but I was absolutely blown away by how nice New Yorkers were. Every time we looked on our phone or a map in the subway for longer than 20 seconds or when, for some other reason, it was clear to people that we were struggling, someone went out of their way and asked us if they could be of help.
Maybe we got lucky and happened to come across the right people over and over, but it was almost surreal! People in Chicago, Atlanta, Washington etc. were really nice too, especially compared to people in Vegas where I spend most of my time when I am in the US, but New York outdid all of those other big cities.
Time to cut to the case! A visit to the 9/11 memorial was obviously on the agenda. We ended up going twice and the first time we visited, it was pretty rainy so it was nice and quiet out there. I have to say that they have done everything RIGHT. It’s a great homage to all the victims and small gestures, like putting a rose in the victim's’ engraved names on their birthday, make for an impressive and chilling personal touch.
On the memorial site is also a museum dedicated to remembering and educating about the 9/11 attacks. It was $24 to get in and we were on the fence for a moment mainly because, from the outside, it looked pretty small. Because it was rainy and we knew the weather was going to be good the next 2 days, we decided to go in and see what the museum is all about, a decision we certainly didn’t regret!
The museum is put together really well and left us speechless at times. It’s gracious and raw at the same time. Almost every storyline that had anything to do with 9/11 gets covered and the museum is HUGE. We ended up spending over 3 hours inside. Parts of the towers are on display, there are fire trucks on display, there is footage, there is information about the terrorists, there is a memorial dedicated to the victims that lets you pick “pick” a victim and listen to a loved one of theirs telling a story about them, and a LOT MORE. Far too much to list here.
What made the biggest impression on both me and my friend was a video about the plane that went down in a field in Pennsylvania, after passengers took control of their own destiny. In that video are recordings of people on the plane making calls to their loved ones. A recorded call of one woman in particular, to her husband, sent chills down our spines and had me fight back tears. She was trying to sound optimistic and brave during the call and managed to do so until, during the very last seconds of the call, she broke down and you could clearly hear the fear, desperation and incredible sadness in here voice.
The recording makes you feel, not only her pain, but her husband's and children's pain as well. A pain that, of course, they still carry with them to this day. A pain that should be considered when talking about 9/11.
I was 16 when 9/11 happened and for the first few years after it happened, I believed everything that was fed to me by the so called “mainstream” media. I always have been and still am someone who generally trusts the information provided by mainstream media outlets. Because of all the time I spend on YouTube, I have started questioning the official explanation to some extent though. For which I almost feel bad because I sometimes feel that that doubt is harassment almost, to the victims and to their surviving family and friends.
As most of you probably know, there are videos on YouTube about every major event, questioning the official accounts of what happened . When I watch those types of videos about the Sandy Hook massacre for instance, it personally pisses me off because I feel like it inflicts additional pain on the people left behind by the victims and I personally feel that the official reading is a good reflection of what happened that day (even though others do not) .
Because of my sentiments towards the Sandy Hook Massacre I am well aware that my doubts about 9/11 pisses people off and it makes me feel bad about feeling that way and even worse about expressing those doubts.
The fact that the museum has passports of the hijackers found in the rubble on display and the fact that there are only 3 blurry useless videos of the plane hitting one of the most secured buildings in the world, the Pentagon, only fueled the doubts that I am trying to fight.
In a strange way, accepting that Al Qaeda was responsible for the attacks, is the least evil and least scary explanation of what happened that day, but I’m not fully buying into that. I would never post anything about this on YouTube because the comments would get really offensive, really fast. So far my experience on Steem has been really great and people who haven’t agreed with me on other topics have only stuck to constructive criticism.
Because of that I am able to share and explain the inner struggle that I am having about 9/11. I’m doing so because visiting the memorial and the museum really made an impression on me and I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks about my stance. I’m mostly interested in hearing about how people who do not doubt the official explanation, feel about people like me, that do!