Like most Americans I am thoughtful on this particular day of what we as a country have been through for the past ten or so years. Beginning with a demon's vengeful planning that spanned SIX months in the intelligence patter of our country, the whole thing went down on a normal September morning changing our worlds forever. The fact that corporate offices of some of the biggest Wall street players were in one of those towers, it was easy to see that the targets were strategically planned. Pentagon? Check. Inside of that building sat a newly conservative bunch of war mongers who swiftly blamed it all on Saddam and went ballistic in the middle east as a show of power to those who dared to mess with our great country. Always remember, pride comes before a fall.
The man that I memorialized on the DC Roe website in late September of that year was the executive director of the Port Authority of New York, only a few months into the job following a career in banking. Neil David Levin, a handsome man just a year older than myself with a lovely wife and some girls. He was a high roller among those who perished that day yet the widow's pain was no less nor the children's cries of sadness less pathetic. How could this happen to us? We are AMERICA by God! And that attitude is precisely what made us sitting ducks for terrorists who hate western ways.
I do believe in separation of church and state which means no mandatory prayer in a public school setting. And no political pressure from conservatives to make sure that the god they believe in is the only one because frankly....that one scares the hell out of me. The abortion issue is one that seriously comes to mind when thinking about how far we've come in basic civil rights and how easy they are to lose. To say that life begins at conception is, in my opinion, ludicrous considering how that little cluster of cells can't even begin to live on its' own for over 28 weeks. I appreciate the good happy thoughts of those who wish to save those embryos and adopt them out but really? There are times when that's not a choice either ethically speaking.
Our friend has been all over the news and stuff because of his death from meningitis on a college campus which is a hotbed for breeding that particular disease. When someone turns up in a hospital setting with that kind of death, it's a reportable highly freak outable health issue. Everybody gets treated "just in case." That being said, I've seen several folks recover from near death sickness because they were treated in time. The rapid 24 hour progression of symptoms ends up with tiny bruises on the skin called petechiae. By then, it's too late. Caused by a normally harmless bacteria, it spreads rapidly through the spinal fluid and heads to the meninges, the covering of the brain.
Yes, I realize I'm all over the place today but I'm in a mood so bear with me. My KY cuz and I talked politics this morning sharing the horror stories about R&R and what if. It is so terribly clear to us old timers what has happened in our neck of the woods because we've seen such incredible things in our lifetime that will never be experienced by others. The end of integration comes to mind. Civil rights and their restoration. The joys of growing up as a baby boomer not having to lock a door or have a worry because you have a phone, even if it's on a party line. Not a particularly smart one either ;)
Here's to you Neil. Had it not been for that day of hell I would never have known you and your family. In some odd way that's the blessing of 9/11. The tragedy gave us all reason to slow down and remember who we are.
^j^
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