I had an idea last night.

[gridlore]

As everyone knows, we are fast approaching the first anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Everyone is discussing how the best memorialize the event, and the people lost. Here's my two cents.

A day of silence on the Internet. For one calendar day, starting at 0001 11 SEP 02, your local time, stop posting, emailing, surfing whatever. A global day of silence moving around the world. I realize that this would be impossible for those in business who rely on the net, but I think it would be a powerful statement. I remember on that day the messages on the Traveller Mailing List to our NYC members asking "are you ok?" And I know the terrible silence when one person never replies to those calls.

So for one day, stay off the net. It will survive. talk on the phone, go for a walk, or just remember how much we all lost on the terrible day, one year ago.

Comments

[hepkitten.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but I think this is the most idiotic idea I have heard yet. Why don't people volunteer? Help out at your local soup kitchen? Donate time to the SPCA? Become a Big Brother or Big Sister? Do something worthwhile with their time? Instead you are advising people to not write down what they feel, not talk to loved ones far away (one of my closest friends lives in Kuwait, do you have any idea how much it costs to *call* there?), not gather online to remember people they lost, or offer support to those that lost people, not read words of encouragement, words of remembrance, words to help bear lingering pain. I realize that for some people, this might seem like a good idea. But I talk to almost all of my friends and loved ones online. It lets me multitask and talk to several people at once. I don't believe in phones, so it lets me communicate with others without having to travel long distances to see them. It allows me to keep in touch with friends who would otherwise fall by the wayside due to my poor communications skills using other means.

Seriously. Instead of an "Internet Day Of Silence" which won't really have an affect on anyone and won't change anything, why doesn't everyone who can volunteer? That way, not only are you remembering 9/11, but you are also giving back to your community, and helping create a permanent remembrance and effect. I for one, will be volunteering helping out dorkbot (www.dorkbot.com) and at my local SPCA.

Loved ones

[cryptess.livejournal.com]

I don't know about anyone else here, but things like the WTC Attacks (as I plan to call them) don't make me want to go silent in mourning, anyway. They make me want to say in a loud and steady voice, "I LOVE YOU" to all the people in my life that make a difference. It makes me want to spend every breath I can with them. It tempts me to throw away my guard, and tell people I love them rather than hiding it.

As life is, before the Attacks and before I actually lost anyone to anything (the only one I've lost was to "old age"), I feared losing people. Having a heroin addicted father made me feel terribly close, and at just 20 I tend to make sure "I love you" is always the last thing I say to my loved ones, even if they're just going to the bathroom or for a smoke or something.

Tomorrow, September 11th, I'm going to wake up and be happy, because I have my loved ones. More directly, my philosophy on losing people is that afterwards you live and love for them, too, carrying a small piece of them wherever you go; being miserable will just carry those feelings to your small part of the departed you're mourning for.

I think...I'll celebrate those lost loved ones (NOT their loss!) tomorrow by sending special love-type-letters to all of my family and friends. If I can make somebody happy, for even one minute, the world will have been a better place for them, and that's all that really matters to me. (Just think, if everybody tried to do this once a day, there'd probably be no need for wars!)