Building Bridges and Towers...

Families and friends will remember deeply the events of September 11, 2001 and I imagine it is not only this day that is remembered but each and every one of the 3,652 days that have passed since the attack.

It might surprise you to learn that the September 11^th attacks rank only fifth on the list of U.S. deadliest disasters.  The deadliest disaster was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 where the number of fatalities ranged from 6,000 to 12,000. 

Number two on the list was the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. with a death toll estimated to be from 3,000 to 6,000.

In 1928 the Okeechobee Hurricane that affected the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Florida had a death toll of over 4, 078 with 2,500 that died in Florida and another in the U.S. possession of Puerto Rico.

Natural disasters lead the list, followed by man inspired disasters; Genocide, Terrorism and War.

The 1838 Genocide bearing the name of Trail of Tears saw an estimated 4,000 Cherokee Native American die during this ‘forced relocation’.

  “The latter forced relocations have sometimes been referred to as a "death march", in particular with reference to the Cherokee march across the Midwest in 1838, which occurred on a predominantly land route.^[5] However the use of this term is heavily disputed, because a death march is typically defined as a forced march in which the captors show either depraved indifference to the lives of the persons during the course of the march, or actively attempt to reduce their numbers, e.g., by the execution of stragglers or those who attempt to leave the march. However, missionaries traveled along with the march as humanitarian observers, and documented the resulting conditions, as did the Native leaders themselves. It was latterly described as an act of genocide by Alfred Cave in 2003.^[38]”

The terrorism attacks on September 11, 2001 would take 2,973 victims [and counting] and 19 hijackers.  This attack is slightly more than the 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor with 2,403 U.S. victims and 55 Japanese victims.

Ten years have passed since the 9/11 attack and speculation still exists as to the real cause of this attack. The truth may never be known but labeling the type of attack ‘terrorism’ will prevail.

“In November 2004, a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act".^[17]”

^{The most striking difference between today and the events of the past is TELEVISION, the 24/7/365 type television that relives and replays acts of horror over and over and over again. Watching this can have detrimental and long-term effect on persons, especially those already suffering firsthand from the event. The healthiest thing that we can do for ourselves is to move on, respectfully, yes move forward and build. Build to back to where we were before and then build beyond.}

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^Footnotes:

^5. Jahoda, Gloria (1975). Trail of Tears: The Story of the American Indian Removal 1813-1855. ISBN 978-0517146774.

38. Cave, Alfred (December 2003). "Abuse of Power: Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act of 1830". The Historian (John Wiley & Sons) 65 (6). doi:10.1111/j.0018-2370.2003.00055.x. Retrieved December 24, 2010.

17. "UN Reform". United Nations. 2005-03-21. Archived from the original on 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2008-07-11. "The second part of the report, entitled "Freedom from Fear backs the definition of terrorism–an issue so divisive agreement on it has long eluded the world community–as any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act""