United we stand
in the face of Tragedy & Terrorism

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"

THIS PAGE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANYTIME & was
last updated on Sunday, 03 November 2002

Dan Keeney owner of keeney.net

I am an American and Proud to say so, my family has been in the USA since before it became known as the United States of America. I use the greeting Céad Míle Fáilte on my site which I got from an Irish dictionary, because I believe that my ancestors originally came from Ireland (I don't have concrete proof of this yet, but it's what I believe). Some say that the line is descended from Sir Thomas K. who was b. 1578 Kings Lynne, Norfolk, England & Knighted 4 Oct. 1618 Occupation after 1618: baronet. To date I know of no one in my line that has proven a link back to him. Regardless of which proves to be true either Irish or English descent makes no difference, I am an American. The atrocity that befell my nation on 11 September 2001 was the act of COWARDLY BASTARDS, and I believe that they need to be made accountable for it, not necessarily through a war, but in some way that they will feel to their great sorrow.  

DISBELIEF, SHOCK, SORROW, ANGER, HATRED, QUESTIONS.

These are some of the thoughts that ran through my mind when I learned about the cowardly attack on the people of America, and I still don't have answers to my questions. Their were also people from other country's at the World Trade Centre, so this was not just an attack on America but on the people of the world.

I feel deep sorrow for those that lost their lives, but it is an even a deeper sorrow I have for their families, words alone can not express such a deep sorrow, and revenge can not return what which was taken.

I've heard that there is an e-mail scam making the rounds on the Internet for monetary donations supposedly to the Red Cross, but this is not the case. If you what to help by making a donation to the Red Cross, I'd suggest you use your best judgement, I'd do so only through the local office of that charity. Click to find your local office.

I'm sure everyone has something to say about the events of Tuesday 11 September 2001 I'm setting up this page for that purpose, you can send in your thoughts & feelings & I will include them on this page on a daily basis as they come in.

On the 14th of September I heard the following song on a local talk radio station, 
"God Bless The U.S.A., a Song for our Country"

"Note if you are using a dailup connection the song plays in a strange way the first time after it's done replay it & it works fine"

From Dan Tillmanns

Questions for the terrorists:

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together

I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started.

But you're about to learn.

From Daniel A. Keeney owner of Keeney.com

  "I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am."
Anonymous. A "foreign friend" of Samuel Johnson. Quoted in: James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, Feb. 1776 (1791).

   I planned to sleep, but couldn't. I just kept listening to the last song on Eric Clapton's "Pilgrim" CD over and over, and began cleaning, of all things. At 03:00 hours, I realized that I was trying to find a way to feel numb again. To not see the sadness anymore, now that I am no longer so pleasantly naive as I was once was ... only one day before. Hoping to ease the growing rage that had been filling me. The bitterness of it.

   Then, hungry for any comfort, I turned on my computer, finding that quote staring right at me. Hoping to taste vengeance, rather than the justice and truth our forefathers lay the foundations for. Giving into my anger and instinctive reactions, rather the love, hope and charity that my God asks of me. That any god, if of peace, would compel the spirit of good peoples to do.

   When I began to do this, I saw the news differently. I saw the medical centers, filled with kind healers, who approached each victim with calm professionalism. I saw firemen and policemen standing selflessly, in the same place hundreds of their friends and coworkers had already died just minutes before, trying to help anyone they could. Strangers, with no reason to be there except for their hopes to save even one more life. I see that terrorism will forever fail here, in America.

   I refuse to hate anyone, because I choose to be better than these lowest cowards; I don't need to smell their blood ... revenge will not restore the lives destroyed. My heart aches most for those closest to their victims, who have not died in vain: We are even more united than ever before. For every citizen that they fill with fear, there will be dozens that found their courage. Freedom will become even more precious to most, and we will fight even harder to protect it now.

   Daniel @drian Keeney of keeney.com
   snailmail: Route 4 Box 149, Hurricane, West Virginia 25526
    email: daniel@keeney.com
    fax/voicemail: 209.231.3370  

From Sylvia Haney

We'll go forward from this moment
(Miami Herald; Leonard Pitts Jr., Wednesday, Sept 12)

It's my job to have something to say.

They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard.

What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.

Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.

Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae -- a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though -- peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.

IN PAIN

Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.

But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future.

In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined.

THE STEEL IN US

You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold.

As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started.
But you're about to.

__________

Thought you might like to see us through the eyes of the editor of a Romanian newspaper in a piece titled "An ode to America." It brought tears to my eyes.

O, to see ourselves as others see us !   

Pray for our country and may God bless us all.      Fred & Sylvia

ROMANIAN EDITORIAL - AN ODE TO AMERICA

They don't resemble one another even if you paint them!
They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations.
Some of them are nearly extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious beliefs, not even God can count how many there are.
Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand
put on the heart.

Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services- that they are only a bunch of losers.
Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts.

Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about and gossip.
The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.
After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps, and ties in the colors of the national flag.
They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place a minister or the president was passing.
On every occasion they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America."
Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, twice, three times, on different TV channels.

There was Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producer could ever bring together.
The American's solidarity spirit turned them into a choir.
Actually, 'choir' is not the word.
What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul.
What neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could
say without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being
heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert.
I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't
sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious!
It made you green with envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests.
I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours.
Listened to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.
How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow human?
Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes.

And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which nothing can break.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way?
Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic power? Money?
I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces.
I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion

Only freedom can work such miracles!

From Paul Lange

Daniell, what can I say. Anything that you, or anyone, wants to do to provide a constructive outlet for the complex range of emotions that such an event brings is appropriate. Ultimately, we must stay true to the values of those who created the country and the values for which we are now stewards.

We will respond. We will defend our values, our way of life, the hope that this country has uniquely represented for 225 years. But we will do it in a way that makes ourselves, our children and future generations proud.

We must have faith and resolve for this will be a long battle. As was said at the National Cathedral yesterday, we must not let our response sink us to the level of those we seek to punish. If your site can reinforce this view then I am completely supportive.

Regards, Paul

PS: I am not big on chain type internet stuff, but this picture that is floating around captured my attention.

From Angela Keeney

   I felt this was important and am sending this blind to everyone in my email list. I hope you don't mind. - Angela

   An appeal for Peace
" moderation and restraint in responding to the recent terrorist attacks against the United States. We implore the powers that be to use, wherever
possible, international judicial institutions and international human rights law to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, rather than the instruments of war, violence or destruction."

If you are interested in adding your voice, please visit:
http://www.9-11peace.org/petition.php3

From Cris Preston

This is well worth reading & signing.

Chris

http://www.petitiononline.com/Flight93/petition.html

 

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From Terry Snow

I saw the first tower burning and didn't know what it was at first and started listening to the newscast. Then shortly the second plane hit and I kept listening to the news case then heard the Pentagon was hit and I listen to the news all day.

I kept thinking now our boys will be in the middle of another war. I prayed that they would be safe, since my two younger brothers are both in the military. I also know a few young guys that are in the service.

I was also hoping that my step-dad's family was safe since they are from the New York area. But I felt like I lost family anyway when the towers fell and people were lost. My prayers went out to all the families in the area. There is still an empty feeling in my heart for all the lost lives.

I feel that maybe we should take a page out of our savage history and give that kind of punishment to the terrorists.

Terry

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From Joan Keeney

 

 

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From Heather
(in a fowarded e-mail to her)

One

As the soot and dirt and ash rained down,
We became one color.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the
burning building,
We became one class.
As we lit candles of waiting and hope,
We became one generation.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their
way into the inferno,
We became one gender.
As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength,
We became one faith.
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement,
We spoke one language.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long,
We became one body.
As we mourned together the great loss,
We became one family.
As we cried tears of grief and loss,
We became one soul.
As we retell with pride of the sacrifice of heroes,
We become one people.

We are
One color
One class
One generation
One gender
One faith
One language
One body
One family
One soul
One people

We are The Power of One.
We are United.
We are America.

This candle was lit on the 11th of September, 2001.
Please pass it on to your friends & family so that it
may shine all across America.

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"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."

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