Kelly B-
From all of us - have a wonderful trip! Please try and post about it - we are all interested in hearing about not only your experiences in Spain but also about the unique kindnesses I'm sure you will experience during the current situation.

Puna, I shall let all know how the trip to Spain went. I look forward to a great time.

Good for you Kelly B,
I hope you and your friends have a wonderful time in Spain. You will no doubt have a lovely time and by going you are proving to the world that Americans will not cower to terrorism.

I will look forward to reading your reports. My son (16) and I will be leaving on the 19th of December for Madrid and return after New Year's. My friends criticize me for going. My answer is that if one cannot be free it is better not to be.
"La vida es muy corta" to live in fear of what may happen.

Good for all of you for going on with your life and not letting those criminals freighten you out of living. We will not forget those who died in NYC & at the Pentagon, we must go on living as full lives as we can in honor of them and the lives they did not get to experience.

A Spanish saying I heard in a movie once is quite fitting with the last few posts: "Vivir con miedo es como vivir a medias" A life lived with fear is like a life half lived.

Que Dios bendiga a America, Espana, y a todo el mundo.

GranadaGirl

MadridMan...

Since your post of 9/15, I hope you would reverse your pesemistic view of your fellow human beings. The individuals who perpetrated these horrific acts of mass murder are not what I consider (nor do the members of your message board) human beings. Please, puruse the heartfelt messages of support and sympathy, from all corners of the globe. YOU have brought so many right-minded souls together here. The serious business of freedom loving people exercising their freedoms starts RIGHT HERE. I raise a salute to MadridMan.com and to MadridMan, the founder and the one who has brought all of us together.
SALUD MADRIDMAN!!

[ 09-22-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Right on!!! Right on, Kurt!!!

Salud MadridMan!!!...and all kind like-minded souls that partake of this vibrant, full of life and "duende" message board!!

[ 09-22-2001: Message edited by: Tramontana ]

[ 09-22-2001: Message edited by: Tramontana ]

For a collection of images that really makes it clear that people the world over are the same, check out this link. The photos are compelling and, once again, make me so grateful to be part of a global community. Be warned, some of the images will bring tears to your eyes. But thank goodness, they are not of buildings falling down...they are of people coming together in support and grief--and shared strength.
http://cache.stonekitty.net/cache/index.html

Tara

[ 09-22-2001: Message edited by: taravb ]

On that fateful day I was at Fuengirola market, I went into a cafe-bar for a coffee and there on the television I saw the most frightening scenes ever. I was gob-smacked!!!!! An english resident explained to me what was going on and my first thoughts were of the many people who post to this board who live in or near Manhatten and the fear they must be going through. I feel for all of you who have been affected by this tragedy. It has since come to light that fellow Britons were also killed when the towers were hit and that brings it home even more. If the Taliban terrorists are to blame for this atrocity I hope they will be caught and made to pay. I have several Muslim friends and they are too horrified by what their fellowman can inflict on other human beings. My heart goes out to all.
On my return to England yesterday, a steward on the plane intimated that all UK airports would be closed tomorrow (Monday).
I and my daughter joined in the 3 minute silence last week at our apartment complex as did every other person there, and the tears flowed freely. May God help us all in the weeks and months to come.
This is what the world is coming to!!!!!!!!!!!

What happened in New York was horrible, lots of innocent people lost their lives and many nore are still( 2 weeks later) still missing, their families must be distraught. Having said that- have people in USA lost their memory? The USA is not the only country to suffer terrorist attacks and such tremenous loss - I live in Ireland and I can never visit the North as I am Catholic, we have suffered terrorist attacks for decades
Harry Truman dropped the Atomic Bomb on Nagaski and Hiroshma with alomst 200,000 dead- is every one in USA aware that every year a memerial held for the people who died, the rest of the world doesn't stop for the " 1 min silence " - Move on with your lives and don't start WW3 and drag the rest of us with you

beckham, I CERTAINLY appreciate your above posting. My ladyfriend from/in Madrid and I have this same discussion everytime we talk since 9-11.

I've told her how upset this has made me feel and, while she feels bad about the horrible incident, she reminds me about the thousands of people who die EVERYDAY around the world from hunger, civil wars, street violence, and other equally horrible events. And, as she says (and I agree), do we here in the USA even know OR CARE if these things are happening around the world?? Answer: No. It's not our problem, we think. We're SO sheltered from the problems and goings on around the globe.

She says, "Is one senseless death more horrible than another? Is one life MORE important than another? Think WHY these attacks REALLY happened. Get to the ROOT of the problem and find out WHY some people in the rest of the world hate you (USA) so much. Think WHAT YOU (USA) are doing to them to make them so angry."

She makes A LOT of sense and has opened my eyes to new possible reasons as to why we were attacked in the first place. Maybe we should be trying to FIX the root of the problem instead of adding more deaths to the already HUGE number of those dead in NYC/D.C., and around the world. Don't get me wrong, I too think we should find and prosecute those responsible. But, just maybe(?) aren't WE, the USA partially responsible for WHY this happened in the first place?? Just consider the possibility before flaming me. Let's TRY to keep an open mind while all this is happening.

It's EASY to get angry, have tunnel vision, and just want to kill/retaliate/bomb, and remove the problem. But by doing this will we REALLY remove the problem or just put a Band-Aid on the pain for a temporary, superficial, immediate wound? Think about it.

Saludos, MadridMan