I've Got My Hands Up So Take Your Aim

I think I've done these quite a bit in the past ... but I've totally stolen the actual topics from cherie_morte because she just posted hers.

( round up here! )

I could go on at length about where I was when I heard about that first plane hitting a tower (in bed, awoken by my roommate), or what I did all day (skipped my broadcast journalism class and stayed glued to the TV, between my apartment and friends next door), and how it made being a journalism major completely different for the following two years of college than it did the first two (suddenly we had SO MUCH to learn from). But there's no real point in my reliving that day on this day. What is nice to remember is the Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony from 2009 when The Who were inducted. At the end of the career/history reel, it was mentioned that for the Concert for NY, The Who was the VERY FIRST band to sign on, a grateful surprise seeing as there were so many other American-bred-and-born acts who would later perform. There was footage of that concert with the NYPD and FDNY singing along in unison to "Baba O'Reily", and a few policemen and firefighters talking about how inspiring it was to be a part of that moment and to watch some of their favorite musical acts play just for them.

Cue Rob Thomas playing "Baba Reilly" as part of The Who's induction. When I watched this off my DVR, I started tearing up until I felt this shocking pressure in my chest and I wanted to sob. Not only because of how much pride you could see in Rob Thomas to play for one of his heroes, or even the glee The Who show when the big reveal happens, but because of the sheer exhilaration of the men singing along. I still tear up when I see this, and even now, my heart is starting to race just thinking about this video, especially at the 1:50 mark when it all comes together.


YouTube Link

The biggest thing I took away from this was not just a country brought together by a tragic day, but how people everywhere - for any reason - were united against enemies and terrorism of all kinds. I've seen a lot of tweets today about the anniversary, and the thing I loved was the few celebs who pointed out that for a few weeks after 9/11/01, people stood together and felt the same things. So: here's to another decade, another century, and more of people standing beside one another and being good people.

Originally posted at http://www.dreamwidth.org/12345.html