I stopped transcribing my Kilimanjaro journal a few months back because I was unsure about this post. It was already over a month after the 10th anniversary, and it didn't seem timely. Though I meant to come back to it, I never did. However, at a recent wedding, some family friends informed me that they had loved my posts, to which I replied I had more that were unpublished. They admonished me to continue, so hopefully this post will have at least two readers. The first part is about this day's trek. The last half is my ruminations on 9/11.
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9/11/2011
Just arrived at Shira camp, end of day 2, but it's only lunch time. An earlier start today meant that the trail was less crowded and the trekking more pleasant and peaceful. No rainforest with tons of mud today either, although tons of fog. At one point I had to resort to my poncho to stay dry, b/c we were literally walking through a cloud. While the fog obscured the views, it was beautiful in and of itself.
I walked with Bryson today and got to know him a bit better. He's 49, and has a son my age who is a teacher. He's been a guide since '94, and worked on Kili since '82, before I was even born. He carried a bigger pack than I did, although I'm bigger and younger, and still kept a good pace, only stopping for his smoke breaks. While the climb today was much steeper, the open air, sparsely populated trail, and lack of mud made it a better day.
I was worried last night because I had a bad headache which I began attributing to altitude sickness. I started really worry, and thinking I'd be in trouble. It was difficult to eat all the food they kept bringing me as well, both because of my headache and filling up on water, popcorn and Pop-Tarts. I knew I needed to eat more to keep my energy up, but I just couldn't. I stuffed as much as I could, but began to despair. I worried about taking painkillers because I thought it might only mask the symptoms. The way the world is, what with media and guidebooks making it seem like your life is always in danger, it's a wonder anyone ever goes on any adventures at all, and that we're not all hypochondriacs. I could hardly sleep either, and I was worried greatly about today's trek.
I woke up though with no headache, feeling fine, if a bit tired. As I sat up, I took in the surroundings of my tent. I absentmindedly read the warning tag, cautioning against open flame in the tent. I thought about the two candles Saidi had brought me the night before.
"Combustion can produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, which could lead to serious injury or death." Last night I thought the candle a quaint accommodation. Having closed myself in with it to keep warm, I now wonder if it caused my headache. Perhaps no candle tonight.
---
Bryson reminded me on the trail that today was 9/11, but he didn't need to. In about 5 hours it will be exactly 10 years since those bastards killed all those people. I can't help but hope that there's an afterlife so that they're rotting in hell.
I was a freshman at Texas A&M, new to the Corps of Cadets. I was sleeping in my friend Magidah's dorm room in Mosher Hall to avoid harassment by the upperclassmen. Her suite-mate Hannah came in and woke me.
"Someone crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York."
In my half awake state, I remember thinking, "If that's true, it'll be on later." However, I did not go back to sleep as the realization of the event dawned on me. I went next door to her suite and began watching TV with her. We still had no idea who was behind it, or what was going on, but I said out loud, "We'll go to war over this."
"What?"she asked.
"We're going to go to war over this."
"You think so?"
"Definitely."
And I wanted to go to war then. Looking back, I wanted war like most everyone else. did. And even in hindsight, even with all that's gone wrong, I think I was right to want it, and that war was called for. I just wish our leaders had done a better job of it. But that's another issue.
I met some people in Dar es Salaam who did not believe bin Laden and Al Qaeda were behind the attacks.
"They have proof!"
"It wasn't even a passenger plane, it was a cargo plane!"
"Did you know there weren't any Jews in the buildings that day?"
This from people who live in a city that was bombed by Al Qaeda, led by bin Laden. I stopped talking to them. I'm never one to accept everything at face value, especially from an administration I neither liked nor trusted. But ten years ago today, Al Qaeda under Osama bin Laden attacked the US. Innocent Jews, Christians, atheists, and Muslims were killed. Americans, Europeans, Asians, Africans and more were killed. They deserved better. We all did. But now the best we can do is remember them, honor their memory, and cherish and protect the things they loved, and that make our country and world great. Bless them.
---
I wrote a note to myself in the margins to mention a conversation I had with one of my porter's, Enoch, about the anniversary. Unfortunately, I did not write it at the time, and now the memory of the conversation has faded. I remember a bit of it though. We talked about bin Laden, and Enoch confirmed that he believed him to be an evil man. But we also spoke of President Obama. Policy aside, it's difficult for us sometimes to realize the psychological impact that the election of a black-skinned man to the most powerful position in the world has had on people in Africa. Enoch, like many Tanzanians, knew that Obama's father was from Kenya, Tanzania's neighbor. This young man sympathized with the people of the US over the 9/11 attacks, and had no love for Osama. But he also had lost much of the idealism with which he viewed the US after ten years of war, detainees, water-boarding, Guantanamo, and all the other accoutrements of the war on terror. When Obama was elected, it made him feel like the US was a place of dreams again. He knew nothing about health care reform, stimulus money, government bail outs, or any number of other controversial issues of the Obama administration. He just looked up to America again. And that felt good to hear that day.
------------------
9/11/2011
Just arrived at Shira camp, end of day 2, but it's only lunch time. An earlier start today meant that the trail was less crowded and the trekking more pleasant and peaceful. No rainforest with tons of mud today either, although tons of fog. At one point I had to resort to my poncho to stay dry, b/c we were literally walking through a cloud. While the fog obscured the views, it was beautiful in and of itself.
I walked with Bryson today and got to know him a bit better. He's 49, and has a son my age who is a teacher. He's been a guide since '94, and worked on Kili since '82, before I was even born. He carried a bigger pack than I did, although I'm bigger and younger, and still kept a good pace, only stopping for his smoke breaks. While the climb today was much steeper, the open air, sparsely populated trail, and lack of mud made it a better day.
I was worried last night because I had a bad headache which I began attributing to altitude sickness. I started really worry, and thinking I'd be in trouble. It was difficult to eat all the food they kept bringing me as well, both because of my headache and filling up on water, popcorn and Pop-Tarts. I knew I needed to eat more to keep my energy up, but I just couldn't. I stuffed as much as I could, but began to despair. I worried about taking painkillers because I thought it might only mask the symptoms. The way the world is, what with media and guidebooks making it seem like your life is always in danger, it's a wonder anyone ever goes on any adventures at all, and that we're not all hypochondriacs. I could hardly sleep either, and I was worried greatly about today's trek.
I woke up though with no headache, feeling fine, if a bit tired. As I sat up, I took in the surroundings of my tent. I absentmindedly read the warning tag, cautioning against open flame in the tent. I thought about the two candles Saidi had brought me the night before.
"Combustion can produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, which could lead to serious injury or death." Last night I thought the candle a quaint accommodation. Having closed myself in with it to keep warm, I now wonder if it caused my headache. Perhaps no candle tonight.
---
Bryson reminded me on the trail that today was 9/11, but he didn't need to. In about 5 hours it will be exactly 10 years since those bastards killed all those people. I can't help but hope that there's an afterlife so that they're rotting in hell.
I was a freshman at Texas A&M, new to the Corps of Cadets. I was sleeping in my friend Magidah's dorm room in Mosher Hall to avoid harassment by the upperclassmen. Her suite-mate Hannah came in and woke me.
"Someone crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York."
In my half awake state, I remember thinking, "If that's true, it'll be on later." However, I did not go back to sleep as the realization of the event dawned on me. I went next door to her suite and began watching TV with her. We still had no idea who was behind it, or what was going on, but I said out loud, "We'll go to war over this."
"What?"she asked.
"We're going to go to war over this."
"You think so?"
"Definitely."
And I wanted to go to war then. Looking back, I wanted war like most everyone else. did. And even in hindsight, even with all that's gone wrong, I think I was right to want it, and that war was called for. I just wish our leaders had done a better job of it. But that's another issue.
I met some people in Dar es Salaam who did not believe bin Laden and Al Qaeda were behind the attacks.
"They have proof!"
"It wasn't even a passenger plane, it was a cargo plane!"
"Did you know there weren't any Jews in the buildings that day?"
This from people who live in a city that was bombed by Al Qaeda, led by bin Laden. I stopped talking to them. I'm never one to accept everything at face value, especially from an administration I neither liked nor trusted. But ten years ago today, Al Qaeda under Osama bin Laden attacked the US. Innocent Jews, Christians, atheists, and Muslims were killed. Americans, Europeans, Asians, Africans and more were killed. They deserved better. We all did. But now the best we can do is remember them, honor their memory, and cherish and protect the things they loved, and that make our country and world great. Bless them.
---
I wrote a note to myself in the margins to mention a conversation I had with one of my porter's, Enoch, about the anniversary. Unfortunately, I did not write it at the time, and now the memory of the conversation has faded. I remember a bit of it though. We talked about bin Laden, and Enoch confirmed that he believed him to be an evil man. But we also spoke of President Obama. Policy aside, it's difficult for us sometimes to realize the psychological impact that the election of a black-skinned man to the most powerful position in the world has had on people in Africa. Enoch, like many Tanzanians, knew that Obama's father was from Kenya, Tanzania's neighbor. This young man sympathized with the people of the US over the 9/11 attacks, and had no love for Osama. But he also had lost much of the idealism with which he viewed the US after ten years of war, detainees, water-boarding, Guantanamo, and all the other accoutrements of the war on terror. When Obama was elected, it made him feel like the US was a place of dreams again. He knew nothing about health care reform, stimulus money, government bail outs, or any number of other controversial issues of the Obama administration. He just looked up to America again. And that felt good to hear that day.
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