Dear Snotter's Dad...
...I had the unpleasant experience of helping to clear up the catastrophe that was the Lockerbie Air Disaster, but frankly it would not stop me from discussing events that might alter (even improve) the outcome. Amongst the horror there were moments of great humanity, such as the way that hundreds of volunteers turned up, with no thought of payment, to provide radio cover, to cook and feed search teams, to provide emotional comfort and in general to be there to help. To give a tiny example, I recall thanking a group of cleaners who had turned up unasked from their holidays, unpaid, to work 24 hours in keeping toilets and canteen and passage floors clean.
9/11 could have been worse and could have been better. A constant CAP flight over Washington would have helped. But recall those valiant and ordinary people who tried to re-take the airliner that was probably heading for the White House. We remember them, even if we may seem heartless in discussing what might have happened had their valour failed.
Every Armistice Day I and millions of others stand to attention for two long minutes, wherever we are. We did not fight in either World War, but we remember for the sake of those who did. My great uncle died at High Wood in 1916, my grandfather was badly wounded in the same battle on the same day. My father was on Sword Beach at D-Day, and on Embarkation Leave in Calcutta for the Kyushu Landings where he could have died, when the Japanese surrender came through.
By all means discuss this with me, one-to-one, but do not criticise those who, attempting to understand the reality, discuss even the ghastliness of the 'Final Solution' and nuclear war.
We appreciate peace, even if we discuss war.