Reprocutions on FIRST teams from New York events

[Carolyn Duncan]

I know there are some teams in New York City and I was wondering if you guys are ok. Did any of yo uhave sponsors with offices in one of the towers? I hope not. What about other teams? Are today's events going to leave your teams a bit lacking due to sponsors? Just wondering about that.

[David Kelly]

Originally posted by Carolyn Duncan
I know there are some teams in New York City and I was wondering if you guys are ok. Did any of yo uhave sponsors with offices in one of the towers? I hope not. What about other teams? Are today's events going to leave your teams a bit lacking due to sponsors? Just wondering about that.

i'm not trying to make this look like a bad thing, but loosing a sponsor is not what we should be worrying about. we should worry about all those inocent lives that were unecessarly lost and defending our freedom. this is the worst day in american history. and when it come down to it, robotics doesn't really matter, does it?

[ernie]

Carolyn,

I feel the same as David...who really cares about being short a couple dollars. This is definitely one of the most horrible days our nation has ever seen, many innocent people and heroes died today. If there was a draft would you guys go? Would you fight and die for our country? I hope so, a lot of good men have given their lives to make our country what it is. It is our duty to do the same if called upon...

Ernie

[Matt Ryan]

Originally posted by ernie
Carolyn,

I feel the same as David...who really cares about being short a couple dollars. This is definitely one of the most horrible days our nation has ever seen, many innocent people and heroes died today. If there was a draft would you guys go? Would you fight and die for our country? I hope so, a lot of good men have given their lives to make our country what it is. It is our duty to do the same if called upon...

Ernie

If I were drafted, I'd go, as would most others who were drafted along with me. I'd fight for my country, but hopefully I wouldn't die for it. The ultimate sacrifice is not easy to make, very few people make the choice willingly.

[Andy A.]

In the (edited for explicatives) words of Gen. Patton:

'The goal of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other doodoohead die for his.'

That said, I don't think that anyone should be thursting for more blood, either innocents or who ever is responisable for all this.

Enough people have died today eh?

-Andy

[Andrew Rudolph]

hey, do you want to express your feelings about the recent occurence in New York and Washington. Across the county, we are asking for you to simply write the words "Terrorism Sucks" on back of a white shirt and wear it this week. Within minutes there has been huge resposne to this movement.



Andrew

[ernie]

matt,

agreed, i would like to say that i would die for my country without a doubt, but the ultimate sacrifice is truly incomprehensible, you wont ever really know what it means until you make that sacrifice

Ernie

[Robby O]

I had thought about posting about this earlier, but the thoughts I had I felt were inappropriate, as in "How is this going to affect the robotics season". It's very wierd watching this. It doesnt seem real. Almost as if I had turned on the TV to some movie. Some kind of new scare-film that everyone is in on, like that whole thing in the 50's with the alien radio broadcast that everyone thought was real.

I watch the video playback on the news and watch as thousands of lives are lost in an instant, as buildings collapse and explosions happen and I have this incredible urge to cry, my heart going out to all of those victims, some of whom I may possibly know or have known. And yet I cant. I cant cry. I cant force the tears, but they are there, on the edge. Ready to streak my face, being held back by years of being desensitized through television and film.

Look at all the recent films that came out dealing with terrorism in america, Arlington Road, Swordfish, even going back to Die Hard, almost getting us used to the idea, so that when it happens, it wouldnt seem real. As though someone clicked a couple of buttons and generated these special effects. But no, it's real, it's very real, and it's something our generation has not yet had to experience at this level. We've all seen the WW video of other contries being demolished, but we dont think about it being us, we think about ourselves being safe. In some ways we are more so than other countries. And yet we couldnt defend against what has now happened.

Right now I sit awake, scared awake. I'm listening as a plane flys overhead. Or at least what sounds like a plane. The paranoia of a potential war has me thinking a lot about my future plans, and what lies in store for them. I am a thinker, an entertainer. I could never pick up a gun and point it at another human being. It's not my nature or how I was brought up, to fight THAT way (though I am one to stand up for what I believe is right, but with discussions, debates, and ideas). If I were drafted I would be scared out of my mind.

As soon as I found out about this, I called my Air Force recruiter to find out more from there. If there was any department I would join should war be declared, it would be the Air Force. They put you through a few weeks of boot camp and then send you to school to work a job from them. With high enough test scores (which I already got from taking the ASVAB, a navy test (I think) in high school) you can get a computer job. Message decoding and encrypting I would imagine. I would rather use my head to help the war than brute force - I am not a brute force fighter.

So there you go. Those are my thoughts and opinions. Call me paranoid, but these thoughts are now a potential reality. Before this I was already afraid to fly, now forget it. All my trips from this point on will be road trips. Some people on this board probably think that I am just letting my fear run my life. Perhaps it is true. Perhaps I do think much as far as potentially loosing my life goes. But thanks to this event, there may now be many across america now thinking the same. What do we do now? Revert back to a 1950's type time with bomb shelters and sirens?

We shall see in the upcoming long days, weeks, and months where this goes. I can only hope things go up from here. My prayers and heart goes out to all of the victims of this horrendous act of terrorism, and thier family and friends.

[Jessica Boucher]

Im sorry if this opinion is recoiled with great dissention, but I think Carolyn was literally misinterpreted, due to the great amount of snap judgements made concerning the disaster yesterday (which isn't wrong to have happened, it is a normal reaction to crisis situations).

Anger isn't going to help us right now, it makes us no better than them. What can be found out, is how the American people, in connection with supporting nations, can help repairing the damage done and making sure it won't happen again.

I think the question now is how we as a community, within FIRST and within the world, can help eachother begin the repair process. Personally, if I had started a thread like this, I would not want to start it off with "Ok, so who do you know was directly affected by this?"...we do not know everyone here on such a personal level. Sponsorship is something that everyone within FIRST can relate to, which I think is why it was chosen as a topic of discussion.

In any case, the question remains in my head: How can I help? How can we help?

[Robby O]

I will have to agree with Jessica that that should be the first thing on our minds. Yahoo has a whole list of emergency relief information. I would recommend starting there. If you are old enough or can donate blood, see if and where you can do that too. If I find anything else out, It will be posted here.

[Brandon Martus]

You can donate money to the Red Cross on amazon.com

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay...669628-8816567

[Pamela]

One thing teams as a whole can do to help is to take up collections at schools to raise money for the relief funds. My team did this in school today and raised over $300 to donate to the Red Cross, we will be continuing with this all week. If many teams contributed to this cause think of how much help it would be to our country in this time of need. Also try gettign in touch with local Red Cross units to donate blood, their is an anticipated blood shortage for the next 2-3 weeks, any help in that area will save lives. Most of all, we all should take a minute out of our busy schedules to stop and pray, pray for those lost in these tragedies, pray for their families, pray for the heroic rescue workers, pray for our country, pray that their will be no more attacks, and pray for peace in the world so that this huge terrorist attack does not unfold into WWIII.

[Leon Machado IV]

I received this chain letter from members and my family and we're trying to spread it around. I usually never respond to chain letters but I think this one has a pretty good idea behind it. I think it's worth doing. Please post if you going to do this or something similar, I'd like to know how many people are looking at this. Please also tell me if you are going to email it. Email me at leon4th@aol.com. Thanks.

In memory of all those who perished this morning; the passengers and the pilots on the United Air and AA flights, the workers in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and all the innocent bystanders. Our prayers go out to the friends and families of the deceased. Send this to at least 10 people to show your support. DONT BREAK IT!!!!!! God's speed to all those who have lost their lives...GOD BLESS AMERICA and the freedom it represents tomorrow is US pride day, everyone wear US colors (jeans are blue, everyone owns a white t-shirt, etc). try to be wearing as much red white and blue as you can. send this message to as many other people you know. Lets get the whole country into it. At least send it to 10 other people.

[Matt Leese]

The terrorists have not won. They may have killed some people but they will never win because we will not let them. They have severely misjudged the American people. They have not caused division and strife. In this greatest of tragedies, they have brought the American people together. We will win this because we will work together. There is no giving up; defeat is unacceptable.

The same philosophy that FIRST promotes, that of working together, is the same that the country needs to, and is, in fact, embracing. Through this, no matter whether or not there is retaliation, we will prove that the terrorist have not and cannot win.

Matt

[Matt Ryan]

Originally posted by Matt Leese
The terrorists have not won. They may have killed some people but they will never win because we will not let them. They have severely misjudged the American people. They have not caused division and strife. In this greatest of tragedies, they have brought the American people together. We will win this because we will work together. There is no giving up; defeat is unacceptable.

The same philosophy that FIRST promotes, that of working together, is the same that the country needs to, and is, in fact, embracing. Through this, no matter whether or not there is retaliation, we will prove that the terrorist have not and cannot win.

Matt

Bush basically said that there would be massive retaliation. Sheldon (Secretary of the Army) said the military was ready. People are calling for war.

Some are going so far as to say this is the start of WWIII.